Dozens of Canadians have managed to cross the border into neighboring countries to leave Iran on their own, government officials said late Wednesday as Ottawa advanced its regional evacuation options amid a “rapidly” deteriorating situation.
With much of the Middle East’s airspace closed as the war between Iran, the US and Israel widens, officials agreed with reporters at a technical briefing that “there is not much we can do at this moment” to evacuate people from Iran.
Global Affairs Canada is ramping up additional staffing to consulates in countries bordering Iran to provide visa assistance and other needs to Canadians fleeing the war.
For the rest of the region, External Affairs Minister Anita Anand said the government is working on several options to get Canadians out safely, including a “limited number” of chartered flights, black-booking seats on commercial flights and ground transportation.
“I now want to speak directly to Canadians in the Middle East and the Gulf region: Your government is with you,” he said.
“We are working hard for you and we are arranging options for you to leave the area.”
A senior official said consulates in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have helped “a couple of dozen” Canadians in each country leaving Iran, while about half a dozen have been helped in Turkey and Armenia.
The government does not have an exact number of how many Canadians have left Iran this way.
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Anand said the government is looking at chartered flights from the United Arab Emirates in the next 72 hours, but no concrete charter provider has been secured.
As of Wednesday, Anand said, more than 106,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents in the Gulf region had registered with Global Affairs Canada. Since registration with GAC is voluntary, the actual number is likely to be higher.
Iran currently has about 3,000 Canadians registered with the GAC.
Anand said 2,000 registered Canadians in the Middle East, including 74 in Iran, have requested evacuation assistance since the war began on Saturday, out of more than 4,000 Canadians who have requested information.
“Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to arrange ground transportation in Iran because we do not have diplomatic relations with Iran and we have declared the IRGC a terrorist entity under Canadian law,” the minister said.
Anand said ground transportation is being provided for Canadians wishing to leave Qatar, whose airspace is closed. He said bus transportation is being provided to an airport in Saudi Arabia for 200 Canadians with existing airline tickets to leave that country.
“I want to point out that any ground transportation has risks,” he said.
Global Affairs Canada said Wednesday it has secured a “limited number of seats” on commercial flights from Lebanon for its citizens and permanent residents.
A government official said at a technical briefing that 75 commercial airline seats were available Wednesday for Canadians flying from Beirut to Istanbul. Anand noted that a “vast majority” of those seats are filled by Canadians.
Anand said that two hundred seats have been reserved in the next three days.
Israel is facilitating bus service to Egypt, where flights out of the region are available, he said.
A government official said it was “hard to imagine” a military evacuation from the Middle East due to the closure of airspace in the region, but many options remained on the table.
“To be clear, the situation is volatile and unpredictable” and “changing by the hour,” Anand said.
“Evacuating in place is the general advice across the board. And if Canadians want to leave, we’re giving them options for where to do so, and those options are country-specific and based to some extent on whether that country has open airspace through which planes can leave the area.”
Anand said they are in touch with allies, including Australia and the United Kingdom, to see if they can provide additional assistance to Canadians who want to leave the region.
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(tags to translate)Iran(T)Anita Anand(T)Middle East Conflict(T)Canada(T)World
