Dozens of Canadians have left Iran as Ottawa lays out evacuation options – National

Dozens of Canadians have managed to leave Iran on their own by crossing the border into neighbouring countries, government officials said late Wednesday, as Ottawa laid out its regional evacuation options amid a “rapidly” deteriorating situation.

With airspace over much of the Middle East closed as the war between Iran, the U.S. and Israel expands, officials acknowledged during a technical briefing with reporters that “there is not much we can do at this very moment” to get people out of Iran.

Global Affairs Canada is instead surging additional personnel to consulates in countries bordering Iran to provide visa assistance and other needs to Canadians fleeing the war.

For the rest of the region, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said the government was working on a number of options for getting Canadians out safely, including a “limited number” of chartered flights, block-booking seats on commercial flights, and ground transportation.

“I want to speak directly now to Canadians in the Middle East and Gulf region: your government is with you,” she said.

“We are working hard for you, and we are arranging options for you to leave the region.”

A senior official said on background that consulates in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have helped “a couple of dozen” Canadians in each country who have left Iran, while about a half-dozen more have been helped in Turkey and Armenia.

The government did not have an exact number of how many Canadians have left Iran this way.

Anand said the government was looking at chartered flights out of the United Arab Emirates within the next 72 hours, but no concrete charter provider has been secured.

As of Wednesday, more than 106,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents in the Gulf region had registered with Global Affairs Canada, Anand said. The actual number is likely to be higher since registration with GAC is voluntary.

Iran currently has almost 3,000 Canadians registered with GAC.

Anand said over 2,000 registered Canadians in the Middle East have requested departure assistance, including 74 in Iran, out of over 4,000 Canadians who have sought information since the war began Saturday.

“Unfortunately, we have no ability to arrange ground transportation in Iran, as we do not have diplomatic relations with Iran and we have declared the IRGC as a terrorist entity under Canadian law,” the minister said.

Trending Now

• More than half of small businesses say U.S. no longer reliable: CFIB data

• The Bank of Canada says these are the 3 warning signs for mortgage default

Anand said ground transportation is being provided for Canadians wishing to leave Qatar, where airspace is closed. She said 200 Canadians were being provided bus transportation with existing airline tickets to an airport in Saudi Arabia to fly out of that country.

“I do want to point out that any ground transportation carries risks,” she added.

Global Affairs Canada said earlier Wednesday it had secured a “limited number of seats” on commercial flights out of Lebanon for its citizens and permanent residents.

The government official at the technical briefing said 75 commercial airline seats were made available Wednesday for Canadians flying out of Beirut to Istanbul. Anand noted the “vast majority” of those seats were filled by Canadians.

Two hundred more seats have been reserved over the next three days, Anand said.

She said Israel was facilitating a bus service to Egypt where flights out of the region are available.

The government official said the closure of airspace in the region makes it “difficult to envision” a military evacuation out of the Middle East, but that multiple options remained on the table.

“To be clear, the situation is volatile and unpredictable” and “changing by the hour,” Anand said.

“Sheltering in place is the general advice across the board. And if Canadians wish to leave, we are putting in place options for them to do so, and those options are tailored to the particular country and are based to some extent on whether that country has open airspace by which flights can leave the region.”

Anand said she was in contact with allies including Australia and the United Kingdom to see if additional assistance can be provided to Canadians wishing to leave the region.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.