A Saskatchewan university organization is feeling on edge about the political rhetoric between the U.S. and Iran.
The University of Regina Iranian Society (URIS) is slightly concerned about the repercussions for international students with tensions rising between both nations.
“They put their life savings and their parents’ life savings with a lot of hopes to come here and study and have a great life, but a small thing can just change everything. They can all get deported to their country,” said URIS outgoing president Nima Alimardani.
The issue stems from a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad which killed a top Iranian military official.
Meanwhile, NATO is calling for cooler heads to prevail.
“We are united in condemning Iran’s support of a variety of different terrorist groups. At the meeting today, allies called for restraint and de-escalation. A new conflict would be in no one’s interest. So Iran must refrain from further violence and provocations,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
When Alimardani first heard the news, he said he was scared.
“I don’t want to see war happening in my country,” he said. “I don’t want to see millions of people, or hundreds of thousands of people or even one person die in a war.”
He added that he’s also worried about Iranian-Canadians and Iranian-Americans noting they could be detained at U.S. borders.
– With files from Reuters