Queen’s University Middle East expert Houchang Hassan-Yari (who is originally from Iran) is available to talk about today’s announcement that Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and is expelling Iranian diplomats from Canada.

“This is a significant move by Canada and you can now expect relations between the two countries to deteriorate,” Dr. Hassan-Yari says. “There is a very large Iranian community in Canada so closing the embassy will make life for Iranian-Canadians difficult.”

Please note that Dr. Hassan-Yari wants to be identified in the media as a Middle East expert from Queen’s University and Royal Military College.

To arrange an interview, please contact communication officers Anne Craig at 613-533-2877 or anne.craig@queensu.ca or Michael Onesi at 613.533.6000 ext. 77513 or michael.onesi@queensu.at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.

Follow Queen’s News and Media Services on Twitter: http://twitter.com/QueensuMedia.

Attention broadcasters: Queen’s has facilities to provide broadcast quality audio and video feeds. For television interviews, we can provide a live, real-time double ender from Kingston via fibre optic cable. Please call for details.