As Iran and US take step back from the brink, Canada grieves

 worst h passed, it seemed, and United States and Iran longer appeared poised at edge of war.

“All is well!” President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night, days after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s most powerful general, and Iran, after a barr of missiles, h signaled it was stepping back from furr escalation.

But 27 seconds before Trump’s tweet, commercial flight trackers h lost contact with a Ukrainian International Airlines jet that h just taken off from Tehran’s main airport. On board were 176 people, including 138 passengers on ir way to Cana and

Everyone on board died. y were students, newlyweds, doctors and parents. youngest was a 1-year-old girl, Kurdia Molani, who was flying back home with her parents to Toronto suburb of Ajax.

By late Thursday,

Inste, what h begun with a drone attack on Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s motorce at Baghd airport h suddenly rippled outward until dozens of Iranian-Canians, dozens of Iranian students studying in Cana, were de.

“ community is overwhelmed with mourning and sness,” said Payman Parseyan, a prominent Iranian-Canian in western Cana, counting through names of friends he h lost. re was Pedram Mousavi and his wife Mojgan Daneshmand, both of m engineering professors, and ir two daughters, Daria and Dorina Mousavi. re was Dr. Shekoufeh Choupannej, an obstetrician-gynecologist, and her two daughters, Saba and Sara Saat. It seemed impossible.

Some in Cana quickly blamed Trump for disaster.

“This is insane. Sickening. Imagine having a family member on that plane,” said Rob Kent, a 42-year-old Toronto resident. “One man, and only one, is responsible for those deaths. And he will never face consequences for m."

But Parseyan wasn’t so sure.

“It takes two to tango,” he said. “It's t hard to see downing as a result of escalation between two countries. However, Iran is responsible for its own military defense equipment. While it has right to defend itself, as it should to protect its own people, it should also have responsibility with that right to make sure ir defensive systems aren't targeting civilian aircraft."

Canian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has at times h a rocky relationship with Trump, was careful t to say U.S. strike was responsible for what happened.

“I think it is too soon to be drawing conclusions or assigning blame or responsibility in whatever proportions," he told reporters.

But, he said, an accidental missile strike would compound grief of so many people.

"My thoughts instantly went to how much harder this must make it for those families who are experiencing just a terrible amount of grief right w,” he said.

Many simply struggled to make sense of disaster.

“If something like this happened as an accident, it’s much easier to take in than when you hear that maybe it got shot,” said Nina Saeidpour, a Calgary real estate nt whose friend Kasra Saati was among victims. “We're just trying to figure out what happened."

Ukrainian flights out of Tehran are often full of Iranian-Canians and Iranian students studying in Cana, particularly after long holiday break. Going back and forth via Kyiv is one of most affordable routes between two countries, and avoids stopovers in United States, which is difficult for most Iranians.

At least 17 Canian universities have confirmed that y lost students, professors or researchers.

Until crash, killing of Soleimani h seemed to end fairly quietly — at least for U.S. A stampede at general’s funeral, jammed with mourners, h left 56 people de and Iranian missile strikes against Iraqi bases housing American troops h injured one. Iran appeared to have carefully calibrated missile attacks to avoid causing furr U.S. retaliation, giving early warning to its Iraqi allies to avoid casualties.

Iran has “concluded proportionate measures,” Foreign Minister Mohamm Jav Zarif tweeted after missile barr.

Cana is one of America’s oldest and closest allies, but Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canian history and international relations at University of Toronto, ted that Trump has said thing about de Canians.

“ unconcern certainly comes across,” he said. “t a word of sympathy.”

By Thursday night, Trump h yet to mention Cana’s trdy.

Inste,

He also ted that America was rey to retaliate if Iran’s missile attacks h caused any casualties.

“You have idea,” he told cheering crowds. “A lot of people got very lucky.”