Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and expelled the remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada, according to a statement released by Foreign Minister John Baird.

The announcement was met with shock among both Iranian and Canadian citizens.

Barbara Slavin, the Washington Correspondent for Al-Monitor, a Middle East-focused reporting service, tweeted: “explain how making it more difficult for Iranians to travel to Canada and for Canadian-Iranians to go to Iran helps solve the nuke issue?”

Iranian immigrants in Canada appear to be the most unhappy about the severing of ties between the governments. One user tweeted,

@aida_aina خود من میخواستم بیام. الان پاسپورت ایرانی ندارم. دست سفارت معلقه ایرانه. بعد میگن چرا یارو بتمن میشه شلیک میکنه. بسکه خرید خوب

�" پیاده (@piaderou) September 7, 2012

“I don’t have a passport now. It’s in now-closed Iranian embassy in Canada.”

She went on to curse the Canadian government, and continued: “Iran attacks American and British embassies in Iran and Canada cuts its ties with Iran. Why? Because Israel allegedly is going to attack Iran. Why do you care?!”

Other users circulated the theory that the real reason behind the embassy closure was an impending attack on Iran:

@kaepora Pending attack on Iran,G

�" Anthropologist (@Geraldanthro) September 8, 2012

The Twitter account of the Embassy of Israel in USA tweeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment:

Canada severs ties w/#Iran, expels diplomats. PM Netanyahu: "Bold, moral & needs to be an example for the international community."

�" Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA) September 7, 2012

"Bold, moral & needs to be an example for the international community."