A pre-release screening of "Iranium," a new documentary exposing the dangers posed by a nuclear Iran, was canceled by the Canadian Ministry of Culture and Heritage, after the organizers received threats — including suspect packages — at the building where the film was to be shown.
Canada’s National Archives building was shut down on Monday evening by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after calls from the Iranian Embassy and others threatened violent protests if the film screening went ahead as planned.
Clare Lopez, a former CIA operations and reports officer who appeared in the film and who came to Ottawa to answer audience questions after the screening, described the confusion at the scene to Newsmax.
“We were outside in a blinding snowstorm waiting to get in, when the emergency vehicles and EMTs rushed onto the scene, their sirens screaming. Later, we learned that two suspect envelopes had been discovered that HAZMAT teams were sent in to examine,” she said.
Lopez said she was told that the screening was canceled after threats were received from the Iranian embassy in Ottawa. “The Iranian government presence in Ottawa is much bigger than I had imagined,” she said.
Canada’s Minister of Heritage James Moore, said he was “disappointed” that the archives chose not to show the film due to threats of violence.
"The Iranian Embassy will not dictate to the government of Canada which films will or will not be shown in Canada,” Moore said.
The film’s director, Alex Traiman, said that "Iranium" was “quickly turning into the film Iran's leaders don't want you to see. That Iranian leaders would try to stifle free speech in North America perfectly displays the distinct difference in values instilled in Iran versus the West."
“Attempts from Iran's Embassy to cancel the screening demonstrate that the Iranian regime is afraid of the documentary's content and the repercussions they may face as Americans and Canadians learn more about the Iranian nuclear threat. It also goes to show how fragile the current leadership structure in Iran actually is," Traiman added.
Aghdashloo
The film is narrated by Academy Award Nominee and Emmy Award-Winning Iranian actress, Shohreh Aghdashloo, who stared in “The Stoning of Soroya M,” a critically acclaimed docu-drama about the stoning of an Iranian woman on trumped-up charges of adultery produced by Cyrus Nowrasteh.
Newsmax Contributing Editor Kenneth Timmerman is featured in the film, along with former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and a host of experts on Iran’s nuclear weapons program and terrorist operations.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.