Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Now that I have a bit more of an opportunity, first of all I want to thank you all for sharing your experiences, your vulnerabilities and your fears, especially Ms. Daemi, who's doing it in the middle of the night. It's almost two o'clock in the morning where she is.
I really want to acknowledge those statements, because the Persian community in my riding has been desperately worried about their loved ones. More than that, they've been, in many cases, reliving experiences of their own that caused them to come to Canada. The issue is one that's also deeply personal for me, because 30 years ago the Iranian regime sponsored a suicide bus bombing that killed one of my friends and classmates, Alisa Flatow.
The reason I bring that up is the longitudinal aspect of this. There have been a variety of sanctions against Iran over the years. There have been statements by governments; there have been UN resolutions; there have been lawsuits; there have been targeted strikes. There have been a lot of measures taken over the decade, all to no avail, because the regime has persisted.
Ms. Afshin-Jam MacKay, I would like to start with you and just ask for your perspective on what keeps the Iranian regime going. Why does this regime continue to survive?