in what Canada describes as a state-sanctioned murder. Canada recalls its ambassador. 2012: After months of increasingly tough talk from Ottawa, Canada suspends all relations, citing several factors including treatment of foreign diplomats, Iran's support for Syria and its threats against Israel. — The Canadian Press and CBC News

But the heated rhetoric has raised questions about the fate of three Canadians already in Iranian prisons, including two on death row.

Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossen Derakhsan, 35, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his writings, which inspired other Iranian reform bloggers.

Toronto's Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, 43, who emigrated to Canada after the 1979 revolution, faces a death sentence after being charged with espionage when he returned to visit family four years ago.

Saeed Malekpour, a web programmer from Richmond Hill, Ont., isout of Tehran in 1980 during the U.S. hostage crisis.

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar has called the latest embassy closure bizarre and irresponsible, saying it has removed Canada as a potential player in the Middle East.

But according to Fen Hampson, head of the global security program at the Waterloo, Ont.-based Centre for International Governance Innovation, the Harper government should have pulled its diplomats out of Tehran long ago.

"Iran has consistently shunned and snubbed us and showed flagrant disregard for the basic rights of Canadians since the brutal murder of Zahra Kazemi," Hampson told The Canadian Press on Sunday.

"Those who argue we need to maintain consular services ignore the fact our diplomats have been ineffective in defending the interests and rights of Iranian Canadians when they have gone