OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted he is not preparing the Canadian public for war with Iran but, in his starkest warning yet, he said he fears the regime in Tehran is prepared to use nuclear weapons, if it manages to produce them.In an interview with the National Post and Postmedia News, Mr. Harper said Iran’s quest to develop weapons of mass destruction is “a grave threat to peace and security.”
“For the first time in history, we are facing a regime that not only wants to attain nuclear weapons but a regime that has, compared to virtually all other holders of nuclear weapons in the past, far less fear of using them,” he said.
Pressed on whether the use of a nuclear device would constitute an act of suicide by Tehran, he responded: “I’m not sure that would dissuade them…. We’re dealing with a fanatical and dangerous regime.”
Mr. Harper supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, launched on the pretext of halting Saddam Hussein’s production of weapons of mass destruction. Asked whether the same logic applies in the case of Iran, the Prime Minister suggested the Iranian example is much more stark.
“In fairness, the two cases are not exactly similar – there was more to the case in Iraq than simply the threat of weapons of mass destruction. That said, obviously the intelligence was flawed in that case and there was considerable debate around that at the time. I don’t think there’s much debate today among informed people about Iran’s intentions and Iran’s systematic progress toward attaining nuclear weapons.
Media reports suggest U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a growing possibility Israel will attack Iran as early as April to stop it building a nuclear bomb. Speaking at a U.S. air base in Germany, Mr. Panetta said that if Iran does not change course, the U.S. is “prepared to respond, if we have to.”
Mr. Harper would not be drawn on Canada’s response. But he was frank that he has no quick solution to ease tensions in the Middle East.
“To suggest anyone has an easy solution would be false. I don’t have an easy path forward but I think we need to understand we have got a regime based in Tehran that is a gross violator of human rights; that is based on an extreme fundamentalist version of its particular religion; that makes threats to its neighbours; and, that is clearly and unequivocally moving towards, not just the production of nuclear weapons, but the acquisition of delivery systems for nuclear weapons. This is a very dangerous situation,” he said.
Iran launched an observation satellite into orbit Friday, its third since 2009, the official IRNA news agency reported. Western nations fear the Iranian space program may be used as cover to develop ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
Mr. Harper was speaking three days before leaving for China, where he is going to urge the Chinese to use their influence to persuade the Iranians to give up their nuclear ambitions.
In a wide-ranging interview, the Prime Minister said the Chinese leadership has come to understand that his government is more outspoken on foreign policy than its Liberal predecessor.
“We’ve always been very clear that when it comes to all countries, and particularly dealing with an emerging superpower like China, that a relationship be balanced across the range of issues. There are not just economic and trade issues when it comes to the Chinese relationship. There are also security issues, and there are also human rights and democratic issues,” he said. “We’ve always been clear that we will speak our mind on these things, we will be very frank with the Chinese leadership about our concerns.”
But he said this approach is not incompatible with good economic relations. “When we came to office, the argument of many, some of our opponents and many outside that, was that you simply could not raise or keep these issues on the agenda and pursue a good economic relationship. I think that’s proven to be false. As you see, if anything our trade and investment has increased more quickly under this government and we have continued to express our concerns, and will continue to do so.”
One growing component of the “mutually beneficial economic relationship” with China will be trade in energy products. Mr. Harper referred indirectly to the Obama Administration’s decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf coast, and the consequent need to diversify into new export markets.
“A weakness has been the fact that for some of these key energy products, we sell virtually entirely to one market. Obviously debates recently in the United States have underscored that’s not merely a weakness in terms of price, that’s actually a weakness in terms of our own market security. So I think it has just emphasized, along with everything else, the necessity of broadening our export markets, but particularly broadening them for this key strategic commodity,” he said.
Original Article
Source: National Post
Author: John Ivison
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