Citing 'threat to global peace,' Canada cuts diplomatic ties with Iran

Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and is expelling all remaining Iranian diplomats in Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Friday.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Canada was choosing now to sever diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic. In explaining the move, Mr. Baird gave a laundry list of reasons: Iran’s current support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its nuclear program, its long-time support for organizations Ottawa considers terrorist groups, its threats against Israel, its human-rights record and even the 1979 hostage-taking at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

“Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today,” Mr. Baird told reporters in a late-night statement given on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Russian port city of Vladivostok. “Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Tehran.”

He added: “There’s just a long list of reasons why we’re coming to this decision.”

The practical implications of the move appear to be limited. Relations between Ottawa and Tehran have been adversarial for a decade, and Canada hasn’t had a fully accredited ambassador in Iran since John Mundy was expelled in 2007 for unspecified reasons.

Mr. Baird said Iranian diplomats stationed in Ottawa have been given five days to leave the country.

Staff levels at the Canadian Embassy in Tehran were already at a bare minimum before the move, he said, and the last “seven or eight” Canadian diplomats stationed there have now left the country.

Mr. Baird hinted several times that there was reason to doubt the safety of Canadian diplomats in the country, referring to both the 1979 incident and the storming of the British Embassy last year by radical Islamic students who ransacked offices and burned the British flag. He repeatedly referred to Iran’s disrespect for the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a United Nations treaty meant to protect diplomats serving their country abroad.

 “One of the things that causes me the greatest concern is the safety of our diplomatic personnel. These are valued public servants. They don’t sign up to be put in harm’s way,” he said. “It just got to a point where we were just very uncomfortable putting their lives at risk.”

Mr. Baird also warned Canadians to avoid “all travel” in Iran, adding that Iranian-Canadians should be aware that Tehran would not recognize their dual nationality.

Original Article
Source: the globe and mail
Author: Mark MacKinnon