By breaking his promise to restore diplomatic relations with Iran, the Canadian prime minister has provided much-needed oxygen to hawks and warmongers in the US and Israel, says a Montreal-based political activist and author.
“Before becoming prime minister, Justin Trudeau promised to re-engage Iran. His government has failed to do so and is beginning to echo the warmongers in Washington and Tel Aviv,” Yves Engler wrote in an article published on the Dissident Voice website on Monday.
“I would hope that Canada would be able to reopen its mission [in Tehran],” Trudeau told the CBC in June 2015. “I’m fairly certain that there are ways to re-engage [Iran].”
Former conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, a close friend and ally of Israel’s hard-line premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, cut diplomatic ties with Iran in September 2012 when he closed his embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Ottawa.
The move came after the UK Embassy in the Iranian capital was stormed in 2011 following protests against new sanctions imposed by London and was soon closed. Britain reopened its embassy in 2015.
Nearly three years into their mandate, the Liberals in Canada have not restored normal relations with Iran, nor has Trudeau removed the country from Canada’s state sponsor of terrorism list, according to the article.
Canadian sanctions targeting Iran remain, and Ottawa continues to present, on a regular yearly basis, UN resolutions critical of the human rights situation in Iran.
Low-Level War
Engler maintains that Trudeau continues important components of the Harper government’s “low-level war against Iran”.
“One major exception had been on the rhetorical front, but that’s changing,” the author stated. He was referring to recent anti-Iran statements issued by Canadian officials and the government’s backing of an opposition motion in parliament last month that called on Ottawa to “immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations”.
Strategic Mistake
The Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran, Bahram Qasemi, said at the time that it would be a “strategic mistake” if the bill is passed into law, expressing hope that the Canadian government would have a better understanding of Tehran’s policies and prevent further deterioration of bilateral relations.
In his article, Engler points out that the Liberals’ hard line on Iran coincides with US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, re-imposition of tough new sanctions and the formation of a “working group” by the US and Israel to foment internal unrest in the country.
A Shame
It is a “shame” that the Liberal Party is further empowering those hurtling towards a major conflict by taking up their rhetoric, says Engler, who has written several books, including “A Propaganda System: How Canada’s government, corporations, media and academia sell war and exploitation.”
Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official, said in April that several rounds of “positive” negotiations had been held between the two sides in Iran, New York and Europe but that the Canadians were “dragging their feet” on taking practical steps due to the pressure they are facing from those against normal two-way ties.
Yves Engler, 39, is a Montreal writer and political activist. In addition to seven published books, Engler’s writings have appeared in the alternative press and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen and Ecologist.
