Was  Canada’s  decision  to  cut  ties  with Iran  the  right  thing  to  do?

The white behind some of the text adds no significance to the message as it is merely an anomaly in the printing.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird severed ties with Iran on September 7^th 2012 over its sponsorship of terrorism and with fears about the safety of Canadian diplomats in the Iran. Baird said that the Canadian embassy in Tehran would close immediately and all the Iranian diplomats in Canada were given five days to leave Canada. 

Those us who were alive on November 4, 1979 will remember when an Iranian mob of pro-Khomeini radicals stormed the American embassy and seized almost all of the embassy staff and held them hostage for 14 months. He said that he was worried about the safety of the few Canadian diplomats still in Tehran who had not yet left Iran following recent attacks on the British embassy in Tehran. He said in a statement to the media, “The Iranian regime has shown blatant disregard for the Vienna Convention and its guarantee of protection for diplomatic personnel. Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran. Our diplomats serve Canada as civilians, and their safety is our Number One priority.” The Canadian Foreign Affairs was also warning ordinary Canadians to avoid any travel to Iran. Canadians still in Iran seeking Canadian consular services are being directed to go to the Canadian embassy in Turkey if they are free to exit Iran.

Janice Stein, one of Canada's leading Middle East experts and the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, told CBC News she sees the move as an “issue of security for diplomatic personnel in Tehran as the sanctions ramp up, and Canada's remaining diplomatic personnel would be a prime target were crowds to turn hostile.”

In an interview on the 8^th of September on CBC Radio's The House, Baird emphasized his “concern was for the safety of the men and women working at the Canadian mission.” However when he was asked by host Evan Solomon whether there was “something specific” that concerned him,  he conceded there was not a direct threat or an increased security risk. Baird said that “The mission in Tehran is not one of the safest we have.  It faces a busy road and it could be overrun pretty quickly.” unquote

Baird's statement on the 7^th listed a series of old grievances but does not say what specifically prompted the surprise move. He did say however that “the Iranian regime has shown blatant disregard for the Vienna Convention and its guarantee of protection for diplomatic personnel.” That statement was undoubtedly a reference to the ransacking of the British Embassy in Tehran by protesters in 2011 while Iranian police looked on and did absolutely nothing to stop the attack on the British embassy.

Even after its embassy in Tehran was ransacked—an attack Ambassador Dominick Chilcott described as “a state-supported activity”, Britain did not suspend diplomatic relations, although it did expel Iran's diplomats.

At the time, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the BBC the U.K.'s response was, “It doesn't mean we're cutting off all diplomatic relations with Iran. It doesn't mean we are in any way lessening our determination to try to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear question.” However, the Iranian government certainly knows where Canada stands because we've made our position forcefully vy severing our ties with the rogue country.

So far the West has failed to find a solution to the problem of Iran building nuclear reactors that most nations believe is intended to make atomic bombs so that the Iranians can obliterate the Jews in Israel.

I remember when the United Nations was planning to have one of its international conferences on criminal justice and the treatment of offenders held in Tehran; I, who was one of the persons who was scheduled to speak at that conference, suspected that in all likelihood, most of those countries planning to send their delegates to Iran to attend the conference were dismayed at the prospect of us having to be in any part of Iran. The UN authorities must have guessed as much because they soon after changed the venue of the conference to another country. I think what was on our minds was that all the time we were in Iran; we would be followed by plain-clothed police no matter where we went outside the conference building.

As an interesting aside, when I gave a speech at a UN conference in Milan in 1985 in which in my speech I presented before the delegates, I said that we should execute all terrorists soon after we capture and convict them. The video of my speech was broadcasted on television all over Italy that night and parts of my speech was published in the media world-wide. The Italian armed forces who were in charge of the security of the conference centre then designated an armed non-commissioned army officer in plain clothes to discretely follow me everywhere I went so that no harm would befall me while I was in Italy. At first, I thought I was being followed by a terrorist who was waiting for the right moment to strike. That is why I always stayed with crowds while walking around Milan. However, I spotted the man following me on the first night after my speech and it was when I spoke to the Italian army general in charge of security for the UN conference, that I was introduced to the man tailing me. The general laughingly chastised the man following me by telling him that he shouldn’t have let me spot him so early while he was tailing of me.

Baird also condemned the Iranian regime as a sponsor of terrorism when he said, “Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.” I am in total agreement with that statement. For example, Iran supports Hezbollah, a terrorist group in Lebanon by funding, training and arming them whose goal is to bring about the liberation of Jerusalem for the Palestinians by violence.  Iran also supports Hamas which is also a terrorist organization in Gaza.   

I am wondering if the timing of Iran’s embassy’s suspension is related to Canada's Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which was passed by the Canadian parliament in March of this year. By severing the ties with Iran, Canada has taken the step of officially designating Iran as a well as Syria as supporters of terrorism which opens the door for victims of terrorism that have been sponsored or brought about by those two countries to sue the assets of both countries for damages. This can be done with Canada’s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act

 The Canadian government has also been concerned about what was going on in the Iranian embassy in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. There were suspicions that Iranian embassy people were spying on Iranians living in Canada.

Ray Boisvert, who was the assistant director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service until April 2012, pointed to what he believed as a fact was that the Iranian Embassy was running some kind of threatening operation aimed at the Iranian community in Canada. According to him, for this reason, Iran absolutely poses a security threat in Canada.

Kaveh Shahrooz, the vice president of the Iranian-Canada Congress, said that “members of the community are worried if they partake or speak out, [against Iran] that [they] will be reported to [the Iranian Embassy in] Ottawa and there'll be repercussions for that person if they go back home, or for their family [still in Iran].”

Baird recited a litany of complaints about Iran, including its arms support for the Assad regime in Syria, its refusal to comply with UN resolutions about its own nuclear program, its threats to Israel and its abysmal human rights record.

Canada's relations with Iran have been iffy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. After Canadians spirited six American diplomats out of Tehran in 1980 during the post-revolution hostage crisis, the Canadian embassy was closed for eight years. The two countries slowly moved back to normal diplomatic relations with an exchange of ambassadors in 1996. Washington on the other hand has not had diplomatic ties with Iran since the aftermath of that country's 1979 Islamic revolution when the radical Iranians overran the US embassy in Tehran.

Canada's break with Iran removes another channel for the United States to get first-hand diplomatic assessments of Iranian affairs. Canada and Britain had been main conduits of information for the U.S., but Britain downgraded its diplomatic relations with Iran after a crowd attacked its embassy in Tehran in November of 2011.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi who heads Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy said that there would be “immediate and decisive” response to Canada’s action. That sounds like Iran is threatening swift retaliation for the people of Canada. I can’t imagine what a little rogue government like that one in Iran can possibly do to hurt Canada in general. Does that Iranian fool realize that Canada’s best friend is the United States who in seconds could punish Iran in a way that would making a spanking seem like a kiss on one’s buttocks?

We as Canadians can’t ever forget the 2003 incident after Zahra Kazemi, a freelance photographer with dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship was arrested for taking pictures of a student protest that was taking place outside the Evin Prison in Tehran. Later when she was in that prison, she was tortured, raped and then beaten to death by an Iranian security agent. Canada described the murder as a “state-sanctioned murder”. No one in Iran has ever been punished for that crime. Canada at that time recalled its ambassador. That was a pointless exercise because nothing changed.

Mundy, who wa expelled from Iran in 2007,s has since retired from the diplomatic corps. He called Canada's action “a very drastic step” and one that surprised him, too.  Canada's move is making international headlines and its significance shouldn't be underestimated. However I am forced to ask myself this rhetorical question. “Why did Canada now suspend its relations with Iran?”

"The timing and the way Baird did it is rather awkward because he chose to announce it on the doorstep of Russia, which is the country that is the strongest proponent of the negotiated settlement to the nuclear issue.  This makes me wonder if Canada's announcement is an implicit criticism of Russia’s policy toward Iran.

Unfortunately, the Canadian government's move is likely to have little impact in Iran. The Iranians have not really looked at Canada as an important actor its criticism of Iran’s nuclear plans. Canada's economic relations with the Islamist nation have already weakened for some time.

Ken Taylor, who was Canada's ambassador in Iran during the U.S. hostage crisis that began in 1979, told CBC's Hannah Thibedeau he doesn't agree with Canada's decision to suspend diplomatic relations. He said in part;

“Given Canada's status as an international player, there's great value to having someone there on the ground who can interpret what is going on, to the extent that there are challenges to doing that properly.”

He may very well be right because Canada now has no longer the ability to communicate directly, government to government, with the Iranian government. However, I am not sure that such communications in the past were that fruitful in any case. The major impact will be on the Iranian people living in Canada, which will have a lot more difficulty getting visas to go home for visits.

Another significant impact on the Canadian government’s plan to sever relations between Canada and Iran is that we no longer have Canadian diplomats on the ground to protect the interests of Canadian citizens who are still in Iran. The Canadians still in Iran depend upon the Canadian diplomats to make representations on their behalf.

There are a number of Canadian citizens still in Iran, some of whom are in jail, and under a sentence of death. For example, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall,  a Canadian citizen jailed in Iran since 2008, is one of three Canadians being held in Iran's notorious Evin prison facing execution—the same prison where Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was beaten to death in 2003, which led to a serious worsening of relations between Canada and Iran. I suppose Iran could retaliate by executing these three Canadians currently under a sentence of death. Fortunately our diplomats are already home and out of harm’s way.

Iran certainly holds no financial leverage over Canada with respect to foreign investment and trade and since Iran’s oil trade has already been restricted.

Even if they really are developing a nuclear bomb, how would they then fly it to Canada? If they could create an Intercontinental rocket (which they couldn’t anyway) by the time it lifted off, there is no doubt in my mind that Tehran would be obliterated by the Americans and simply end up being a large parking lot.

Iran’s threat is empty rhetoric from one of Iran’s heavyweights but to everyone else, he is a bumbling fool. Any threat of retaliation against Canada by Iran is not unlike a frog lying on its back on a Lilly floating down a river while bragging that it has an enormous erection and yelling, “Raise the drawbridge, I’m coming through.” 

Recently the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit was held in Tehran. Iranian officials boasted about a successful summit, which involved most countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The summit was not an overwhelming success for Iran but demonstrated they are not as isolated as the West would hope.

Other than China, the other countries represented at that conference can offer very little harm of any real consequence to Canada’s interests. Many of those countries rely on the goodwill of most of the powerful countries in the world who are not members of NAM. Further, many of those small countries are friends with Canada.

The West is unquestionably attempting to isolate Iran over the dispute about Iran's nuclear program. In that context, Canada, by withdrawing its diplomatic services from Iran and closing down the Iranian embassy in Canada is no doubt trying to send a symbolic message to Iran after the NAM meeting that Iran should not conclude that their isolation is over or that they can escape western pressure to change their ways. In fact there is talk that other nations will also sever their diplomatic relations with Iran.

Only time and history will tell whether or not the Canadian government’s decision to sever diplomatic relations with Iran was the right thing to do.