Canada shuts Tehran embassy, kicks out diplomats
The door of the Iranian embassy in Ottawa is shown Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. The Canadian government says it has closed its embassy in Tehran and severed diplomatic relations amid recent attacks on foreign diplomats in Iran. / AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand
(CBS/AP) TORONTO - Canada has shut its embassy in Tehran, severed diplomatic relations and ordered Iranian diplomats in Canada to leave, accusing the Islamic Republic of being the most significant threat to world peace.
The surprise action reinforces the Conservative government's close ties with Israel but also removes some of Washington's eyes and ears inside the Iranian capital.
The move also underscores the widening gaps between Western countries' attempts to isolate and punish Iran over its nuclear program and Tehran's efforts to forge closer ties with energy-hungry Asian trading partners such as India and Pakistan to counter Western sanctions.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said that the embassy in Tehran would close immediately and Iranian diplomats in Canada have been given five days to leave.
A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, called Canada's decision "hasty and extreme" and said that Iran would soon respond, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
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Baird said Canada was officially designating Iran a state sponsor of "terrorism" and gave a long list of reasons for Canada's decision, including Tehran's support for Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad in that country's civil war.
A note in Persian posted on the door of Iran's embassy in Ottawa read: "Because of the hostile decision by the government of Canada, the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa is closed and has no choice but to stop providing any consular services for its dear citizens."
"The Iranian regime is providing increasing military assistance to the Assad regime; it refuses to comply with U.N. resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program; it routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide," Baird said in a statement. "It is among the world's worst violators of human rights; and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups."
Baird said he also was worried about the safety of diplomats in Tehran following attacks on the British embassy there.
Britain downgraded ties with Iran following an attack on its embassy in Tehran in November 2011, which it insists was sanctioned by the Islamic Republic's ruling elite. After the attack, Britain pulled all of its diplomats out of Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from U.K. soil.
Most European countries maintain a diplomatic presence in Tehran despite increased tensions over European Union sanctions that block imports of Iranian oil. The Swiss represent diplomatic interests of the United States, which broke ties with Tehran after protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in the chaotic months following the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days.
Canada's break with Iran removes another channel for Washington to get first-hand diplomatic assessments of Iranian affairs. Canada and Britain had been main conduits of information for the U.S., which also maintains special Iranian monitoring offices in several locations including Dubai.
But Canadian relations with Iran have been strained since former Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor helped rescue six Americans during the hostage crisis three decades ago. The countries resumed normal diplomatic relations with an exchange of ambassadors in 1996.
But relations soured again in 2003 after Zahra Kazemi, a freelance photographer with dual Canadian-Iranian citizenship, died in custody. Kazemi was arrested while taking photographs outside a Tehran prison in 2003.
Canada also has criticized Iran over the arrest of pioneering Canadian-Iranian blogger Hossein Derakshan, who helped develop the first Farsi language blogs and is considered one of the founders of Iran's social media community. Derakshan was detained in 2008 and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison two years later.
Canada hasn't had a fully accredited ambassador in Tehran since Iran ordered Canada's ambassador, John Mundy, to leave the country in 2007 after trying unsuccessfully to come to an agreement on an exchange of ambassadors for some time.
Baird said the skeleton staff that was operating Canada's embassy has already fled the country.
"The Iranian regime has shown blatant disregard for the Vienna Convention and its guarantee of protection for diplomatic personnel," Baird told reporters in Vladivostok, Russia, on the sidelines of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. "Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran. Our diplomats serve Canada as civilians and their safety is our No. 1 priority."
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Well, I know that if the US EVER deploys nukes, I will be first in line to take up arms against them and I am 3rd generation Canadian. ANY country that would drop weapons of genocide is an enemy.
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We've already used them twice against Japan. Technically, the only difference between atom bombs and nukes are fission vs fusion.
And we are the ONLY country ever labeled a "terrorist country" by the World Court. Of course, we vetoed that.... surprisingly!
That is a lot of people saved.
Where did you get the BS that the world court labeled the USA a terrorist country ?
Soup...........maybe you should try a hand at reading history instead of blabbering about nada.
Leave the entire middle east to its own devices, and leave us the hell out of it.
Personally, I don't give a crap if Iran gets nukes - considering their close ties to Russia and China, two nuclear superpowers, they can probably get fissile material any time they wish.
Let Israel deal with the situation if they like, as they have OUR nukes to play with.
We are BROKE, and should not spare any more of our troops' lives for someone else's fight.
Get you facts straight before spouting.
Why don't you tell your Jesuit Priest that before there was a Saidi Arabia, Iraq,Iran (formerly Persia) or Taiwan we didn't have enemies in that part of the world.
Dang, we didn't have flooding in Ohio before it rained either.
As a matter of fact, we didn't have morons like yourself until YOU were hatched.
Does Johnny Sheethan do the missionary ?
My God what does that make us? We are the country that created Abu Graib, Guantanamo Bay, the secret prisons and prison ships around the world. We are the country that launched two recent wars on faked justifications and killed more than a million civilians. We are the country that overthrew 13 legitimate democracies and installed and financed 42 bloody and brutal dictatorships around the world.
When is Canada going to close our embassy .... ?
Selective neo-historian Taylor ?
Canada joined WWI in 1915, WWII in 1939.
They helped rid Europe of the nazi disease and recently have taken the massive Genetically Modified foods monolith to court and won thanks to a courageous Canadian farmer,so they have a long record in standing up for freedom!
Perhaps if ALL countries isolated Iran (and all the other Bronze Age Belief countries that treat women like chattels,like their ignorant forbears at the time of the Greek Empire did)we would maybe see change? But so long as politicans continue to "respect" their mad point of view the world will still have barbarism which was supposedly left behind when the West generated Freedom and the rule of law. alongside the Industrial and Scientific revolutions!!
Still, the United Nations (that massive talking shop-to-no-effect), allows these ancient bigots to speak of wiping Israel off the face of the earth without comment or reprimand, and then calls the US a "terrorist nation"!!
Shun all those nations who believe that their religion trumps civilized decent behaviour!
CUT LOANS to those nations where the mullahs or dictators have stuffed all the aid money into Swiss bank accounts, and let their religion take care of them!
Personally, I am sick of hatred using the R card to excuse barbarity. We live in a world where there is the possibility of wealth for all.
It is sad that we still cling to outdated values in much of the world! Canada is to be congratulated!!
Actually the Canadians learned something from us. How to bend over and grab ankles for Israel. Can't wait for the war and the return of the draft. Americans won't get a clue until their sons start dying for Israel.
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Sadly, I think you are correct.
I know American soldiers died for the Arabs.....like in Lebanon, Kuwait,Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,Qater etc.
Sadaam Hussein invaded Kuwait and the last time I looked at a map it was not part of Israel.
Chuckles and Achmed will be reply very soon with their old propoganda pieces.
Can't answer my reply can you ?
Thought you would evade the issue with another copy and paste that you changed.
With a country like Iran, "the potential ENEMY", how much of that communication was actually USEFUL? Truthful? NONE, I bet.
Saud Arabia and the Gulf States receive over 50 billion annually from protection via the USA navy.
Now...who's the welfare state ?
Nah, if that was the case, it would have happened a long time ago.
"Actually the Canadians learned something from us. How to bend over and grab ankles for Israel. Americans won't get a clue until their sons start dying for Israel."
Israel died for us (6 million in the death camps) during WWII. As Israel goes so goes the world and you will never understand that...
amen, dude who pinched my screen name!!
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:) Coffee ftw!
"One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter."
Since there are only 6 million JEWS in Israel that are surrounded by 1.7 Billion Muslims (that want Israel to vanish from the face of the Earth) I really can't blame Israel for being some what concerned about their chances of being alive in the next couple of decades..
Zio_aka Achmed has once again copyed and pasted his usual manipulated propoganda piece.
How much do they in Tehran pay you for posting 24/7 ?