"The selection of the interests sections for countries should be made officially in bilateral talks and according to both sides' agreement but these steps have not been taken in the case of Canada," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

Canada cut its ties with Tehran on September 8. Five Canadian diplomats left Iran last week (September 8) and closed the embassy in a sudden move.

The two sides already had low-level diplomatic ties that made it almost impossible for them to do useful work.

Many Canadian analysts and officials criticized Ottawa for its naive decision to sever ties with Iran, describing the move as a strategic and grave mistake.

"No country suspends diplomatic relations with an adversary lightly. It signals that the possibility for future dialogue is over. While it is true that Canada has not been a major player in international negotiations with Iran, with this latest Canadian decision to suspend diplomatic relations with Iran, we are now effectively out of the game," Ottawa's last Ambassador to Tehran John Mundy said.

In his article, Mundy, a former Canadian ambassador to Iran who was expelled in 2007, urged the parliament to harness the government's foreign policy towards Iran and similar to many other Canadian diplomats, former foreign policy officials and thinkers asked why Ottawa is sacrificing Canadian interests for the sake of Israel.
isna/281

  Download