Iran's Foreign Minister Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has slammed the Canadian administration’s “hostile” policies vis-à-vis the Iranian nation, saying that Ottawa’s foreign policies are not in the interests of its own nation.


“It appears that the decisions followed by Canada today can be mostly traced to its current extremist administration, which is pursuing measures in its foreign policy that are not so acceptable to a considerable section of the Canadian people,” Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.

On April 22, Canada said that its police had arrested two ‘foreign nationals’ who were planning to derail a VIA passenger train traveling between Toronto and New York, claiming that the suspects had links to “al-Qaeda elements inside Iran.”

Tehran immediately dismissed the unfounded allegation as part of the Canadian government’s Iranophobia campaign, saying that “al-Qaeda’s mindset is by no means congruent with [the ideology of] the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Canadian government had last September closed its Embassy in Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats to leave Canada, saying Canada views Iran “as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world.”


Considering the presence of a considerable number of Iranian expatriates in Canada, Mehmanparast said, Iran sees Ottawa’s severance of ties with Tehran as one in a series of “hostile” measures to pressure the Iranian nation.

“We do not consider the Canadian government’s bid to cut off relations with Iran as an appropriate measure. We believe it was a hasty move which was the result of the behavior of an extremist government in Canada.”

“Unfortunately, there are precedents of such hasty measures in the ruling Canadian government which are against the interests of their country and our nation,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman added.

Mehmanparast further said there has so far been no agreement between Iran and Canada over the opening of an interests section in the Iranian capital city, Tehran, adding that such a decision should be made based on a mutual agreement between the two countries.

On September 17, 2012, Italy said that it would host Ottawa’s interests section in Iran. However the Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected the announcement, saying there was no formal request by Canada to appoint Italy to represent its interests in Tehran.
 

News ID 184701