Canada won’t lift Iran sanctions, will judge ‘actions,’ not words

Canada’s Foreign Minister Rob Nicholson came out strongly in favor of Israel over the new Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday, saying that his country would maintain a policy of economic sanctions against Iran in spite of the accord signed Tuesday by Tehran and world powers.

“We will continue to judge Iran by its actions, not its words,” Nicholson said. “We will examine this deal further before taking any specific Canadian action.”

Canada has traditionally served as a pro-Israel bulwark, vehemently supporting the Jewish state on the world stage.

“Iran continues to be a significant threat to international peace and security owing to the regime’s nuclear ambitions, its continuing support for terrorism, its repeated calls for the destruction of Israel, and its disregard for basic human rights,” Nicholson said.

“Canada will continue to support the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor Iran’s compliance with its commitments,” he added.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a staunch ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ottawa severed diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic in 2012.

Although Harper is caught in between two of his close allies — Israel and the US — on the Iran issue, it appears that he will stick beside the Jewish state in the short term, Canadian daily The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday, even though continued Canadian sanctions on Tehran will have little economic effect on the Iranian economy in any case.