Following US, EU lead, Canada announces end to Iran sanctions

OTTAWA — Canada will follow the US and EU lead and lift sanctions against Iran, Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion said Tuesday.

Responding to questions in the House of Commons, Dion said: “Canada will remove those sanctions.”

“We will change this policy,” he said, noting the sanctions were “not good” for anyone. No timeline was given.

The announcement comes weeks after a deal reached between Tehran and world powers came into force, allowing the United States and the European Union to begin lifting economic barriers brought in over Iran’s nuclear program.

Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed an openness to restoring diplomatic relations with Iran, saying four years after Canada shuttered its embassy that Tehran had made “significant movement” toward dismantling parts of its program that the West feared could have led to the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Dion, meanwhile, has commented that a lifting of sanctions would allow Canadian companies to join EU and US firms now rushing to do business in Iran.

“Because if other countries move before us, it’s not a way to help our industry,” Dion said in mid-January.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is currently in Italy and is scheduled to land in France on Wednesday. Rouhani closed deals in Italy worth 17 billion euros ($18.5 billion) and is expected to close additional ones in France, including a deal to buy more than 100 Airbus jets.

— Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.