Canada Refuses to Restore Ties with Iran Without Regime Change

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand has affirmed that Ottawa will not restore diplomatic relations with Tehran “unless there is regime change.”

“The repressive Iranian regime must reduce its consistent and illegal human rights violations, including by respecting international law and international humanitarian law,” she told the Globe and Mail newspaper in an interview on Saturday in Germany, where she was attending the Munich Security Conference.

Anand also announced that Canada is imposing additional sanctions on seven individuals “linked to Iranian state bodies, who are responsible for intimidation, violence, and transnational repression targeting Iranian dissidents and human rights defenders.”

Canada severed ties with Iran in 2012 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper over human rights concerns and has since maintained sanctions and trade restrictions while pursuing international legal action related to the downing of a passenger aircraft carrying Canadian citizens.

Anand said Ottawa’s regional focus is addressing human rights repression and declined to say whether Canada would support a U.S. military strike. The United States has currently bolstered its military presence in the Middle East by deploying a second aircraft carrier along with additional destroyers, fighter jets, and reconnaissance aircraft.