The Canadian government is “deeply skeptical” about Iran’s agreement to temporarily freeze its nuclear program, and hence intends to keep its sanctions against the regime firmly in place until the new deal shows results, the Toronto Star reports.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canada would be watching Iran closely over the coming weeks and months.
“We have made-in-Canada foreign policy,” he told reporters on Sunday, adding: “We think past actions best predict future actions. And Iran has defied the United Nations Security Council, it has defied the International Atomic Energy Agency. Simply put Iran has not earned the right to have the benefit of the doubt.”
Baird repeated a caution first sounded by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying, “A nuclear Iran is not just a threat to Canada, or its allies, it would also seriously damage the integrity of decades of work for nuclear non-proliferation. It would provoke other neighboring states to develop their own nuclear deterrent.”
And so, Canadian sanctions remained firmly in place as of Sunday.
“Effective sanctions have brought the regime to present a more moderate front and open the door to negotiations,” Baird said. “The Iranian people deserve the freedom and prosperity that they have been denied for all too long by the regime’s nuclear ambitions. Until then Canadian sanctions will remain tough and will remain in full force.”
On Sunday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, whose office is monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, said there is no reason for the world to be celebrating the deal signed in Geneva, which is based on “Iranian deception and Western self-delusion.”