Journal Pioneer

Trudeau regrets Trump Iran decision

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a thinly veiled rebuke to the Trump administra­tion and Israel over their opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, setting the stage for a divisive G7 summit next month. Trudeau said he regrets President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 agreement that was negotiated by the world’s major powers.

“We will respect the capacity of individual countries to make their decisions about foreign policy,’’ Trudeau said Wednesday.

“But for Canada’s purpose, we make our decisions around foreign policy here in Ottawa, not in Washington, not elsewhere.’’

Th e prime minister said he expects the Iran decision to be a topic of discussion when he hosts Trump and their G7 counterpar­ts in Quebec at their annual summit next month.

It is shaping up as a discussion that will expose a major cleavage between the U. S. and its G7 partners.

Th e major European countries, China and Russia are all continuing to express their support for the agreement following Trump’s decision to end U. S participat­ion and restore sanctions against Iran. Nimrod Barkan, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, said Trump’s decision actually gives Western countries the leverage they were lacking to curb Iran’s developmen­t of long- range missiles and its deployment of fi ghters to Syria that continue to threaten Israel.

“I’m not doubting the good intentions of France, Germany and Britain and Canada — they have no leverage, now they do,’’ Barkan said in an interview. Barkan said Trump’s tough stance comes straight out of his book, ‘ Th e Art of the Deal’ and should surprise no one.

“He introduced a new element, the element of leverage to a stale, non- productive reality that only encouraged the Iranians to continue their incredibly dangerous behaviour, particular­ly in Syria, by threatenin­g Israel by surroundin­g it with missiles and expecting us to sit there and just wait until something happens.’’

Last week, a senior Israeli intelligen­ce offi cial was in Ottawa to garner support for his government’s opposition to the Iran agreement.

Chagai Tzuriel, director gen- eral of Israel’s Ministry of Intelligen­ce, told Th e Canadian Press that he was seeking support from Canada and Western countries for either cancelling or strengthen­ing a deal that his government views as flawed and ultimately ineffectiv­e in stopping Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Tzuriel was in Ottawa one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s televised multimedia presentati­on trumpeted Iranian documents obtained by Israeli’s intelligen­ce agency, Mossad, that he said show Iran lied about pursuing nuclear weapons before signing the 2015 deal.

Th ere was no direct evidence in Netanyahu’s presentati­on that Iran violated the deal after signing it. On Wednesday, Trudeau said the Iran nuclear deal wasn’t perfect, but it helped prevent that country from developing a nuclear weapon. Trudeau also stressed Canada is fi rmly aligned with most countries, including other NATO allies in supporting the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehens­ive Plan of Action.

“We know that standing fi rmly in support of the JPCOA with our NATO allies and others is extremely important,’’ Trudeau said.

“We regret the decision by the United States to pull out, but we are still hopeful we are going to be able to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.’’

 ?? CP PHOTO ?? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday.
CP PHOTO Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday.

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