Keep up the pressure
Iran is the leading state sponsor of terror. It brutalizes its own people. It should still be sanctioned
The agreement reached between the P5+1 and Iran represents a disappointing failure to leverage diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran. A cash-strapped Iran will receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief, while retaining its nuclear infrastructure and the capacity to accelerate toward nuclear weapons once temporary restrictions expire. Worse still, the deal completely eclipses Iran’s ongoing support for terrorism, abuse of human rights, and regional subversion.
This failure of diplomacy ironically underscores the success of diplomatic pressure, particularly sanctions, in bringing Iran to the table in the first place. As President Obama acknowledged, the weight of sanctions coerced the Iranian regime into negotiations on the nuclear file. Accordingly, economic and diplomatic pressure should be brought to bear for the regime’s equally heinous abuse of human rights, sponsorship of terrorism, and violent regional destabilization.
We must remember that Iran’s isolation from the international community is not just the product of its illicit nuclear program. It is also a direct result of the Islamic Republic’s abuse of human rights at home and sponsorship of terrorism abroad. These aspects of the Islamic Republic’s reprehensible agenda, along with its regular calls for the annihilation of Israel, must remain focal points for robust Canadian diplomatic action.
The government of Iran continues to amputate, flog, torture, execute and employ other cruel and degrading punishments on the Iranian people. According to the latest UN report on human rights in Iran, the regime executed at least 753 people in 2014, the highest number in 12 years. This figure includes 25 women and at least 13 juveniles, often for crimes like drug possession, alcohol use, adultery, and “enmity against God.”
Minorities, particularly religious, as well as ethnic and LGBT groups, face constant discrimination and repression at the hands of the Iranian regime. The UN report catalogued the regime’s restrictions on building churches and the arrest of Christians during Christmas worship and celebration. Peaceful activists, including political organizers and labour leaders, continue to be imprisoned for crimes against “national security.”
This heinous behaviour is expressed beyond Iran’s borders through the regime’s ongoing sponsorship of terrorist organizations and regional destabilization. Tehran provides weapons, funds, training and direction for terrorist attacks that have claimed countless lives from Argentina to Afghanistan. Iran’s terrorist proxies include notorious groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Assad regime in Syria, whose butchery has resulted in more than 200,000 dead. Millions of people across the Middle East, from Yemen to Gaza, and Lebanon to Iraq, suffer every day from violence and repression at the hands of the Iranian regime and its proxies.
Iran’s record is that of a rogue state worthy of ongoing diplomatic and economic pressure. In addition to enacting comprehensive sanctions in response to Iran’s nuclear program, the government of Canada has taken important steps to confront the regime’s broader agenda. In 2012, the government severed diplomatic ties and listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, enabling Canadian victims to sue Iran for damages in civil court.
Canada has worked closely with our international partners in multilateral efforts to hold Iran to account. As the leading sponsor of an annual resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran at the UN General Assembly, Canada is at the centre of a global campaign to secure basic human rights for the Iranian people.
Regardless of which party is in power, Canada has a proud legacy of championing human rights, antiterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation. In the case of Iran we have laudably stuck to our principles. There is a clear consensus across the federal political spectrum, with the Conservatives, NDP and Liberals all recognizing the manifold threat posed by Iran, including human rights abuses, terrorism and nuclear weapons.
Building on this consensus, Canada should consider taking the following steps to ensure Iran’s ongoing abuses are not ignored in the wake of the Vienna agreement. First, relief of Special Economic Measures Act nuclear sanctions should be tied directly to tangible Iranian progress in fulfilling its obligations. Second, Canada should maintain Iran’s designation as a state-sponsor of terrorism. Third, Canada should continue to play a leading role in advocating for Iranian human rights with our annual resolution at the UN General Assembly. Fourth, Canada should continue to use economic and diplomatic tools, including sanctions, for the express purpose of confronting the regime’s sponsorship of terrorism and abuse of human rights.
Canada alone cannot transform Iran’s behaviour. However, we can play a practical role by encouraging likeminded countries to join us in these policies. This will send a strong signal to Iran that its full integration into the international community depends on an end to its abusive practices at home and abroad.
The details of Iran’s nuclear program matter, but so do the human rights of Iranians and the lives of those victimized by Iranian violence worldwide. If we are true to our values as Canadians, we must employ the same tools and tactics that brought Iran to the table in the first place to counter the full spectrum of Iranian abuses.