Too risky to reopen embassy, Kent says

Urges Liberals to keep sanctions against Iran

OTTAWA• A Conservative foreign affairs critic says t he Liberal government shouldn’t lift sanctions or reopen its embassy in Iran because of continuing threats to foreign diplomats.

Peter Kent is also refuting a former government analyst’s assessment that Liberal efforts to re- engage with Tehran have been hamstrung by the previous Conservative government’s designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In 2012, the Tories closed Canada’s embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats in Ottawa, severing relations.

They also passed the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which allows victims of terrorism to sue countries that are listed as supporters of terrorism.

The Liberal government wants to re- establish diplomatic relations with Iran, and is working to lift sanctions in return for Iran’s compliance with the new nuclear agreement with the United States and five other major powers.

Kent says Canadian diplo mats would remain at risk in a newly opened embassy in Tehran because the Iranian government isn’ t living up to its obligations to protect foreign missions on its soil.

He cited the attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy earlier this month following the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Canada closed i ts embassy because it feared a repeat of an earlier attack on Britain’s embassy. The British have since returned to Iran, but it would be premature for Canada to follow suit, Kent said.

“I believe if the embassy is reopened, Canada will be putting its foreign affairs professionals at serious risk, given the Iranians’ very selective protection of diplomatic staff,” he said.

Kent also rejected the assessment of a former Canadian government analyst and Middle East expert who said the Conservatives “booby- trapped” relations with Iran.

Thomas Juneau, a Univer- sity of Ottawa expert on Iran who spent eight years during the Harper era as an analyst at the Department of National Defence and the Privy Council Office, said the listing of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and the passage of the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act were obstacles to the government being able to lift sanctions.

However, Kent said: “The Americans have listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since Reagan.”

He also noted the U. S. immediately imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran after the nuclear deal was sealed, to punish the country for test- firing a ballistic missile.

A Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman has said the government is reviewing its sanctions relief on Iran is because it is concerned about the ballistic missile tests.