Repeat of 1980 Iran crisis a real possibility, warns ex-ambassador
Taylor hits out at embassy closure
Events similar to the 1980 hostage crisis in Iran have the potential to happen again in today’s political climate, according to former Canadian diplomat Ken Taylor.
“It could happen today, what happened 30 years ago,” said Taylor, Canada’s ambassador to Iran who risked his life to hide six American diplomats during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in 1980. He said world diplomacy is a “dangerous neighbourhood.”
Speaking at the Red and White Club at a business lunch in support of Inn From the Cold, Taylor didn’t hide his criticism of the Canadian government’s decision to close the country’s embassy in Iran.
“Even though the diplomats didn’t have a great deal of access to government officials and the relationship between Canada and Iran was cool and cold, there still is a case to be made to have an embassy,” he said.
“It’s more important to have an embassy in a country where you’re in an adversarial position than it is to have an embassy in a friendly position.”
Taylor also spoke about the difficulty for diplomats and journalists in dangerous countries to work when they remain “locked up in a fortress embassy,” rather than actually leaving the embassy.
“The answer is not more security,” he said, referencing the Sept. 12 attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three of his staff. “It depends on the journalist or the diplomat who has experience, who has balance and knows how much risk he or she can take.”