Nuclear deal with Iran raises concerns: Baird
OTTAWA (CP) — The Canadian government was “deeply skeptical” on Sunday of Iran’s agreement to temporarily freeze its nuclear program, saying Ottawa’s sanctions against the regime would remain firmly in place until the new deal’s words turned into actions.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird appeared to take a stronger stance on the newly brokered deal than the United States and other allies, saying Canada would be watching Iran closely over the coming weeks and months.
“We have made-in-Canada foreign policy,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“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.”
The agreement reached in Geneva during talks between Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers commits Tehran to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for limited and gradual relief from crippling economic sanctions.
The U.S. said the deal was key to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear threat, with President Barack Obama saying the agreement “cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb.” Israel, however, condemned the agreement as a “historic mistake.”
In Ottawa, Baird took a guarded approach.
“We’re deeply skeptical of Iran and its ability to honour its obligations,” he said.
Baird added that Canada believes “every diplomatic measure” should be taken to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.
“A nuclear Iran is not just a threat to Canada, or its allies,” he said. “It would also seriously damage the integrity of decades of work for nuclear non-proliferation. It would provoke other neighbouring states to develop their own nuclear deterrent.”
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister harshly condemned the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran on Sunday while Saudi Arabia remained conspicuously quiet, reflecting the jitters felt throughout the Middle East over Iran’s acceptance on the global stage.
Elsewhere, many welcomed the agreement as an important first step toward curbing Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
Israel and Western-allied Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia have formed an unlikely alliance in their opposition to Sunday’s deal, joined together by shared concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran and the Tehran’s growing regional influence.
While most Gulf countries remained silent in the first hours after the deal was reached in Geneva, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted little time in criticizing it, calling it a “historic mistake” and saying he was not bound by the agreement.
Speaking to his Cabinet, Netanyahu said the world had become a “more dangerous place” as a result of the deal.
He reiterated a long-standing threat to use military action against Iran if needed, declaring that Israel “has the right and the duty to defend itself by itself.”
Sunday’s agreement is just the first stage of what is hoped to bring about a final deal ensuring that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.
Under the deal, Iran will curb many of its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for limited and gradual relief from painful economic sanctions.
The six-month period will give diplomats time to negotiate a more sweeping agreement.
The package includes freezing Iran’s ability to enrich uranium at a maximum five per cent level, which is well below the threshold for weapons-grade material and is aimed at easing Western concerns that Tehran could one day seek nuclear arms. International monitors will oversee Iran’s compliance.
For Iran, keeping the enrichment program active was a critical goal. Iran’s leaders view the country’s ability to make nuclear fuel as a source of national pride and an essential part of nuclear self-sufficiency.
But Israel views any enrichment as unacceptable, saying making low-level enriched uranium weapons grade is relatively simple.
It demands all enrichment be halted, and that Iran’s abilities to produce uranium be rolled back.
Netanyahu had also called for economic sanctions to be increased. Israel fears that Iran will use the diplomatic process as cover to trick the international community, much the way North Korea did in its march toward a nuclear bomb.