Canada hoping to de-escalate tensions
• Canada continued to push for all sides to take a pause and allow cooler heads to prevail, as tensions between Iran and the United States continued to rise on Tuesday.
Since the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week in Baghdad, Iranian officials have indicated they will strike back at U. S. interests, while U. S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said on Twitter that he is prepared to strike dozens of sites across Iran.
On Tuesday, Trudeau spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and King Abdullah II bin Al-hussein of Jordan. Those calls came after calls with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and Charles Michel, president of the European Council on Monday.
According to official readouts of all of these meetings released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Trudeau emphasized the need for de- escalation in the region and for all sides to keep working toward a stable and secure Iraq.
Fo r e i g n minister François- Philippe Champagne has also spoken with his counterparts in Iraq and Jordan and emphasized the same message. He also spoke with the speaker of Iraq’s parliament, where a non- binding motion was passed on the weekend calling for all foreign troops to leave the country.
Canada is also looking to ensure the mission against ISIL continues according to all of the official readouts. That mission began in 2014 and according to the Canadian military has reduced the amount of land the terrorist group controls by 98 per cent.
Conservative MP Erin O’toole, the party’s foreign affairs critic, was not available before press time Tuesday, but released a statement following Soleimani’s death urging the government to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity. Soleimani was a general in the IRGC and headed up a section of the corps, the Quds forces, which was responsible for attacks outside of Iran.
“The Conservative opposition once again calls upon the Trudeau government to finally list the IRGC as a terrorist entity after 18 months of foot- dragging. The Liberals voted for the measure, yet have done nothing to recognize the destructive and destabilizing influence of the IRGC,” O’toole said in the statement.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said it is time for Trudeau to speak to Canadians about the mission and what the government’s intentions are.
“Canadians don’t want another war. Mr. Trudeau needs to speak to Canadians and show us his plan for Canada to help calm tensions — not follow Trump into war,” he said on Twitter.