Liberals call for 'diplomatic solution,' after initially backing attack on Iran
NEW DELHI — Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Monday the Liberal government still wants to see a “diplomatic solution” to resolve the war in the Persian Gulf days after the prime minister said he supported the attack on Iran by the U.S. and Israel.
Anand made the comments at the end of a day of meetings in New Delhi as Prime Minister Mark Carney departed for Australia without taking questions from journalists, cancelling a scheduled news conference. On Saturday, Carney threw Canada’s support behind the strikes on Iran, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Officials told journalists Carney would also not be immediately available upon landing in Sydney, citing previously made personal commitments and the need to prepare for the rest of his trip, which will include more business meetings and an address to Australia’s parliament, before leaving for Japan.
Carney arrived in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon local time, which in Ottawa is Monday evening.
Anand was left instead to outline Canada’s rationale for backing the U.S. Iran strikes. The initial statement from the Prime Minister’s Office pointed to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, saying “Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security.”
The minister told reporters that she had spent the past two days speaking to her counterparts in the Middle East and Gulf states, as well as in the G7.
She said those conversations involved “stressing that Canada believes in a diplomatic and peaceful solution, and as soon as possible, we would like parties to get to the table.”
Anand added that those talks “have yielded differing responses.”
“Some countries believe that a diplomatic solution is not possible at this time. Others want to work as quickly as possible to ensure diplomacy becomes the next phase of this horrific situation.”
The minister says Canada has always stood with the Iranian people and cited the many sanctions it has imposed against the country’s regime.
Anand did not directly say whether she believed the attacks on Iran to be legal under international law.
One Liberal MP has publicly objected to his government backing the attack.
“Canada cannot endorse the unilateral and illegal use of military force, the killing of civilians, or the kidnap and assassination of foreign heads of government, while also insisting that our sovereignty, our rights, and our independence must be respected,” Will Greaves, Liberal MP for Victoria, said in a video posted to Instagram this weekend.
“All states have an obligation to protect civilian life, and no state has the right to wage aggressive war.”
Anand reiterated the prime minister’s pervious assertion that Canada would not participate in a combat role in the war.
“Canada wasn’t involved. We weren’t notified, and we do not have an intention to be involved in any military strikes or operation,” she said.
As the reports of the U.S.-Israel strikes began to trickle out on the weekend, officials travelling with the prime minister in India had to scramble back to the government plane to locate everyone’s mobile phones, which had been left aboard, ostensibly for security reasons.
“The Government of Canada follows strong information security precautions for all official travel abroad, including specifically for abroad, including specifically for non-Five Eyes countries, and offers similar guidance and support to accompanying members of the media,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“In view of unfolding events in the Middle East, certain government telecommunications devices were moved by Canadian security officials from where they were being stored…”
The PMO also apologized for security officials “inadvertently” moving phones left on board the plane that belonged to reporters covering the trip.
-National Post, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press
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