Experts Assembly Member: Canada’s Decision Taken under Zionists’ Pressures

The decision to close the Canadian embassy in Tehran has been taken under the pressure of the Zionist regime and the US, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Sunday.

“The Canadian government has adopted the measure with the US persuasion and under the pressure of Zionist thoughts,” Ayatollah Abbas Ka’bi told FNA on Sunday.

He said the Canadian government’s decision to close its embassy is illogical, hasty and against the diplomatic norms, and added, “The move will harm the Canadian government and it will have no consequence but damaging Canada’s national interests.”

His remarks came after five Canadian diplomats left Iran on Friday and closed the embassy in a sudden move, suspending ties with Tehran. The two sides already had low-level diplomatic ties that made it almost impossible for them to do useful work.

In Tehran, several politicians and MPs welcomed the severance of ties with Canada, saying that Tehran should have taken such an action and the relations should have been cut off much earlier.

In relevant remarks today, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani downplayed Ottawa’s decision to recall its diplomats from Tehran, and said severance of ties with Iran was a desperate move by the Canadian officials.

“The cheap behavior of the Canadian government which was shown in an inexperienced manner indicates that they are in a state of confusion after seeing a gathering of a majority of the world states in Tehran (during the Non-Aligned Movement summit late August) ,” Larijani said, addressing an open session of the parliament in Tehran on Sunday.

He underlined that the Canadians are making desperate and fruitless attempts to change the positive political atmosphere created by the NAM summit in Tehran through reactionary and passive moves.

Also, Zohreh Tabibzadeh, another Iranian legislator downplayed Canada’s decision, and said, “Canada has not so much economic and political power and credibility on the international scene therefore, cutting our ties with them is not so much important