Iran: Canada Obeying British-Zionist Dictated Policies

Iran strongly blasted the extremist policies pursued by the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government towards Tehran, and stressed that Ottawa is only complying with the policies dictated by Britain and the Zionist regime of Israel.

“The hostile attitude of the incumbent racist Canadian government, in fact, happen in compliance with the policies that are dictated by the Zionists and the British government,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said on Friday evening.

He criticized Harper government’s extremist foreign policy, and said, “The different actions and hostilities shown by this government against the Iranian nation and Iranian expatriates in Canada, including the closure of the visa section of the Canadian Embassy in Tehran, freezing the bank accounts of Iranian nationals living in Canada, and prohibiting money transfers to Iranian students studying in that country are among these policies.”

The remarks by the Iranian spokesman 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.

Government sources said that Canadian diplomats in Iran had almost no contact for years with Iranian officials. That reduced the value of the diplomacy at an embassy with an annual budget of about $7-million, an official said.

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.

Ottawa is a staunch supporter of Israel, following a tough stand on Iran. It is said that the Canadian government plans to ratchet up measures against Tehran.

Three diplomats had left in recent weeks, and five flew out early on Friday. Hours later, Ottawa announced that Iran’s diplomats have five days to leave Canada.