Salehi Condemns Canadian FM’s Claims against Elections in Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi deplored the allegations raised by his Canadian counterpart John Baird against the presidential election in Iran, and called on the Ottawa officials to adopt wise stances.

“I advise the Canadian officials to practice rationality and wisdom,” Salehi told FNA in Tehran on Friday after casting his vote in the 11th presidential and the 4th City and Village Councils elections.

“We hope that they come to be wise. We want to have the best relations with Canada and the two countries can be complementary to each other and always have good ties and settle the misunderstandings through talks,” he added.

In a flagrant interference in Iran’s domestic affairs, Baird on Thursday called the June 14 presidential election in Iran a “sham election”, alleging that the Iranian government had rigged the results.

Iran has also earlier lashed out at the Canadian government for its lack of cooperation with Tehran in setting up polling stations for the Iranian expatriates willing to vote in the June 14 presidential election.

“We couldn’t set up polling stations in Canada due to the Canadian government’s lack of cooperation,” Director General of the Iranian Foreign Ministry for Expatriates’ Affairs and Head of Iran’s Elections Headquarters in Foreign Countries Seyed Kazzem Sajjadi told FNA in May.

He criticized the Canadian government for its negligence towards the rights of the Iranian citizens residing in Canada.

On September 7, 2012, the Canadian government at the order of Prime Minister Stephen Harper shut down the Iranian Embassy declaring the Iranian diplomats in Toronto “persona non-grata’ and giving the staff there only five days to leave the country, while at the same time pulling its ambassador and embassy staff out of Tehran, severing all diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.