Conservative MPs are calling out the federal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney after its representatives didn’t follow allies in proactively difficult Iran’s nomination to 2 United Nations bodies — including one tasked with reviewing a landmark treaty on nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Iran was nominated to the vice-presidency of the UN’s month-long review conference on the worldwide nuclear non-proliferation treaty, higher often known as the NPT.
Within the General Assembly on April 27, the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates either objected to or dissociated themselves from Iran’s nomination to the NPT conference. Canada didn’t speak out.
On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand approached reporters on Parliament Hill to supply what she called “a clarification.”
“I would like to be absolutely clear that there was no vote taken on the matter, and specifically, my officials who spoke two times yesterday on the difficulty of Iran were completely clear, that there is completely no support from the Canadian government for the Iranian regime and any leadership positions it holds,” she said Tuesday.
But Canada did in a roundabout way challenge Iran’s nomination to the NPT conference within the two video clips Global Affairs Canada sent to The Canadian Press.
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As an alternative, the department’s political director Richard Arbeiter spoke about broader non-proliferation issues and Tehran’s actions within the Strait of Hormuz after the USA launched its bombing campaign.
“Disarmament cannot gain traction if safeguards are treated as optional, or if non-compliance is met with ambiguity,” he said on April 27 on the marble dais of the General Assembly.
“The continuing conflict linked to Iran’s nuclear program underscores that these are usually not abstract debates, but realities with serious regional and global consequences.”
On the UN Security Council that very same day, Arbeiter spoke about Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on its neighbours, but didn’t seek advice from the NPT committee.
“Canada expresses its full solidarity with the countries of the region who’ve borne the brunt of Iran’s attacks,” he said.
Earlier this month, UN Watch, a gaggle that primarily advocates for Israel, also noted that a bloc of Asian countries nominated Iran on April 8 to the UN’s economic and social council, ECOSOC, which informs how UN programs function.
Canada and most of its allies didn’t contest that move. The U.S. delegation was the just one to thrust back against Iran’s nomination on April 8.
Conservative MPs, including Melissa Lantsman and Vincent Ho, have raised the difficulty within the House of Commons multiple times in recent weeks. Eight days after the ECOSOC vote, the federal government issued a response.
“Because the position was uncontested, there was no opportunity for a vote. The vote to elect nominated candidates will happen within the UN General Assembly in November,” MP Mona Fortier, Anand’s parliamentary secretary, told the Commons on April 16.
“Canada works closely with partners to actively counter Iran’s candidacies in UN bodies and can proceed to accomplish that on all occasions.”
Opponents of Iran’s involvement within the UN have raised Tehran’s repression of anti-regime protesters and the Iranian diaspora abroad, together with its attacks on Gulf countries after the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran.
“The federal government’s silence on Iran is a vote forged in its favour, irrespective of what they let you know,” Lantsman told Parliament. “The Liberals have never had a single position on Iran, only whichever position costs the least.”
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