Vol. 76/No. 35      October 1, 2012

Ottawa gave Iran’s diplomatic staff five days to leave the country and declared Iranian government a “state-sponsor of terrorism.”

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird claimed the action was taken out of concern for the safety of Canadian diplomats, but also because of the alleged “military dimension” of Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

In response, Iran’s foreign ministry said the action was a “continuation of anti-Iranian policies”—which includes freezing bank accounts of Iranians in Canada as part of imperialist financial sanctions on Iran.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Ottawa’s action, calling on the “entire international community … to follow in Canada’s determined path and set Iran moral and practical red lines that will stop its race to achieve nuclear weapons.”

The Iranian government maintains its nuclear program is only for production of energy and for medical purposes.

Meanwhile, cruisers, aircraft carriers and minesweepers from 25 nations are converging on the Strait of Hormuz in the context of threats by the Israeli government to carry out air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The imperialist exercise will be followed next month by the biggest air defense war game ever staged by Tehran.
 
 
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