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DELHI — Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says attacks by Iran against Canada’s partners in the Middle East must stop.
Anand said in online posts she strongly condemns the targeting of Qatar and stands with the United Arab Emirates as it defends itself against escalation by Iran.
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The latest of those posts came shortly after it was confirmed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead, after American and Israeli militaries launched an attack on the Middle Eastern country.
Anand is in India with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who met Sunday with Indian Oil chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney and Coal India chairman and managing director Shri B. Sairam.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
Carney said a day earlier Canada is aiming to sign a comprehensive trade deal with India, which would double two-way trade by 2030.
He wrapped up his visit to Mumbai, and has landed in New Delhi. The trip is part of an ongoing reset of the trade and diplomatic relationship with India.
Anand and Carney have yet to react to Khamenei’s death. Carney said Saturday evening prior to the confirmation that while he supports the U.S. action in Iran, Canada will not get directly involved in the conflict.
“We will continue to provide all possible support to Canadians throughout the region and urge Canadians in Iran to shelter in place,” Anand said in a statement.
Iran has responded to the latest strikes by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
At an event Saturday, Carney called Iran the “principal source of instability and terror throughout the Middle East” and said it must never be able to develop a nuclear weapon.
U.S. President Donald Trump justified the military action by claiming that Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach the U.S. Trump also listed grievances stretching back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic.
Carney said he and his finance and foreign affairs ministers have had a series of discussions in recent weeks with Trump and top officials about “the possibility of this happening” if diplomatic efforts were not successful.
Experts told The Canadian Press Canada’s support for U.S. strikes against Iran could come with security risks, as the regime looks to retaliate against perceived enemies abroad.
Thomas Juneau, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s school of public and international affairs, pointed to a pattern of “transnational repression — targeting of Iranian-Canadian dissidents, human rights or democratic activists.”
Now in an existential fight, the regime may well pull out all the cyber-stops.
“The Iranian state is now facing a fight to the finish, to its elimination effectively. They have in their minds absolutely nothing to lose,” Sajjan Gohel, international security director at the Asia Pacific Foundation, said in comments before Khamenei’s death was confirmed.
Iran and affiliated groups have carried out numerous campaigns against far-flung foes. State-aligned cyberwarfare groups have monitored and harassed dissidents in Canada, the U.S., U.K., Germany and elsewhere.
In 2024, the House of Commons condemned an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler.
— with files from The Associated Press and Christopher Reynolds
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