Canada ‘at a disadvantage’ in Iran but no plan to open embassy, Carney says

Canada is “at a disadvantage” in countries like Iran where it lacks a diplomatic presence, but his government is not looking to re-establish relations with Tehran, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday.

“Engagement is not endorsement. Having an embassy, having consular services in a country does not mean we endorse the policies of that country,” Carney told reporters during an end-of-sitting news conference.

Commenting on the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela, Carney said not having diplomats on the ground in Caracas makes it hard for Ottawa to offer help to Canadians.

“There are a series of countries with whom we have not seen eye to eye, to put it mildly, where we do not have representation. Iran, Venezuela [are] two examples. There are others,” he said.

“That puts us at a disadvantage, first and foremost, to helping Canadians that are in these countries,” he said, adding in some consular cases Ottawa has leaned on countries that “aren’t our natural allies” to help Canadians leave Iran.

This week, a diaspora group called the Iranian Justice Collective said it had heard the Carney government intends to restore diplomatic relations with Iran and reopen the embassies in Tehran and Ottawa.

The group opposes the idea and would not cite the source of its information.

Carney said the government is not talking about restoring ties with Iran.

“We’ve had no discussion. I’m making a general point,” he said.

Global Affairs Canada wrote in a statement earlier this week it was “not currently considering reopening an embassy in Iran” and that talks with Iran are limited to consular matters, human rights and nuclear non-proliferation.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in February that “regime change” would be required before Canada would restore ties with Iran, which were severed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government in 2012.

Anand told CBC’s Power & Politics that the government is looking at alternative options to improve consular services for Canadians in countries like Iran.

“We’ve taken no decisions, but we are looking at how best to serve Canadians, not only within this country, but internationally and that will be a process that occurs over the next number of months,” she told host David Cochrane.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he does not support reopening embassies with Iran.

“This is a terrorist regime that has killed our people,” he said, citing transnational repression and the destruction of an aircraft with scores of Canadians aboard in early 2020.

Canadian diplomats told Parliament in March that Ottawa was looking at restoring a diplomatic presence in Venezuela — but only if it could be sure that its mission there would be protected. Diplomats told a Senate committee earlier this month that the government was still looking at restoring full diplomatic ties with Venezuela.

Canada and Venezuela have not formally severed relations but Ottawa closed its Caracas embassy in June 2019 after Venezuela refused to renew expiring visas for diplomats.

The Trudeau government made Canada one of the most prominent international supporters of Venezuelan opposition leaders after an election that was widely viewed as stolen.

Poilievre said Canada should offer no “support, diplomatic, economic or otherwise,” to the current Venezuelan government.

In March, diplomats testified that Canada has no plans to reopen its embassy in Syria. They said Ottawa would be more likely to do so if large numbers of Canadian tourists or companies started showing an interest in Syria.

Canada re-established diplomatic ties with Syria a year ago, following the ouster of the Assad dictatorship.