Rabbi David Saperstein today issued a statement commending Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Minister John Baird, and the Canadian government for reaffirming their opposition to the policies of the Iranian regime by closing the Canadian embassy in Tehran.
Read the statement, excerpted below.
On September 7th, Foreign Minister Baird announced the decision to close the Canadian Embassy in Tehran and expel the Iranian diplomats at its Embassy in Ottawa. He explained that the embassy was closed not only for security reasons, in light of the vulnerability of the physical placement of the embassy and the Iranian government’s failure to take more significant steps to protect foreign embassies, but explicitly in opposition to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its support for global terrorism, and its support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. We understand that closing an Embassy is always a difficult choice for a country to make, reducing, as it does, its ability to ensure the well-being of its citizens in a host country and to pursue its agenda directly with the government of that country. When, however, such a confluence of circumstances arises – as in this case – the decision to close an embassy is to be supported and the clarity of the Foreign Minister’s reasons commended for continuing strong pressure on the Iranian regime.
We call on other nations of the world to find their own ways to clarify their resolve on these issues and to join Canada and the United States in stepping up economic and diplomatic pressure on the Iranian regime.
