Tories advised to re-engage Iran: documents By Carl Meyer Published February 17, 2010    2 Comments

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Just 15 months ago, Foreign Affairs still held out hope that re-engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran was possible, internal briefing notes indicate.

Relations between the two countries have been strained for decades, but have reached historic lows in recent years. The murder of journalist Zahra Kazemi, Iran's flaunting of international nuclear regulations, and statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have only worsened the situation.

On the diplomatic front, the situation has devolved into a tit for tat relationship. Canada has rejected a number of individuals nominated to be Iran's ambassador in Ottawa, and vice versa. The two countries have also openly criticized each other at the UN. Canadian policy has long been limited to four subjects: the human rights situation in Iran; its nuclear program; the case of Ms. Kazemi; and Iran's role in the region.

However, under the heading of "strategic re-engagement with Iran," documents prepared for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon when he assumed control of the department in October 2008 state starkly that "Iran represents a formidable threat to international security," but that "Canada can assist international efforts through careful re-engagement with Tehran."

"Canada supports international efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program," reads the document, obtained through Access to Information.

While admitting "Canada's influence on Iran is limited," the department then wrote that a "re-invigoration of our dialogue will be essential to promoting Canadian interests and ensuring our voice with respect to Israel is heard in Tehran."

The document, while optimistically referring to re-engagement, nevertheless lists Iran as one of several "high risk political environments" and refers to it under a sub-header of "Emerging Powers: A dramatically different world."

"International isolation, sanctions and a fierce power struggle within political institutions have made economic policy-making haphazard," the document reads. "High oil prices in recent years have enabled Iran to amass nearly $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves."

There are indications the government may have tried to follow through on the strategy laid out by the department. A few months after the documents were presented to Mr. Cannon, veteran Canadian diplomat Michel de Salaberry was pulled out of retirement and sent to Tehran as chargé d'affaires. He had previously served as ambassador to Iran in the 1990s.

However, since his appointment, Mr. de Salaberry has been called out onto the carpet multiple times while his counterpart in Ottawa, Bahram Ghasemi, has received similar treatment.

Meanwhile, last week, as Iranians celebrated the 31^st anniversary of their revolution, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that state scientists had enriched enough uranium to produce nuclear weapons, calling his country a "nuclear state."

The potential introduction of a hostile nuclear state into the international community set off alarm bells in several countries, including Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mr. Cannon have made several announcements in recent weeks, each with increasingly grave diplomatic language.

On the day of the Iranian announcement, Mr. Cannon stated that "Canada is deeply disappointed" by the decision. "This regime continues to blatantly ignore its international obligations, and this threatens global security," he continued.

"Iran's regime must address the serious lack of confidence that members of the international community have in its government."

He announced that Canada would look at potential economic sanctions, as well as bring up the issue of Iran at the upcoming G8 meeting in Gatineau, Que., next month.

Then on Feb. 14, in response to Iran's arrest of seven members of the Baha'i community, Mr. Cannon said that "Iran continues to disregard the rights of its people," and that as the "individuals appear to have been detained on the basis of their faith.... This is unacceptable."

In addition to the ramped up rhetoric, the government has also been talking with the international community in an effort to reach a consensus on how to increase pressure on Iran.

Last week, Mr. Cannon pressured China to capitulate to international demands and join in economic sanctions, and Mr. Harper spoke with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the Iranian announcement.

As well, last Thursday Mr. Cannon met with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb. When questioned by Embassy about the meeting, Mr. Stubb said that Finland's approach to Iran is "very close to the Canadian one."

"We think that Iran has been problematic on the nuclear front, and we think Iran has been problematic on the human rights front," said Mr. Stubb.

Finland prefers the "twin-track approach." This, Mr. Stubb said, is where "on one hand you negotiate, on the other hand if there are no results of the negotiations, you go to sanctions."

"Time is running out," he warned. "I think Iran is about to hit a wall with the international community."

Along with Finland, it appears the Canadian approach is similar to the United States, which has been calling for sanctions. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has publicly stated she believes the Revolutionary Guard in Iran has the potential to topple the Iranian government, throwing the country into a military dictatorship.

University of Ottawa professor Matteo Legrenzi, an expert on Middle East policy, acknowledged that relations between Iran and Canada have been largely frozen and said re-engagment is "now dead in the water."

"It's certainly not happening in the next year or two. If anything, we see signs that the situation in Iran is now deteriorating from a human rights point of view," he said.

Mr. Legrenzi argued that Canadian-Iranian relations suffered an immense blow upon the 2003 death of Ms. Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian journalist in Iranian custody.

Canadian officials reacted by demanding the repatriation of the body and calling for a full inquiry into her death.

As recently as last month, Mr. Cannon was still reiterating the government's call for a full inquiry.

Of the repatriation and inquiry calls, Mr. Legrenzi said, "the Iranians always thought that this sort of reaction, while they acknowledged the gravity of what happened, was too much."

"Since then, there has been this slow attempt to re-engage Iran through diplomacy and informal meetings. It looked like, up until the recent elections, that we were on the path to re-engagement."

Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae said that "Iran is not an easy country to engage with."

"It's a government where ideology reigns supreme, where they clearly have been playing a role with Hezbollah and Hamas which has not been constructive, and their nuclear ambitions represent a profound potential threat to the rest of the world," he said.

But he also argued that the government has not been "forthcoming about what it is they're all about, why they do certain things, or don't do other things. From a leadership perspective it's kind of hard to tell whether anyone is home."

Mr. Rae said he would urge Canada to match what the UK and the international community has done with respect to economic investigations into the Revolutionary Guard.

"I think we need some combination of remaining diplomatically engaged...at the same time, we need to be part of the international effort," he said.

cmeyer@embassymag.ca