More than ever before it is necessary for our community to advocate for peace and diplomacy.
John Bolton: "The inconvenient truth is that only military action...can accomplish what is required. Time is terribly short, but a strike can still succeed." (1)
Mike Pompeo: "It is under 2,000 sorties to destroy the Iranian nuclear capacity. This is not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces.” (2)
As we were celebrating Nowruz, important changes happened in the Trump Administration. First, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was replaced by Mike Pompeo. Shortly thereafter, National Security Advisor H.R McMaster was replaced by John Bolton. While Tillerson and McMaster were both considered moderate in their approach to foreign relations, both John Bolton and Mike Pompeo are on record advocating publicly for aggression and military actions against Iran.
Since the last US elections the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC) has warned the Canadian government on multiple occasions about the dangerous policies the Trump administration have implemented. The ICC was among the leading Canadian organizations raising its voice against the discriminatory Trump travel ban (the Muslim Ban) and ensuring that Canadian-Iranians and Canadian PR holders are not impacted.
On October 11, 2017 as the world was waiting for Trump administration's decision about the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) we authored a letter signed by 10 Canadian civil society organizations asking the Canadian government to show leadership by supporting the nuclear agreement and committing to diplomacy with Iran. A few days later (on Oct 13th) Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland issued a statement in support of the nuclear agreement and announced Canada's commitment to provide additional funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency work related to the Iran nuclear agreement.
We have a challenging and dangerous time ahead of us. With Bolton and Pompeo at the White House the voices of war seem to be louder than ever before. We need to organize and make sure that our voice is heard by policy makers across Canada. Responsible and peaceful countries like Canada must advocate for peace and diplomacy with Iran. Canada has the strength, the experience and the relationship with the US to do this. It is only in this way that we believe that Canada can help the world avoid another disastrous war in the Middle East.
More than ever before it is necessary for our community to advocate for peace and diplomacy.
Click here to join ICC membership and help us strengthen our community’s voice in Canada.
References:
(1) https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/opinion/to-stop-irans-bomb-bomb-iran.html
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Iranian Canadian Congress published this page in News 2018-03-25 23:52:07 -0400