Canada follows path of terrorists with anti-Iran actions: Interim FM

Iran’s interim foreign minister has said Canada “followed the path of terrorists” with its hostile moves of denying Canada-based Iranians their right to vote and blacklisting Iran’s anti-terror Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

Ali Bagheri Kani made the remarks in Tehran after casting his vote in the Islamic Republic’s run-off presidential election.

“Terrorists have always confronted democracy, and Canada, with its two moves of placing the name of the IRGC in its list of terrorist groups and refusing to allow Iranians to participate in elections and exercise their right to self-determination, followed the same path,” he said.

Ottawa’s blacklisting of the Corps “which took place in alliance with terrorists and Zionists,” and its “full-fledged” confrontation against the Iranians’ right to vote, come while Ottawa lays claim to honoring human rights, Kani reminded.

In new hostile move, Canada designates anti-terror IRGC as 'terrorist group'

In yet another hostile move against Iran, Canada designates the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organization.”

Canada broke off diplomatic ties with Iran and closed its Tehran embassy in a surprise move in 2012, citing various reasons, including Iran’s support for Syria, its nuclear work, and alleged threats to the Israeli regime.

It designated the IRGC, which is credited for its domestic and regional anti-terror endeavor, as a “terrorist organization” under its “Criminal Code" on June 19.

It also bans Iranians from casting absentee ballots in the Islamic Republic’s elections, forcing them to do so in the US border cities of Buffalo and Seattle.

Canada, which harps on democracy, bars thousands of Iranians from voting: Interim FM

Iran

Ottawa’s adversarial stance comes while it has crossed out the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) in its list of terrorist organizations.

Kani also noted how some other Western countries had also failed to protect the Iranians’ right to participate in the first round of the presidential polls, which were held last Friday, by allowing anti-Iran elements to harass the voters.

He pointed out how some “subversive and terrorist” elements had been allowed to exercise verbal and sometimes even physical violence against the voters, denouncing the incidents as “unjustifiable.”

The incidents took place, while the countries in question pride themselves on their “democracy,” Kani said.

'Source of support'

Elsewhere in his remarks, the top diplomat encouraged vibrant popular participation in the run-off vote, which features a face-off between Saeed Jalili, a former lead nuclear negotiator and head of the country’s top security body, and Masoud Pezeshkian, an ex-health minister.

Such participation, he said, served as a “strong” contributor to the country’s march toward progress and enhanced nationwide unity and integrity.

“With the people’s glorious participation, we are going to start bearing witness to a new chapter in the field of progress and Islamic democracy in the country on Saturday,” Kani stated, referring to the day after the election when the results would be announced.

“Each and every vote functions as a sustaining factor and a source of support for the country’s [Islamic] establishment.”

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, bears a religious and national obligation to pave the way for overseas Iranians’ passionate contribution to the election, the official stated, adding that “in the same context, we have attempted to provide those Iranians with better services in this round of the polls.”

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