Iran slammed Tuesday’s vote by Canada’s House of Commons and said that Ottawa would be the first to suffer from the proposed restrictions.
The draft, tabled by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, calls on the government to “immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations.”
To become law, the bill needs to be approved by the upper chamber of parliament, the Senate.
Responding to the Canadian MPs, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced what he described as Canada’s “misconceptions and illusions” about the Islamic Republic.
“These polices will be to Canada’s detriment and will not serve international peace and security,” he said, adding that Iran “has always been on the front line of the fight against terrorism.
He added that without the Iranian effort and support the situation in the region would have been different.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi later went on record saying that even though the bill was still in its initial stages, its approval would; be “a strategic and major mistake entailing destructive consequences.”
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Tuesday’s vote came while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been showing willingness to resume diplomatic ties with Iran which were broken off in 2012 by the government of then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The development comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States was walking out of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran, a decision that has been strongly criticized by other signatories to the deal, including the EU, Russia and China.
