Iran is greatest threat to world peace: Harper
Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a scathing rebuke of Iran on Thursday as tensions build in the Middle East, saying the regime in Tehran is the greatest threat to global security and may be looking to use a nuclear weapon.
Harper said Iran’s musings in the past week to close the Strait of Hormuz — one of the busiest oil shipping routes in the world — reinforces how serious a threat the country is to peace and security on the planet.
Iran just wrapped up 10 days of naval war games and testfired cruise missiles designed to sink ships in the Strait of Hormuz, while also warning the U.S. not to return a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf.
Tehran has also defiantly announced it manufactured and tested nuclear fuel rods on its own, sparking more international fears about Iran’s ambitions and military capabilities. Moreover, a recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency suggested Iran had tried to design an A-bomb and may still be conducting research in secret.
With international pressure and sanctions mounting on Tehran — including the European Union moving toward an embargo on Iranian oil — Harper said the global community acknowledges Iran is a risk but divisions remain on how to respond.
“Iran is a very serious threat to international peace and security. In my judgment, it is the world’s most serious threat to international peace and security,” Harper said Thursday in an interview with Calgary radio station CHQR.
“This is a regime that wants to acquire nuclear weapons, it is clearly trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and it has indicated some desire to actually use nuclear weapons.”
The United Nations has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Iran in efforts to persuade it to abandon a nuclear energy program that is suspected of secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Harper said Canada’s sanctions on Iran, which include prohibiting financial transactions with the country, are having some impact, but a co-ordinated international response may be needed.
“The wider international community — even including the Chinese and Russians — that community I think does appreciate that this is a serious threat. I think the problem is there’s not a consensus on what to do about it precisely,” he added.
On the situation in Syria, Harper said President Bashar al-assad “must go” and that the violent repression is “disgraceful” and will prove to be unsuccessful.
However, he said that unlike Libya, there hasn’t yet been a resolution from the United Nations Security Council for a military operation in Syria and he doubts there’s an appetite for it at this point.
“My own read of the situation is that Canada’s principal allies would not be prepared to go to a military option in this case without such a resolution,” Harper said. “I don’t anticipate that at this point.”
Some Middle East experts believe Iran might not have the nuclear capabilities it trumpets and simply resorts to bluster in an attempt to persuade the United States and other countries not to use military force against it.
“The Iranians talk more than they can deliver. They use a lot of rhetoric but the reality is that they are not as militarily strong as they try to portray,” said Houchang Hassan-yari, a senior fellow in the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.