TORONTO – A closed embassy, exchanges of hostile words and a tumultuous history between Canada and Iran may hamper the Canadian investigation into what officials are calling a failed plot to attack a passenger train.
Two men have been arrested in connection to the botched terrorist plan that allegedly included al-Qaeda operatives in Iran. The foiled plan supposedly sought to attack a passenger train, supposedly travelling between Toronto and New York City.
What’s unclear is how these suspects are linked to al-Qaeda along with the relationship between Iran and the infamous terrorist organization.
Canadian foreign affairs and security experts say that officials will face an uphill climb unravelling this information as Iran has always kept Canada at an arm’s length.
Relations have only worsened in recent years in what’s been a tense but dormant relationship between Canada and Iran.
“Relations could not be worse,” Eric Margolis, a foreign affairs analyst, says.
“Canada has been a very, very sharp critic of Iran, it’s aligned itself completely with Israel’s conservative government and adopted a very hostile attitude towards Iran,” Margolis explains.
Read more: Al-Qaeda in Iran and the Canadian train terror plot
According to Margolis, this mutual disdain isn’t going to push Iran into offering any assistance to Canada in its investigation. And Iran has collaborated, providing valuable assistance in other cases before.
It’s cooperated with United States intelligence agencies, particularly in operations against al-Qaeda, against the Taliban, and even with Interpol in fighting the drug trade.
“It would be helpful to understand what exact relationship Iran has with al-Qaeda elements in Iran, but they will not be volunteering that information,” said Christian Leuprecht, a foreign policy expert at Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada.
This troubled relationship has deep roots that make it difficult for Iran to want to extend a helping hand.
A closed embassy severs communication between Canada, Iran
For starters, Canada’s diplomats had been pulled from Tehran in September when Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird shut Canada’s embassy doors.
“We closed our embassy in Iran so this is one of the challenges of closing our mission: it means that we’re probably never going to get to the bottom of it,” Leuprecht said.
Americans trying to piece together what’s happened in the wake of the Boston bombing attacks likely wouldn’t receive intelligence assistance from Russia, for example. Canada and Iran are in the same boat.
Read more: Train terror plot suspects appear in court
Canada’s even expelled Iranian diplomats from Ottawa in 2012. These moves aren’t well-received by Iran, Margolis said.
“Canada has broken off unilaterally diplomatic relations with Tehran, which is usually the last act before going to war,” Margolis told Global News.
Waging a war of words
In the wake of the arrests, Tehran was adamant in denying any link to the two suspects and al-Qaeda elements on its soil.
Instead, the country’s foreign ministry spokesman suggested that Iran is “the biggest victim of terrorism” and that Canada is simply adding to “Iranophobia.”
Meanwhile, Canadian officials said the suspects had “direction and guidance” from al-Qaeda members in Iran. The RCMP quickly clarified, though, that there’s no reason to believe there had been any state involvement in offering support to the men.
“The damage is done in the sense that the public here now thinks that Iran is somehow involved in this,” Margolis said.
In the past, Baird has even resorted to calling Iran “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.”
An illustrious past
This animosity between Iran and Canada has a deep history, dating back to the 1970s at the onset of the Iranian Revolution, the experts say.
“There has always been bad blood since the Canadian embassy harboured some of the U.S. hostages in the embassy mobbing there,” Leuprecht told Global News.
From 1979 to 1981, a group of militants stormed the U.S. embassy and held 52 staff members hostage for more than 440 days. Six escaped and made their way over to the Canadian ambassador’s for safety.
“The Iranians were suspicious of Canada because they viewed it as an arm of the U.S.,” Margolis said.
In the past few decades, the relationship had been stagnant but it’s deteriorated with the Harper government prodding Iranian officials, he says.
Al-Qaeda and Iran
Leuprecht notes that Iran conventionally engages in “state sponsored” terrorism, via Hezbollah, for example, but has not had overt linkages with transnational terrorism, such as al Qaeda
“Iran does not have a history of going around the west to sponsor this kind of gratuitous terrorism that al Qaeda tends to engage in, which is just violence for the sake of violence,” he said.
Previous reports have shed light on Iran’s tolerance of some al Qaeda activity, but that’s separate from supporting the cause.
Ultimately, al-Qaeda and Iran have similar interests: “In essence, they both have America as their arch enemy and neither or them likes the west,” Leuprecht said.
Get more of Global’s up-to-the-minute coverage of the attempted VIA Rail terror plot by clicking here.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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