Military action against Iran remains possible: Baird

Participating in a military campaign against Iran remains a possibility, as long as the United States doesn't rule out action, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said that Iran right now is the world's biggest threat, and is likely to use nuclear weapons against Israel, even though doing so would be political suicide.

Canada's main goal is to take every single diplomatic effort possible in terms of "tough sanctions," Baird said Sunday in an interview on The West Block with Tom Clark.

"Let's focus on taking every diplomatic effort," ," Baird said from Tel Aviv. "But obviously President Obama has not taken military action off the table, so that's still an issue to address."

Canada continues to work with its allies on protecting Israel, taking threats from Iran's leader seriously.

"When a country's leader says they want to wipe Israel - to remove a cancer from the Middle East -- and they're building nuclear weapons, obviously we should take those threats very seriously," he said.
Baird was in Israel and the West Bank for a series of meetings on the Middle East peace process, regional security and economic cooperation. He is headed to China on Sunday to join Harper, who is on his second trip to that country, where he hopes to strengthen economic ties.

Yesterday, China -- along with Russia -- vetoed a U.N. resolution condemning the government attacks in Syria and calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said she was "disgusted" by the vote -- a sentiment Baird said he shares.

The U.N. vote on Saturday came amid the backdrop of activists saying Syrian forces barraged the city of Homs, killing more than 200 people.

"We're deeply disappointed," Baird said. "It was an opportunity for the U.N. to take leadership. I think we share the Americans' view."

Baird said he has already had long discussions on the issue with his Russain and Chinese counterparts, but places more blame on Russia for the inability of the U.N. to pass the sanctions.

"The Russians, I think, were the ones who were particularly in the lead at the U.N. Security Council," he told host Tom Clark. "They didn't like what happened in Libya."

Baird was referring to the recent NATO-led mission, launched in March and wrapped in November, that helped end Moammar Gadhafi's brutal dictatorship.

"We wanted to see every member of the Security Council vote for the resolution," he said. "We thought that was the best approach. "

Original Article
Source: global news 
Author: Tom Clark