Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney today said that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East was a failure of the international order and that the United States had not consulted its allies before striking Iran.
US and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran on Saturday after negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The war has since spread beyond Iran’s borders, with Iranian attacks hitting Gulf states including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, prompting Washington to close diplomatic missions across the region.
Mark Carney has called for parties involved in the war in Iran to de-escalate hostilities quickly – and said while he supports the strikes, it is a position he takes “with regret”.
Carney, speaking to reporters in Sydney, his second stop on an Indo-Pacific tour, said of Iran that Canada “has long supported the imperative of neutralising this grave global threat”.
He added: “We do, however, take this position with regret, because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order.”
The US and Israel began striking Iran on Saturday. Iran responded by firing missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf states allied to the US.