Shiite Muslim women in Karachi, Pakistan, mourn the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
Iran’s deceased leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was “a force for evil,” Defence Minister David McGuinty said Tuesday, as he defended the Liberal government’s decision to back U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei, 86, was killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran Saturday, a pre-emptive attack that critics say may have violated international law.
Prime Minister Mark Carney quickly ruled out participating in military action in Iran. His government, however, issued a strong statement in support of the attacks only hours after air strikes began, saying Tehran is the main source of instability in the Middle East and must never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.
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Former Liberal cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy has criticized this decision, noting the attack on Iran was not authorized by the United Nations. He has contrasted Ottawa’s 2026 stand with how Canada in 2003 refused to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq because it was not authorized by a UN Security Council resolution.
Mr. McGuinty, speaking to reporters in Sydney during Mr. Carney’s visit to Australia, said Canada’s position toward Iran has been toughening for years.
In 2012, former prime minister Stephen Harper cut off formal diplomatic ties with Tehran and shuttered Canada’s embassy there. His successor Justin Trudeau never re-established official relations and became a vocal and persistent critic of Iran’s 2020 shooting down of a commercial plane filled with Canadian citizens and residents and its failure to account for its actions.
“The government of Canada has been very clear about its position on Iran for some time,” Mr. McGuinty said, noting in 2024 Ottawa designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity. He said Canada has been “following very carefully the kinds of human rights abuses, the terror inflicted upon the population in Iran, the suffering of women, in particular in Iran.”
The Defence Minister also told reporters that Canada was not informed in advance of the air strikes on Iran.
Asked if he believed the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader was a positive development, Mr. McGuinty sharply criticized him. “The Ayatollah Khamenei has been for many, many decades, a very, very powerful force for evil in Iran and in the region,” he said.
He said Canada is well aware of Tehran’s support for terror groups. “We know where funding and financing has been coming from. We know the extent of the involvement of the Iranian regime in, for example, organized criminal syndicates.”
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At the same time, Mr. McGuinty was careful to distance Canada from the military operations in the Middle East, saying Canada’s armed forces “were not involved in the preparation, nor the execution of that particular decision by the Israelis and the Americans to attack.”
Iran has since repeatedly struck back, targeting U.S. bases in the region.
Liberal MP Will Greaves has also spoken out against Canada’s backing of the strikes, saying, “Canada cannot endorse the unilateral and illegal use of military force, the killing of civilians, or the kidnap and assassination of foreign heads of government, while also insisting that our sovereignty, our rights and our independence must be respected.”
Asked about criticism of the Canadian government’s stand by Liberals, including Mr. Axworthy, Mr. McGuinty said the Liberal Party encompasses a broad range of views. “The Liberal Party is a big tent. There’s room for all kinds of competing views,” he said. “I think it reflects Canadian society. That’s a good thing. We’re having dialogue, we’re having debate. It’s open, it’s transparent. We’ll find our way forward.”
The Defence Minister reiterated Canada’s hope for peace and that “cooler heads prevail” in the conflict. “We’re also calling for a diplomatic end to it. We very much would prefer to see peace and a ceasefire,” he said.
Mr. McGuinty called the Middle East conflict an unfortunate and complicated war.
“We would all rather see peaceful dialogue, but we have a situation now where two sovereign countries have decided to prosecute a war. Canada is not involved in that war.”