‘Canada had called on UN chief, NAM members not to attend Tehran meeting’

TEHRAN, Sept. 9 (MNA) -- Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird had written a letter to the United Nations secretary general calling on him not to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Sunday. Baird also made an extensive effort to discourage NAM members from participating in the NAM summit in late August, Salehi told the parliament. Canada announced on Friday that it had closed its embassy in Tehran and would expel all Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days. Canada cited Iran’s nuclear program, its hostility toward Israel, and Iran’s alleged military assistance to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the reasons for the decision to close the embassy. Salehi said Canada is following the lead of the Zionist regime in its foreign policy and is improving relations with Tel Aviv to satisfy the regime.