Canada’s total ban on trade with Iran meant to divert attention from election fraud ruling:Iranian official

TEHRAN,June 1(MNA) – Iran has said that Canada’s decision to impose a total ban on all trade with Iran is meant to divert attention from a Thursday ruling which stated that electoral fraud had taken place in the 2011 prime ministerial election won by the Conservative Party’s Stephen Harper. “After the ruling of the Federal Court of Canada… was issued, they began to take measures to divert attention,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said on Friday. The volume of trade between Iran and Canada was not high, he added. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said on Wednesday that his country would freeze all trade with Iran to protest Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its human rights record. Canada, which has had increasingly poor relations with Iran for more than a decade, had already imposed a series of trade sanctions. In 2012, bilateral trade was worth around C$135 million ($130 million). Baird said Canada was particularly concerned by the failure of the United Nations’ nuclear agency this month to persuade Iran to let it conduct further investigation into its nuclear program. “The absence of progress… leads Canada to ban effectively immediately all imports and exports from Iran,” Baird told reporters. The West suspects Iran’s nuclear program may be aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability, but Tehran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful. Last September, Canada suspended diplomatic ties with Tehran, calling Iran the biggest threat to global security. “Canada continues to have grave and sincere concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, and their abhorrent human rights record and their continued support for international terrorism around the world,” Baird claimed. Iran has always defended its human rights record. Statistics Canada data for 2012 shows exports to Iran were worth around C$95 million, mostly in the form of cereals, oil seeds and fruit as well as chemical products and some machinery. Iranian exports totaled C$40 million with fruits, nuts and textiles dominating.