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    Canada could be called on to help defend Gulf states, says top military commander


    Conservatives say Parliament should debate any military participation in Middle East

    The head of the Canadian Armed Forces says Canada may be called on to help defend Persian Gulf states from Iran's strikes as the U.S.-led offensive expands into a wider regional war.

    The comments come after Prime Minister Mark Carney left the door open to participating in the escalating situation in the Middle East if Canada's allies need help.

    Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff, made it clear that Canada is not participating in Operation Epic Fury, the joint Israeli-U.S. attack on Iran that began six days ago, but stressed the situation is "quite dire and dangerous for the Gulf states."

    On the sidelines of a defence conference in downtown Ottawa on Thursday, the top military commander said "our Gulf partners may require defence and support" and "this would be the type of military options that we could consider."

    Carignan said she's speaking to European chiefs of defence staff Friday.

    —

    No talk of triggering Article 5: Rutte

    Under Article 5, the cornerstone of the NATO alliance, an armed attack against one member country is considered an attack against the others.  

    Carney's most recent comments on the conflict came after a ballistic missile headed for Turkey was shot down using NATO air defences. Iran denied it was behind the launch, saying it respects the sovereignty of "friendly" Turkey — a NATO member.

    NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday the alliance does not plan to trigger the mutual defence clause over the shooting.

    He called the incident serious but said "nobody's talking about Article 5."

    "The most important thing ​is that our adversaries have seen yesterday that NATO is so strong and so vigilant," he ⁠said.

    Posted by IHateTrains123

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    3 Comments

    1. AccessTheMainframe on

      I mean this pretty much what happened with Iraq. We took the principled stance of not joining the invasion but ended up in Iraq anyway after 2014 because the Americans made such a mess of things the irresponsible thing would have been *not* to join and fight ISIS. The main difference is that under Trump the “making a mess of things” stage has happened basically immediately instead of 11 years later.

    3. IHateTrains123 on

      SS: Gen. Jennie Carignan, Canada’s CDS, said that Canada might deploy troops in the region to defend Persian Gulf states from Iranian attacks, although joining the Israeli-American bombing campaign is out of the question. Other European countries have deployed troops to the surrounding area in response to these Iranian attacks, but also have not joined the Israeli and American bombing campaign.

      The Conservatives in Parliament demand that if a deployment were to happen that a vote in Parliament should happen first. The Conservatives have also accused the Carney government of being “incoherent,” with the Bloc also saying that Carney’s support has been premature however does support his statement that Iran does need to denuclearize through diplomacy.

      Further reading:

      [Statement by Prime Minister Carney on the evolving situation in the Middle East | Prime Minister of Canada](https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2026/03/03/statement-prime-minister-carney-evolving-situation-middle-east)

      [Liberal MPs to hold call Friday as caucus raises concerns about Carney’s shifting Iran position | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-iran-liberal-caucus-9.7116694)

      [Canada’s defence chief says allies may help Gulf states bombed by Iran](https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/canadas-defence-chief-says-allies-may-help-gulf-states-bombed-by-iran/article_12e886e1-ed46-5c95-acd8-401966f338f8.html) – Toronto Star

      !ping Can&Foreign-policy

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