Iran has dismissed allegations of planning to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister and prominent human rights advocate, labeling the claims as baseless.
The accusation surfaced after Cotler’s office revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had informed him on October 26 of an Iranian-backed assassination attempt planned two days later, according to The Globe and Mail.
In response, Issa Kameli, the Iranian assistant foreign minister and director-general for the Department of America, condemned the claims as propaganda aimed at spreading false and misleading information about Iran.
“These spurious and unfounded allegations come from a country that has become a safe haven for fugitive terrorists and wanted fraudsters,” Kameli stated.
Kameli further accused Canada of attempting to distract global attention from Israel’s ongoing actions in Gaza, including what he described as the massacre of Palestinians while criticizing Canada’s support for the Israeli regime.
It was learnt that Cotler, who is Jewish, has been under 24/7 protection by the RCMP for over a year following the large-scale Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The retired civil servant served as Canada’s justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006 under Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Cotler has longstanding ties to Israel and, in 2013, introduced a motion in the Canadian Parliament to sanction and designate Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. Canada officially implemented this designation in June 2023.
Iran denies assassination plot against Canada former minister
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