Prime minister Mark Carney said he hopes that the unstable ceasefire between Iran and Israel will offer an “opportunity” for the end of hostilities in Gaza and, ultimately, the wider peace of the Middle East, including a “Zionist” Palestinian State engaged in the security of Israel.
In an interview with CNN International which was broadcast on Tuesday before NATO summit In The Hague, Carney said that US President Donald Trump “has the potential to be decisive” after posting the “American power” by bombing Iran’s nuclear installations during the weekend.
This action and the cease-fire that result from it announced on Monday by Trump, said Carney, “creates the possibility of advancing” on the stabilization of Gaza as well.
“Can there be a lasting peace in the Middle East without peace in Gaza, which takes into account Gaza and the West Bank and working effectively on a path to a Palestinian State? I would agree with all these elements,” he said.
“(Palestinians) live side by side with Israel – a Zionist Palestinian State, if you want, which recognizes Israel’s law not only to exist, but to prosper and not live in fear – we can only have peace if we are going to this.”
He added that “developments such as we are seated today and that the potential trajectory with regard to Iran creates another window for this.”
Trump has not openly supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since his return to the position. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and key members of the Trump administration, including the American ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, have rejected the idea of a Palestinian state.
The US State Department has referred to all questions about the question of whether the United States’s foreign policy is still supporting a two-state solution in the White House and Trump.
Carney said that an immediate cease-fire and “the complete recovery of humanitarian aid” in Gaza must be accompanied by the return of all the remaining hostages held by Hamas: “Like anyone who does not think that I do not recognize it.”
He underlined The joint declaration published by G7 leaders at their summit in Alberta last week That said, a resolution to the Iranian conflict must lead to “a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a cease-fire in Gaza”, although its call to a Palestinian state is exceeded.
Carney made Netanyahu and the Trump administration by publishing a joint declaration with the leaders of France and the United Kingdom last month who warned of the consequences for Israel if he did not resume humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Prime Minister said that Canadian soldiers stationed at the American military base in Qatar who had been attacked by Iran on Monday were able to “get out of the danger”, after Iran warned the United States and Qatar before its reprisals.
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He added that he “would lean towards the interpretation of President Trump” of Iran’s response as de-escalation, which opened the window to the ceasefire agreement.
Carney, who spoke with Trump during the weekend while the Iranian conflict took place, also ranked on Trump’s side by saying that the Iranian nuclear program represented an imminent threat, despite American intelligence claiming that the regime had not yet restarted its arms program.
“There was a fiction that they perpetrated that it was only for peaceful means,” he said.
“They enriched uranium to a certain extent – they hid the installations, or tried to hide the installations – which was entirely necessary for the civil use of nuclear technology. So I think of the combination of this, the combination of their belligerent, the combination of their state godfather of terrorism throughout the region, all points in one direction. ”
Canada will reach the new target of 5% of NATO with critical minerals, says Carney
Carney has also said that Canada is committed to achieving the new NATO defense spending target of five percent of GDP, which will be officially agreed at this week.
As part of the new 10 -year plan, countries would spend 3.5% of GDP on “basic” defense – such as weapons and troops – and an additional 1.5% on safety -related investments, such as adaptation of roads, ports and bridges for military vehicles, protection of pipelines and the deterrence of cyber attacks.
Carney has already undertaken to achieve the previous objective of 2% this exercise, with more than $ 9 billion in new investments.
Although he recognized that five percent of Canada’s GDP is equivalent to around $ 150 billion, he said that the language of the NATO agreement allows Canada to achieve the new objective through programs not explicitly linked to defense.
“Canada has one of the most important and most varied deposits of critical minerals, and we will develop them” both at national level and with international partners, “said Carney.
“Some of the expenses are counting for these five percent. In fact, a large part of it will occur in its five percent due to infrastructure, ports and railways and other ways to obtain these minerals. It is therefore something that benefits the Canadian economy, but is also part of our new NATO responsibility. ”
Carney said these investments, as well as defense and trade partnerships with other allies like the one signed on Monday with the European Union, will also be “positive for the American relationship”. He credited Trump for pushing the NATO allies to “pay their just part, bring their weight”.
“I think we are doing this now,” he said.
He also rejected the concerns that Canada turning to other angry allies against Trump or will disrupt negotiations to a new agreement with the United States
“It is a reaction, if you want, to what is happening in the United States, but it is not a reaction against the United States,” he said. “It’s for something, not against it.”
When he was asked if Trump still evokes his appeal often repeated to annex Canada in their private discussions, Carney said: “It is not.”
“He admires Canada, I think that’s just to say, and perhaps for a time of time coveted in Canada,” he said.
“We are two sovereign nations that discuss the future of our commercial relations, our defense partnership, which has been very strong in the past. How will it evolve? “
Will Carney push Trump on Ukraine?
When asked if Carney would try to persuade Trump to maintain American military support for Ukraine, Carney said: “Yes, absolutely.”
He also said he did not believe that the United States would “go away” from Ukraine.
“There are other measures that can be taken,” he said, highlighting new sanctions imposed by Canada and Europe on Russia. A set of sanctions was presented to the American Senate by the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, but Trump has not yet approved.
“If it is promulgated, which is a choice, it will change the situation,” said Carney.
However, he recognized that military support “is extremely important here – it is a war”, the addition of NATO will not be able to fully consist of gaps in military support if help in the United States stops.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended several touch meetings on Tuesday before the official NATO leaders, to which Zelenskyy was not invited. He attended the G7 summit but could not meet Trump, who left early for Washington to supervise the Iran-Israeli conflict.
Trump told journalists on the Air Force One that he hoped to meet him in Brussels.