Carney says U.S.-Iran hostilities can still be stopped amid renewed conflict

Prime Minister Mark Carney says a longer stop of hostilities in Iran is possible, but acknowledges it is a fragile and tense situation.

Carney made comments as Iranian and U.S. forces exchanged strikes after the breakdown of the ceasefire earlier this week.

Iran launched a fresh round of missiles at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, and American warplanes are once again raining bombs on a long list of targets in Iran.

But despite the re-escalation, the prime minister still thinks the hostilities could still be stopped.

“Whether that’s a formalized ceasefire certainly remains to be seen,” said Carney.

Mark Carney made the comments on an official visit to Saudi Arabia Thursday, who says the situation remains tense and fragile, and ambiguities within the ceasefire deal may be behind the current breakdown.

WATCH MORE: U.S.-Iran ceasefire called off after strikes resume. Is there an end to this conflict in sight?

“Particularly about free passage in the Strait of Hormuz, a fundamental redline, I think, for the world,” said Carney.

“The Iranian steps that it continues to take to, it appears, maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz are unacceptable,” said Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Oakville MP Anita Anand.

Anand says free navigation of the strategically vital trade corridor, the Strait of Hormuz, must be at the centre of further talks about a permanent ceasefire.

But for now, the temperature is ramping up, as the U.S. president made threats on social media Wednesday, which said “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!”

Emotions are high in Iran as throngs of people lined up to say goodbye to the country’s former supreme leader, who was buried Thursday.

He was killed on the first day of the war in a U.S. strike.

READ MORE: U.S. targets Iran over alleged attacks in Strait of Hormuz

Unease is growing in Iran, because the supreme leader’s son and successor has not been seen since he was injured on the first day of the war, and there’s no end in sight to the back-and-forth missile launches.
“This tit-for-tat needs to stop, right?,” said United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. “A return to diplomacy is urgently needed.”

But whatever happens, the prime minister says the outcome will impact Canadians, “because of the knock-on effect on food and energy prices and other elements.”

Thousands of sailors are still trapped in the Strait of Hormuz — the International Maritime Organization puts the number at 6,000 and is telling ships not to try to pass the waterway.

U.S. Central Command says American strikes will hold Iran accountable for what it calls “unjustified aggression against free navigation in the Strait.”

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