Canada said on Monday that its police had arrested two ‘foreign nationals’ who were planning to derail a VIA passenger train traveling between Toronto and New York, claiming that the suspects had links to “al-Qaeda elements inside Iran.”
In his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast rejected the unfounded allegation, saying, “Al-Qaeda’s mindset is by no means congruent with [the ideology of] the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mehmanparast stated.
He also noted that Canada has even failed to provide any reliable evidence on the suspects claimed to have been detained in relation to the case.
The Iranian official said Tehran was opposed to any type of terrorist act that jeopardized the lives of people.
Mehmanparast dismissed Canada’s allegation as part of its Iranophobia campaign.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is the biggest victim of terrorism, but the extremist administration of Canada has put Iranophobia on its agenda over the recent years,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Mehmanparast also slammed the West’s double standards in dealing with terrorism, calling on the Western countries, particularly Canada, to stop supporting terrorist activities in the world, specifically in Syria.