TEHRAN - In a statement on the Ukrainian plane crash, the Canadian prime minister described the incident as a result of the escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran, but he did not say how the situation has been sparked.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has become an important figure for Iranians, especially social media users, since the crash of the Ukrainian plane in Iran, with most of his remarks and actions about the victims of the crash being shared on social media.
Trudeau, who is currently meeting the families of victims of the tragic crash, said in one of his latest comments that the reason for the crash was tensions between the U.S. and Iran, without mentioning that why the tensions have been formed or which countries have caused them.

 How did it start?

The JCPOA, the official name for the Iran nuclear deal, whether good or bad, caused the de-escalation of the tensions between Tehran and Washington, and the parties sought to benefit the deal. This continued until Donald Trump took office.

From the very beginning, even before his victory in the November 2016 election, Trump declared his hostility with Iran, announcing that he would tear up the deal if he became the president.

Trump kept his promise and abrogated the deal in May 2018 2018. Following the decision, the sanctions that had been lifted under the deal were reimposed and tensions between Iran and the U.S. started to rise once again.

In response to the U.S. action, Iran initially gave the European countries, which are signatories of the deal, the chance to fulfill their commitments. The hesitation of these countries and their hope for INTEX, which was never executed, led Tehran to gradually decrease its commitment to the nuclear deal. 

In the meantime, Trump, who had been incited by the B Team and had increased his anti-Iran measures, has been intensifying the tensions and imposing new harsh sanctions against Iran under various pretexts. In such a situation, European countries have accompanied the White House and remained silent.

Cases such as the explicit support of Trump and his allies for the unrest in Iran in Dec. 2017-Jan. 2018 and November 2019 are just few examples of his efforts for intensifying current tensions.

But what intensified the tensions so much? Most Western experts believe Trump's move to assassinate General Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian military commander, was actually a declaration of war on Iran. Many referred to the terrorist act as a turning point in history or the beginning of WWIII.

In response to the terrorist act, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution promised "hard revenge” and January 8 Iran launched a missile attack on the Ain al-Assad airbase, where the U.S. troops were stationed. 

Iran’s hard revenge from the U.S. put the region in a state of alert. The readiness to counter Trump’s insane actions caused Iran to be in a state of alert, which accidentally led to the tragic downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane. 

Yes, the Canadian prime minister is right, and the main cause of the crash is the tensions between the U.S. and Iran, but the significant point that only a few officials have pointed out is the role of Trump and his allies in escalating these tensions.  

Perhaps the incident makes the officials in different countries to think that whether they really want to de-escalate the tensions or they are just talking about it to evade their responsibilities.

Easing the tensions between Tehran and Washington requires action that must be taken by Western nations to restore Iran's lost confidence in the West.

* Author: Mohammad Ghaderi , Tehran Times editor in chief 

His page on Twitter : @ghaderi62 - and Gmail address : m.ghaderi62@gmail.com