Former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird spoke at the 2015 AIPAC Conference about the broad concern in the Middle East regarding Iran's nuclear program. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said on Monday that almost all Arab countries in the Middle East share Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. His remarks were made in an address at the 2015 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC.

“I used to view Iran’s nuclear program almost exclusively through the lens of Israel but over the past four years, I can tell you, just about every single Arab country in the Middle East shares the exact same concern that we all share,” he said. “And that’s why it’s so important that we work in partnership.”

“When a regime undertakes a nuclear program and they have been so crystal clear about their desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, we’ve got to take that incredibly seriously,” he added. “I am tremendously concerned, obviously, about Iran. It is, in my judgement, the biggest threat to international peace and security in the world.”

Baird asserted that the last thing the world needs is a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. He was joined on stage by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who said the Islamic Republic and its nuclear program continues to be an “existential threat not only for Israel but for all of us.”