Here’s what he said:

Speaking in Australia, Carney said he would “never categorically rule out” Canadian military involvement in defending allies from Iran, but added it’s distinct from offensive actions being taken by the US/Israel. “We will always stand by and defend our allies when called upon”

— Brian Platt (@brianplatt.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 7:35 PM

“There’s a distinction between the offensive actions that were taken, and are being taken, by the United States and Israel…We’re not party to those actions. But we will always defend Canadians. We will always stand by and defend our allies when called upon.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article…

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— Brian Platt (@brianplatt.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 9:28 PM

And Canada was freaking out about these remarks, but it seemed more like Carney was talking hypotheticals and not speaking clearly. Here is Thursday night’s At Issue panel:


TLDW: Carney issued his first statement about Iran too quickly, and has been walking it back ever since. Doing this on the fly was a mistake and seemed like a rush to curry favour with Trump. 

At Scrimshaw Unscripted, columnist Evan Scrimshaw was furious at how poorly phrased Carney’s statements have been: Carney’s Categorical Comms Cockup Damn Silly Things And Damn Silly Ways

Mark Carney has just refused to “rule out” joining military action against Iran in a press availability in Australia.
In the same spirit, I am refusing to rule out losing my fucking mind.
Carney’s having to weigh a lot of very complicated things as he handles Canada’s reaction to the events in Iran this past week, but at the end of the day he is coming out of this looking diminished and confused, all because he has no effective or coherent strategy on comms. He’s backed the strikes, but then ever so slightly hinted he did it regretfully, and now he’s saying he’s not ruling out intervention after Anita Anand said we had no intention of intervening on Monday.
Now, there are real reasons to think that Carney has more complicated considerations at play here. There is an economic relationship with the Americans at play, bombs are hitting other NATO allies which might necessitate some form of Article 5, and in general it’s worth noting the vast sum of things Carney knows that we don’t is immense. But it’s also unacceptable that I’m stuck pointing all of this out.
Carney could, and should, have said something much firmer that didn’t actually limit his mobility if things severely and substantially changed. “Barring substantial and immense changes in circumstances, we will not be involved militarily, as we haven’t been” does not “rule out” further actions, but it looks like it does, and doesn’t cause political problems….
It’s plainly fucking unacceptable to make these mistakes just because Carney doesn’t care about process.
I don’t think Carney’s preparing to offer Canadian troops to Trump’s nonsense willingly, but that’s not what he said. He said he’s not ruling it out. The fact that so many Carney press conferences need to be cleaned up isn’t acceptable….

But hold on — maybe Canadian soldiers will be going “over there” after all?
Cole Bennett reports:

Canada’s top military commander says allied countries are discussing the possibility of helping Persian Gulf states defend themselves from potential Iranian attacks, a development that could place Canadian forces closer to the rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Chief of the Defence Staff Jennie Carignan confirmed that discussions are underway among allied militaries (including Europe) about possible defensive support for countries in the Persian Gulf.
Such a move could ultimately involve the Canadian Armed Forces deploying personnel to the region, although Carignan stressed that Canada is not considering participation in the ongoing bombing campaign against Iran being carried out by the United States and Israel.
“We are not talking about participating in Epic Fury, per se,” Carignan said. “This is not a mission that we are considering. However, our Gulf partners may require defence and support, so within that context these would be the types of military options that we could consider.”
The military operation referred to as “Epic Fury” is the ongoing campaign of strikes against Iranian targets conducted by the United States and Israel.
Carignan did not specify what form Canadian Armed Forces involvement might take.
The military may also be called on to help get Canadians out of the volatile region, she said….

Ian Hanomansing also noted this Carignan interview tonight, and talked to retired Lt Col Steve Nolan about what it means:

Nolan notes the importance of nations being truthful and honourable with their soldiers when they are going to war.
Of course, that isn’t happening with Trump or Hegseth, is it?

The War of Epic Fury (SKS Epstein Files Distraction) is getting to be more of a disaster for the United States every day:

JoJo from Jerz writes: 

What the fuck is the plan.
Because right now the United States appears to have wandered into a war with Iran with the same breathtaking strategic discipline you see when someone decides they can flambé bananas after three bourbons and a five-minute YouTube tutorial — alarms shrieking, metal pans clanging, smoke crawling up the walls while one concussed dumb fuck keeps waving a dish towel like it’s a fire extinguisher and insisting everything is under control even though the entire kitchen smells like burned sugar, hot oil, and the specific brand of catastrophe that only happens when someone who has never once been told no decides that confidence is the same thing as competence and flambéing is basically just cooking except on fire and how hard can fire be.
Less than a week ago, the melon-hued madman decided that one of the most volatile regions on Earth needed another round of American missiles streaking across the sky like flaming punctuation marks in a sentence nobody bothered to finish writing.
Donald Trump and his talentless troupe of taint-licking toadies — that feral daycare of discount Napoleons and diploma-mill ghouls, that gaggle of the unfuckable who somehow possess nuclear access codes — decided it would be a terrific idea to launch missiles at a country of more than ninety million people, because apparently nothing fills a yawning void of inadequacy quite like ordnance, mass casualties, and hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money….

I think the US military is acting already like Hegseth’s “No Rules of Engagement” doctrine means they can commit war crimes. 

Now they have torpedoed an Iranian frigate that they knew was unarmed, and abandoned the survivors to drown:

An Iranian ship at a joint Indian naval exercise, where all vessels were required to be unarmed, paraded its sailors along other participants, including the US. The US then withdrew at the last minute, torpedoed the Iranian vessel, and refused to rescue survivors. 87 sailors killed, 60 missing.

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— Anonymous (@youranoncentral.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 4:30 PM

But Britain and France are already sending military to the region, to protect their own citizens in the region rather than to join the US in fighting with Iran. The Netherlands may also do this.

FT comments section this morning – saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

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— Neil Lewis (@neil-lewis.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 1:15 AM

If Canada does go over there, regardless of the reason, it will be a quagmire.

i just cannot understand the mindset of some hawkish liberals who think there’s any plausible good outcome here

the two timelines before us are IRGC consolidation or Super Syria, in what world could this possibly lead to decent governance for the people of Iran

— Cameron 🇺🇸🗽🦅 (@cameroncorduroy.bsky.social) March 3, 2026 at 10:06 AM