The only puzzling thing about Canada cutting diplomatic relations with Iran is why now?

Can it be that Canada (i.e. the Harper government) thinks patience is running out for that bellicose regime, and that Israel is close to taking it upon itself to attack Iran's nuclear facilities?

Canada pulling its 10 diplomatic staff from its embassy in Tehran is cautionary. Countries rarely do that unless they think something drastic may be about to happen.

Certainly Israel will not remain indefinitely passive while its Western allies dither and urge restraint. The U.S. is unlikely to do anything with its election is in full swing, but there's no guarantee Israel won't act -- if it feels its survival necessitates direct action.

Foreign Minister John Baird accurately calls Iran "the most significant threat to global peace and security," but that assessment was as accurate a decade ago as it is now.

Iran and North Korea are the world's two leading rogue regimes. But Iran is more dangerous.

North Korea has an impressive record of playing the U.S. like a fiddle -- making nuclear threats, testing missiles that could reach the west coast, goading South Korea into nervous agitation, all of which tend to persuade the U.S. to provide food aid, which is diverted to the military.

Still, there's something almost comical about North Korea's xenophobic posturing. It has little in the way of manufacturing resources, cannot feed itself, is so mindlessly adoring of itself that it's like a comic book.

The only war its huge army has fought since 1953 is against its own people, rooting out those who fail to genuflect sufficiently before the statue of Kim Il-sung.

Kim's grandson (Kim Jong-un) is now in charge, and is showing signs of sanity and normality that make optimists wonder if he's trying to re-join the modern world.

So forget North Korea as a realistic threat, and focus on Iran -- which Prime Minister Harper seems to be doing. The more the world aligns against the mad mullahs of Iran, the greater the chances that changes may come within that country, as they have throughout the Middle East in the past couple of years.

Of course, Iranian diplomats and spokesmen rant at Canada. If evidence is needed that we are doing the right thing, the reaction of Iranians in charge tends to verify it.

If further evidence is need, look no further than the NDP's Paul Dewar whom the Toronto Star quotes as calling Canada's act irresponsible and bizarre.

The Star itself, editorially, thinks we erred by not keeping a diplomatic channel open with Tehran. Why, one wonders? When has Iran ever responded sensibly to a Canadian gesture? Three Canadians are on death row in Iran, and Canada's efforts on their behalf have been fruitless.

Iran brutally murdered Iranian born Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi in 2003, and scoffed at Canada's protests at the time. What good has diplomacy achieved?

Canada could have suspended relations then, but it was a Liberal government in charge that evidently wanted to "keep diplomatic channels open," thereby pleasing the folk who write (and read?) Star editorials, but achieving zilch.

Anyway, Canada has made its choice. We stand against what Iran is doing -- not because we are Israel's ally, but because Iran is a rogue regime that must be opposed for the sake of world security and decency -- without the necessity of another war.