President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands during a joint press conference, Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

On the same day the president of the United States called for larger NATO involvement in the Middle East, Canada’s prime minister said he wasn’t asked to increase the Canadian military presence in the region when the two spoke about the Iraq-centred conflict that has violently escalated in the last week.

Just hours after Iran launched more than a dozen missiles early Wednesday morning at two Iraq military bases where troops from Iraq, the United States and Canada were stationed, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a public address that he would be asking NATO to “become much more involved in the Middle East process.”

The missile attacks were seen as a direct response by Iran to the United States’ assassination of its top general and spymaster Qassem Soleimani. There were no casualties amongst personnel from Iraq, the United States or Canada in the attack, according to officials from each of the countries.

A NATO official also said that no alliance forces were harmed overnight. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke with Trump shortly after his address and agreed the alliance could contribute more in the Middle East, according to a press release from NATO that detailed their conversation.

While he said Trump didn’t ask for Canada, specifically, to increase its military presence in the Middle East, Trudeau said the two leaders talked about the importance of continuing their efforts to stabilize Iraq and prevent the re-emergence of ISIS in the region.

Trudeau also said in French that Canada is one of the countries “that’s already doing the most” in the region.

Canada had around 500 troops in Iraq before yesterday, when Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance announced some of its forces would be evacuating the country to next-door Kuwait until it’s safe to return. A NATO mission to train Iraqi soldiers has been led by Canadian commanders since it began in 2018, and is what a portion of Canada’s force in the country is deployed as part of. The remainder of Canada’s troops in Iraq are deployed as a deterrence measure against ISIS.

Trudeau said he anticipates that he and the leaders of NATO countries and its partners in the Middle East will hold discussions soon about how to continue advancing its objectives of stabilizing Iraq and keeping ISIS from regaining its losses in the region.

Trudeau also confirmed Wednesday that there were Canadian troops at one of the bases where Iranian missiles were directed.

READ MORE: NATO pulling some troops, transferring others within Iraq following missile attacks

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