In his own words: Trump's Iran strike tests his rhetoric on ending wars
During his campaigns for president, Donald Trump spoke of the need to stop engaging in 'endless' or 'forever wars,' and said removing 'warmongers and America-last globalists' was among his second-term foreign policy priorities.
Trump's move to strike Iranian nuclear sites risks embroiling the United States in the sort of conflict he once derided. Like other recent American presidents, Trump said he would not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. In recent months, he had held out hope that diplomacy could avoid the strike he announced Saturday.
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
America's economy faces a potential war shock: Surging oil prices
The American economy faces the unwelcome prospect of reignited inflation after the United States launched strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran. High oil and gas prices are a near certainty, experts say. The big question now: How long will the fossil fuels price spike last? Oil prices are expected to rise by about $5 per barrel when markets open on Sunday, according to experts. 'We are looking at $80 oil on the open,' said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates. U.S. oil hasn't closed above $80 a barrel since January and has largely hovered between $60 and $75 a barrel since August 2024. Relatively tame oil prices have lowered gas prices to below $3 a gallon in many parts of the country, a major source of price relief for inflation-weary consumers. It's unclear if any major spike in oil prices will be sustained for a long period. Oil prices have risen about 10% since Israel's surprise attack on June 13 and then fell on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a two-week deadline on whether to strike Iran. 'One shouldn't necessarily assume that just because the price of oil goes up, it's going to stay there. It doesn't,' said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist for the accounting firm RSM. The direction oil prices take is likely to depend on whether Iran's parliament decides to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route that accounts for about 20% of the world's crude oil. On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country has 'a variety of options' when deciding how to respond to the U.S. attacks and a prominent adviser to Iran's supreme leader has already called for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Bob McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group and former energy adviser to President George W. Bush, said that should Iran cut off the world's oil supply by closing the strait it would risk more military force from the United States and its allies. Iran could also attack infrastructure in the Persian Gulf that treats and exports oil and gas. 'It's possible they will decide the only thing that can dissuade President Trump is the fear of an oil price spike,' he said. 'They have to actually create that fear.' Appearing Sunday on Fox News, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, adding that closing it would do more damage to other economies than the U.S. economy. China buys a third of all oil that comes from the Persian Gulf, while the United States buys less than 3%. 'I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Straits of Hormuz for their oil,' Rubio said. Rubio added that closing the strait would hurt other countries' economies more than the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, American consumers may soon feel a price shock at the pump. 'It takes five days or so for stations to pass along the prices they see in one day. If oil markets do surge today and then tomorrow, it could start showing up at the pump in a matter of hours,' said Patrick De Haan, vice president of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a fuel tracking platform. According to Lipow, should the Strait of Hormuz be affected, the price of oil could rise to $100 a barrel, which would raise gas and diesel prices by about 75 cents per gallon from recent levels. Meanwhile, U.S. trade policies combined with the war with Iran 'strongly suggest inflation will be moving faster and higher over the next 90 days,' according to Brusuelas. Many mainstream economists argue that the low inflation of the spring represents a calm before the summer storm, when they expect prices to rise because of Trump's tariffs.
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
ELDER: Democrats bury heads in the sand as Trump tackles Iran crisis
President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, June 20, 2025. Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Photo When it comes to criticizing President Donald Trump and refusing to give credit for virtually anything, it's full speed ahead for Democrat politicians. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account On the economy, Axios just reported: 'The stock market had been recently scraping new highs … The unemployment rate was 4.2%, and inflation was well-contained near the Fed's 2% target.' Gas prices are down, as is the retail price of eggs. Inflation, despite the tariffs, is at a four-year low. Wages are up. That southern border has become a non-issue for much of the media. The New York Post recently wrote, 'Border Patrol agents didn't release a single migrant into the U.S. last month — a staggering drop after the Biden administration allowed 62,000 illegal crossers in the country in May 2024. … Agents caught 8,725 migrants crossing illegally at the southern border last month. That's a 93% decrease from May 2024, when 117,905 were nabbed, according to internal data obtained by The Post .' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Last April, then-Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before Congress, 'With the authorities and the funding that we have, (the border) is as secure as it can be.' Democrats attack Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' not only as a supposed danger to the so-called entitlements, but as an existential threat to the republic. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, 'People will die if the (Republicans') tax scam ever becomes law.' On immigration, there is no shortage of Democrats whipping out the fascism card. About Trump's deportation policy, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) recently said, 'They are trying to end legal status in the United States.' But, where are the big Democrat voices on Iran, specifically on Israel military action and our country's support to prevent the No. 1 state sponsor of terror from acquiring a nuclear bomb? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Former president Barack Obama, about the Trump administration, said days ago at a speech in Connecticut, 'If you follow regularly what is said by those who are in charge of the federal government right now, there is a weak commitment to what we understood — and not just my generation, at least since World War II — our understanding of how a liberal democracy is supposed to work.' But nothing about Iran. For years, Hillary Clinton and Obama said that a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable. Then-New York senator Clinton said: 'A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable, but it is not just unacceptable to Israel and to the United States. It must be unacceptable to the entire world, starting with the European governments and people.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Obama, in 2012, said: 'I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff. I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are. But I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that, when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say.' OK, Clinton and Obama, care to comment? Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer recently issued a statement opposing Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon, but did not mention Trump, let alone praise Trump's support for Israel or the way he is navigating this crisis. A big exception is Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who said, 'I really hope the president finally does bomb and destroy the Iranians.' He later wrote: 'To be perfectly clear — destroying the Iranian regime. Free the Iranian citizens from this cancerous, repressive, and authoritarian regime.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Also, Harold Ford Jr., Democrat Fox News contributor and former Tennessee member of the U.S. House, said: 'I give the president a lot of credit. … I was reminded of a Churchill saying — I no longer listen to what people say. I watch what they do because behaviour never lies. And I think the president's come to the conclusion because he's tried. He's tried; other presidents have tried. And I hope he's not persuaded by or even impacted by politics. … And I can tell you I'm one American who's prepared to support the president, whatever decision he makes.' Why have many big-voice Democrats gone into an underground bunker rather than offer even the faintest praise or encouragement for Trump? It's about not giving Trump credit for anything, including accomplishing an objective they supported. Sports Sunshine Girls Canada Relationships Relationships
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
SHEKARIAN: Canada must confront the tyranny behind the Iran-Israel crisis
HOLON, ISRAEL - JUNE 19: A man looks at the ruins of a building after an Iranian missile strike on June 19, 2025 in Holon, Israel. Iran launched a retaliatory missile strike on Israel starting late on June 13, after a series of Israeli airstrikes earlier in the day targeted Iranian military and nuclear sites, as well as top military officials. Photo by Amir Levy / Getty Images Europe Two embattled strongmen — Benjamin Netanyahu and Ali Khamenei — have brought the world dangerously close to a nuclear confrontation. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account This is not just another flare-up in the Middle East. It's a convergence of egos, extremism, and political self-preservation that has hijacked the futures of two nations and risks igniting a global catastrophe. Both men face internal crises. Khamenei presides over a theocratic regime in terminal decline — haunted by economic collapse, human rights atrocities, and public uprisings like the Women, Life, Freedom movement. Netanyahu, once the symbol of Israeli security, is now best known for gutting Israel's democracy from within. His recent push to neutralize the judiciary, documented in investigations like The Bibi Files, was seen by many Israelis as a ploy to avoid his own corruption trial. The result? Massive protests, fractured institutions, and a prime minister willing to wage war as a political survival tactic. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. While the headlines say 'Israel vs. Iran,' the truth is more sinister: This is not a war between nations or cultures. It's a war between two corrupt regimes, each led by men who have demonstrated they will risk everything to cling to power — even if it means aligning themselves with the most extreme, bloodthirsty elements of their countries. To feed their egos and preserve their grip on power, they have found no better allies than their own radicals. And the world is watching it unfold like a spectator sport. Canada, however, does not have the luxury of silence. Why Canada? Why Now? Canada is not just a distant bystander to this crisis. It is home to vibrant Iranian and Israeli diasporas. It is a country that claims to champion international law, peace, and democratic values. And in 2025, it holds the rotating presidency of the G7. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This is a moment of extraordinary responsibility. Canada must lead — not because it's easy or popular, but because the alternative is passivity in the face of global collapse. This leadership must happen both at home and on the world stage. At Home: Inform, Protect, Prepare—and Connect First, we must educate our own public. Canadians deserve to know that this war is not the product of religious or cultural differences, but of authoritarianism and political cowardice. Public broadcasters like the CBC should acquire and air investigative content such as The Bibi Files — a documentary premiered at our own TIFF that unpacks Bibi's corruption and systematic dismantling of Israel's democratic institutions. Equally important, we must teach our youth that peace and harmony between Israelis and Iranians is not only possible — but historically rooted and deeply desired by the overwhelming majority of both peoples. From the ancient legacy of Cyrus the Great — revered by Jews as a liberator and protector — to today's multicultural reality in Canada, we have every reason to believe that coexistence is not a dream, but a shared memory waiting to be revived. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Second, we must protect Canadians. Immigration policy must be leveraged first and foremost to serve the needs of Canadians — especially those with loved ones in crisis zones. For Iranian-Canadian families, this means offering expedited visa processing and emergency pathways for relatives trapped in an increasingly volatile environment. But this must be done with vigilance. The Iranian regime has a documented history of targeting dissidents abroad, including here in Canada. Such measures must be accompanied by the highest level of security screening — ensuring that the generosity of our immigration system does not become a backdoor for foreign operatives intent on surveillance, infiltration, or intimidation. Compassion cannot come at the cost of national safety. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Third, we must prepare. The illusion that Canada is safe by geography is long gone. If the war between Netanyahu and Khamenei escalates, the fallout — cyber, economic, or otherwise — won't respect borders. Canada must meet and exceed its NATO commitments, but not by mimicking American militarism. We must invest in smart defense: Cybersecurity, energy grid resilience, and public crisis readiness. And finally, we must connect. Canada's multiculturalism cannot remain a passive virtue — it must become an active strategy. The government should dedicate funding for civil society and diaspora communities to organize joint cultural events—bringing Israelis and Iranians together through food, music, dance, theatre and dialogue. These moments of shared humanity are not luxuries. They are antidotes to extremism — and Canada must lead in making them possible. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Abroad: Stand for Law—Then Make It Better Canada cannot fix the world — but it can refuse to be complicit in its decay. In a time when international law is ignored with impunity, our role is not to retreat into neutrality but to assert a principled and strategic voice. First, we must uphold international law —not because it is perfect, but because it is all we have. The fundamental paradox of international law is that it seeks to bind sovereign states, yet has no authority above them to enforce compliance—participation remains voluntary, and enforcement, political. Still, that is no excuse for moral surrender. Canada must publicly demand that both Israel and Iran submit to international accountability mechanisms— including the rulings of the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, binding UN resolutions, and independent investigations. As a nation built on the rule of law, Canada must extend that principle beyond its borders — by decisively referring international conflicts to legal mechanisms and insisting on their resolution through lawful means. If we believe in a rules-based order, then we must help lead the world back to one. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Second, Canada must lead the shift toward a new legal order — one that closes the gap between law and enforceability. The 20th century gave us the framework of international law. The 21st must give us the tools to make it matter. Law without enforcement is not justice — it's a soundbite. Canada, leveraging its G7 presidency and global reputation as a rule-of-law nation, must work to refine and expand initiatives like the RN2V, and put forward a modernized framework for international law — one grounded in the lessons of the last century and built for the crises of this one. That work must begin by proposing a doctrine to define and confront what we might call crisis-triggered impunity — the calculated abuse of war, terrorism, or existential threat to override legal and constitutional accountability. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This will not be easy. But neither is watching the world burn while issuing statements of 'deep concern.' If we are serious about defending democracy and peace, then the rules must evolve — and Canada must help write them. A Choice Between Silence and Leadership This moment is not about geopolitics. It's about responsibility. It is tempting to retreat to neutrality. To issue vague, AI-generated calls for 'de-escalation.' To stay quiet because the loudest players in the conflict leave us little space to act. But that is the very path that led to BibiAli's war. And if left unchallenged, it is the path that will lead the world into a war no one survives. Canada has a choice. But the time is running out. And history will remember what we did with it. — Siavash Shekarian is an Iranian-Canadian lawyer, engineer, entrepreneur, and public policy advocate. He is the founder of Catalyst Canada, an initiative of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association. Sports Sunshine Girls Canada Relationships Relationships
