Can Canada's warning to Israel make any difference for Gaza?
The leaders of Canada, Britain and France issued a joint statement threatening action against Israel if it does not stop its renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid. Louise Blais, the former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, talks to As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal about why this statement is coming so late in the conflict, and whether it can make a difference for the people of Gaza.
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CTV News
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- CTV News
Israel says it's preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war against Iran
Israel 's military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, and announced it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks. The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels and warships in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel's military campaign against Iran. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the U.S. The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced the U.S. has begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first such flights from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Inside Iran, smoke rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province's deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed the Israeli strikes damaged the facility but caused no casualties. The target was a centrifuge production site, Israel's military said. Isfahan was also hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the latest attack. Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters, called it a 'small barrage' that was largely intercepted by Israel's defences. The official estimated that Israel's military has taken out more than 50 per cent of Iran's launchers. 'We're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,' he said. 'Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.' The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, later said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a 'prolonged campaign.' Iran says U.S. military involvement would be `dangerous' U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing active U.S. military involvement in the war. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said 'I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' He spoke on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey. Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Trump said he would put off his decision on military involvement for up to two weeks. The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against a wall in her apartment. 'I've had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,' she said Saturday. Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when 'something blew up right in front of me' at an intersection. A number of Iranians fled the country. 'Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,' said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia. Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel's multitiered air defences have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60 per cent -- a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's military operation will continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal. No date set for new talks While talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough, Iran's foreign minister said he was open to further dialogue. He emphasized that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continues to attack. No date was set for a new round of talks. For many Iranians, updates remained difficult. Internet-access advocacy group said Saturday that limited internet access had again 'collapsed.' A nationwide internet shutdown has been in place for several days. More attacks on Iranian military commanders Israel's defence minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing 20-month war in Gaza. Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi's death, but the Qom governor's office said there had been an attack on a four-story apartment building and local media reported two people had been killed. Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said. Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi's statements about the status of Iran's nuclear program prompted Israel's attack. On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said on social media, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi 'pay' once the war is over. Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, on Friday warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. 'In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,' Grossi said, adding: 'This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.' Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60 per cent and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium - at lower levels - in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether. By David Rising And Sam Mednick. Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.
CTV News
an hour ago
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Strategist calls passing Bill C-5 'a key moment' for PM Carney's first parliament session
Watch Liberal strategist Sharon Kaur discusses PM Carney's goals in Europe, grades his first parliament session, and addresses concerns about Bill C-5.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
After 4 years away, Cathy Wong hopes to return to Montreal city council
Former Montreal city council speaker, Cathy Wong is seeking to replace Coun. Luc Rabouin as borough mayor for Plateau-Mont-Royal in the next election — four years after she exited municipal politics. Wong will run as a candidate with Projet Montréal while Rabouin vies for the city mayor's office in November. Wong, who represented the Peter-McGill district in downtown Montreal from 2017 until 2021, said she did not know she would be coming back when she chose not to seek re-election to prioritize her family. "It's really since I would say December, after the American elections but also after a lot of different crises — climate crisis, social crisis, democratic crisis — that I felt the need to come back to be more involved in building policies that are feminist, that are inclusive, and that are green," she said. "In the last six months, every time I was opening the news, I felt so much anger, felt powerless," she said, adding that it created a feeling of wanting to be involved. If elected, Wong says she'd like to work to improve accessibility in the Plateau-Mont-Royal focusing on traffic-calming and street safety measures, housing and increasing universal accessibility. She moved to the borough in 2021 and lives there with her family. For the last four years she's been working as the vice-president of Telefilm Canada. Wong was first elected as a member of Ensemble Montréal in 2017, becoming the first elected official of Chinese descent at city hall. She was named speaker that same year, making her the first woman to hold the job in Montreal. She quit her party to sit as an independent and later joined Projet Montréal in 2019. She also became the first executive committee member in charge of fighting racism and discrimination. "I believe that the city has advanced in terms of inclusivity and in terms of accessibility but of course there's still work to be done," she said. "Today I'm running for mayor of a borough where I believe that there is still so many opportunities to make our borough more accessible, more inclusive, and this is the work I want to focus on."
