Plus: Iran retaliates with strikes across the Middle East, Donald Trump says the US military operation in Iran could last weeks, Mark Carney urges Canadians in the Middle East to stay safe, Iranian Canadians react to the conflict, gas prices in Canada could spike this week, and safeguards vs. innovation: Ottawa’s delicate dance with generative AI. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future
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Transcript
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U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran this weekend killed Iran's leader and triggered broader
conflict across the Middle East.
Hi, I'm Vergesh Dave.
This is Big Headlines, everything you need to know to be in the know in just five minutes.
Beginning Saturday morning, the United States and Israel struck Iran, killing senior Iranian
officials, including Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran fired missiles and drones in retaliation at numerous targets, including in Israel,
Kuwait, Dubai, and Bahrain.
Two drones even hit a British military base in Cyprus, with limited damage, all while
American and Israeli strikes on Iran continued.
The U.S. military says Kuwait accidentally shocked down three American fighter jets that
were engaged in open air-to-air combat against Iranian forces.
In the immediate aftermath of the strikes on Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Canadians
in the Middle East to stay safe.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is the principal source of instability and terror throughout
the Middle East.
It has one of the world's worst human rights records and must never be allowed to obtain
or develop nuclear weapons.
Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand put out a joint statement on Saturday saying
Canada supports America's efforts to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
Carney canceled a scheduled meeting with reporters in New Delhi on Monday, but Anand did take
questions from the media.
She would not say whether or not Canada sees the U.S. Israeli strikes on Iran, though,
as a violation of international law.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Iranians to seize the moment and overthrow the Islamic
Republic government that carried out a deadly crackdown on protests across Iran earlier
this year.
Trump told CNN in a phone call on Monday, the big wave of U.S. military action in Iran
hasn't hit yet.
Trump says he initially expected the conflict to last around four weeks, but now he doesn't
think it'll go that long.
Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends.
That's the way it is likely be more, but we'll do everything possible where that won't
be the case.
Trump's Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though, saying the strikes on Iran are not about
regime change.
This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission.
Destroy the missile threat, destroy the Navy, no nooks.
Hegseth pushed back against the suggestion that this could become a drawn out conflict
across the Middle East.
Trump has faced criticism within the U.S. for going ahead with the strikes without getting
congressional approval.
The U.S. Constitution says only Congress can declare war, but the President can direct
U.S. military forces in engagements necessary to advance American national interests abroad.
Trump has repeatedly used that provision to justify military action, including strikes
on Iran last year, during the 12-day war, and the operation to capture Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro.
Canada's Iranian community is reacting to the strikes, with many feeling a sense of joy.
In Vancouver, hundreds of people gathered at a downtown park.
We are done.
We are done with this system.
We are done with this whole operation.
We don't want them anymore.
Others are uneasy about what the future holds exactly, and Iranian immigrant whose brother
was executed by the regime in the 1980s tells city news he is concerned a new regime may
not improve things for Iranians.
In Toronto, a rally outside the U.S. consulate on Sunday supported the U.S. and Israeli
strikes, and called for Reza Bollavi, the son of the last shot of Iran, to take power
in the country.
Our people are empty handed.
They are fighting that regime.
They cannot do anything that the regime was killing them brutally on the streets.
A second rally in Toronto also supported the strikes in regime change, but opposed handing
over power to Bollavi.
The conflict in Iran is having a major impact on global markets, said it could lead to drivers
across Canada paying significantly more for gas.
680 senior business editor Mike Eppel explains.
Overjash, the price for oil has seen its biggest price spike on a daily basis in about 4 years
this morning, up by 8 percent or 72 dollars a barrel for the U.S. benchmark.
The big question is, how long does the conflict in the Middle East extend, how much of a blockade
and energy shipping issue is there with the straight of her moves being effectively shut
down by the Iranians right now, and is there a supply shock to the system?
Old peck over the weekend, announced they are going to boost production by an April
by 200,000 barrels to try to mitigate any of this damage, and we'll see exactly what
this means for drivers of the gas pumps coming up later this week.
If you haven't listened yet, today on the big story podcast, safeguards versus innovation.
Ottawa's delicate dance with generative AI.
Karen Cielin speaks with Professor Ibrahim Bakery.
The previous bill, the online harms bill, which as you mentioned, failed to become law
before the last election.
To my knowledge, and please correct me if I'm wrong, it did not include regulations of
AI chatbots, but proposed instead the creation of a digital regulator.
How should the replacement bill then address AI chatbots?
Do we need to define reporting thresholds to be established?
That's a great question.
I think there is the first step towards thinking about AI safety in general is to think about
what are the types of social problems that we will find ourselves in, and whether these
types of social problems have technical solutions or have other forms of solutions that we
think about.
You can listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.
Now you're in the know.
Thank you for listening to Big Headlines.
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Today's episode was produced by Felix Slu and Rika Amaturo is our lead producer.