World Report - June 18: Wednesday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

The world is waiting to see if US President Donald Trump will enter the conflict between Israel and Iran.MAGA followers and Republican lawmakers divided about potential U.S. involvement in Israel-Iran conflict. CSIS says hostile state actors may be trying to deceptively hire private investigators to track people in Canada. Officials in Prime Minister Mark Carney's office say the US wanted to water down a G7 statement about Russia's war in Ukraine, then retract the statement. There is still no trace of Lilly and Jack Sullivan, the two young siblings who disappeared in Pictou, Nova Scotia. Young Indigenous drummers from Squamish Nation in British Columbia, go viral with performance for grizzly bears on Grouse Mountain. 

If you want to hear daily news that doesn't hurt your soul and might even be good for your soul, check out As It Happens. I'm Chris Howden. And I'm Nielke Oksal. Every day we reach people at the center of the most extraordinary stories, like the doctor who restored a patient's eyesight with a tooth. Or a musician in an orchestra that plays instruments made out of vegetables. Take the scenic route through the day's news with As It Happens, and you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Marcia Young. The world is waiting to see if US President Donald Trump

will enter the conflict between Israel and Iran. You don't know. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble. Trump told reporters Iran should have agreed to a nuclear deal two weeks ago. He says the country has no air defenses now. Two very simple words, a very simple, unconditional surrender.

That means I've had it. Right now Israel is launching more attacks on military targets in Tehran, but the Ayatollah is defiant. On state television, al-Aqam Eyni says Iran will never surrender. He rejected the idea of an imposed peace and warned Iran does not respond well to threats. Our senior international correspondent Margaret Evans is in Jerusalem with the latest. An Israeli military handout showing one of its fighter jets being prepped for a mission in Iran. More explosions there recorded overnight. This morning, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,

believed to be in hiding, issued a statement saying Iran will show no mercy in its response to Israeli attacks. The headlines in the Middle East continue to speculate as to whether the US President, Donald Trump, will or won't become directly involved in what Israel describes as a preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear capabilities. Michael Oren is a former Israeli ambassador to Washington. He likes a winner.

And right now we're winning. And as long as we're winning, I think he'll be very much very supportive. Israeli cabinet ministers have also been issuing not so subtle hints about regime change as a potential goal. The prime minister several times, not just during this conflict, but earlier in earlier years, has come out and called on the Iranian people to rise up. This is the opportunity to overthrow an oppressive government. There is no love lost between many Iranians and the Ayatollahs who govern the Islamic Republic with extreme repression. But regional experts, including Renat Mansour, warn against making assumptions. Do you say, yes, please bomb us if this means democracy and a better life?

Haven't we learned that democracy and better development doesn't come through weapons and military solutions? There is little obvious sign, however, of a diplomatic solution anywhere in sight. Margaret Evans, CBC News, Jerusalem. The conflict between Israel and Iran is causing infighting among the MAGA faithful. Trump posted on social media a demand for Iran's unconditional surrender. Many people inside his party and beyond are worried about the country getting involved in another conflict.

The CBC's Karen Pauls joins me now from Washington. And Karen, what can you tell us? Well, this conflict is exposing that deep rift between conservatives on military action. Israel doesn't have a weapon capable of taking out Iran's nuclear sites, but the US does, here are Republican Senators Josh Hawley, Rand Paul, Jim Risch and Tommy Tuberville. I trust the president on this. And I'm hoping the president will not get involved with the war. This is not our war.

This is Iran's war. Don't panic and hope we all make the right decision when it comes down to it. The debate got heated when conservative commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed Republican Senator Ted Cruz. He posted a preview on X that's going viral, the full show airing today. Okay, what's the ethnic mix of Iran? They are Persians and predominantly Shia. Okay, this is...

No, it's not even... you don't know anything about Iran. So actually the country... Okay, I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran. You're a senator who's calling to the overthrow of the government and you don't know anything about the country. Cruz is accusing Carlson of playing a silly game in his own social media post, writing Trump has been fantastic in saying Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is warning that any U.S. involvement

would fracture Trump's mega-support across the country. She says Americans want cheap gas, groceries, bills and housing, affordable insurance, safe communities and good education for their children, not going into another foreign war. Meanwhile, the Democrats are still pushing for a diplomatic path. Marcia? Thank you, Karen. You're welcome. The CBC's Karen Pauls in Washington. CSIS is outlining more details about the ways Canadians were affected by foreign interference last year. Its 2024 report has just been made public. It says CSIS worked to warn private investigators to be on the lookout for hostile state actors. In some cases, those foreign actors were hiring private eyes.

They may have pretended to be looking for more information about marital infidelity or fraud, but really they could be using that information to harass people at the direction of authoritarian governments. The G7 summit is over and world leaders are leaving Kenanaskis, Alberta. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not leave the summit empty-handed, but he was looking for more support written into a leader's statement. The CBC's Murray Brewster has more on what Canadian officials have to say about that. This was discussed by all seven leaders. Prime Minister Mark Carney clarifying what went on behind closed doors as G7 leaders

discussed what to say about Ukraine. Curiously, as the summit closed, there was no separate joint statement from leaders about the situation in Eastern Europe. Instead, Carney referenced the country's struggle in his chairman's remarks, hitting all of the points leaders agreed upon. The recognition of the importance of the initiative of President Trump to achieve a lasting peace, absolutely agreed. That we are resolute in pursuing all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions.

Agreed. However, officials in Carney's office told Canadian journalists on background that the United States wanted any criticism of Russia watered down in earlier drafts because it would endanger Donald Trump's peace initiative. Those officials later retracted those remarks. Carney, however, in his news conference, hinted that other nations had wanted him to go further in his statement. There would be things that some of us, Canada included, would say above and beyond what

was said in the chair's summary. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, like Donald Trump, left the summit early. Zelensky went home with $4.3 billion in additional Canadian aid, but was hoping for stronger support from the G7. Marie Brewster, CBC News, Banff, Alberta. There is still no trace of the two young siblings who disappeared in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. It's been now more than six weeks and police are not saying much other than they have no evidence that suggests the children were abducted.

Kayla Hounsell is following the story. I know somebody out there knows where they're at. Belinda Gray is pleading for information about the whereabouts of her grandchildren, Lily and Jack Sullivan, six and four years old, missing from their rural Nova Scotia home since Friday, May 2nd. Are you able to authorize and start getting some search teams going?

Radio chatter illustrates search crews and first responders mobilizing. A lot of area to cover. For an exhaustive search that would run a total of 12,000 hours. Police say they did find a boot print believed to be child-sized. It's quite rare. In my career, I've never seen two missing children go at the same time. The RCMP's Corporal Guillaume Tromble maintains there is no evidence to suggest the children were abducted. More than 50 people have been interviewed. Gray says her son, the children's biological father,

has been questioned three times. A couple of days ago they had contact and I told them that they weren't looking his way anymore, that everything's fine. As she clings to cherished keepsakes. This is Lily's handprint. She says she does feel the support of the community and beyond. These are everybody's grandchildren, they're not just mine now. She says she doesn't have much hope the children will

be found alive and even worries the mystery of what happened to them may never be solved. Kayla Hounsell, CBC News, Lansdowne Station, Nova Scotia. This is the Proud Little Warriors from Squamish Nation in British Columbia. A group of 10 and 11 year old boys who are getting a lot of attention online right now. A clip shows the drummers playing this song for some grizzly bears on Grouse Mountain, but don't worry, the bears were fenced off in their habitat. But they were definitely curious and came to listen to the song. The drummers say it was a very cool moment, one that made them proud to highlight their language and culture. culture. That is the latest national and international news from World Report News Anytime, cbcnews.ca.

If you like the World Report podcast, please follow us and tell a friend. It helps spread the word. I'm Marcia Young.