Your World Tonight - Iran - Israel war, Canada’s reaction, Air India flight data recorder, and more

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

A massive barrage of missiles, and reports of destroyed nuclear sites. There’s fear in the Middle East and around the world about the exchange of fire between Israel and Iran. Israel has killed Iran’s top military commanders, and hit key nuclear sites. Iran has sent dozens of missiles to major cities in Israel. Many have been intercepted, but Israel has already vowed to retaliate. We have the latest on the fighting, and on the reaction in the U.S., where President Donald Trump has praised Israel’s attack, and bragged about the American technology involved. Trump also says this should help motivate Iran to get back to negotiations on its nuclear program.And: Searchers have found one of the flight data recorders from Air India 171. Medics are still trying to identify bodies and notify relatives.Plus: Saskatchewan’s helium boom, Nova Scotia couple trying to bring cousins from Lebanon, and more.

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The sounds also an ominous sign of war, one that could have global repercussions. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Scanderres. It's Friday June 13th coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern also on the podcast. I can't explain everything happened in my eye. Emergency door is broken. My seat is broken. Then I see the face a little bit and I will try to come out then blast. The lone survivor of an Air India crash recounting the flights harrowing final moments and his escape from the wreckage Investigators have found the flight recorder looking for answers while trying to identify the victims But we begin with extensive coverage of the fighting in the Middle East and reaction here at home The war between Israel and Iran is intensifying by the hour. Iran has launched dozens of ballistic missiles aimed at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel says most were shot down, but not all.

Millions took to shelters as air raid sirens sounded across the country. Dozens of people are reportedly injured. Iran's show of force, retaliation for waves of Israeli strikes aimed at ending the regime's nuclear ambitions. Iran says those attacks killed 78 people and injured hundreds more. We have comprehensive coverage on this developing story for you tonight, beginning with Chris Brown. Missiles streaked over Tel Aviv Friday and some Iranian projectiles hitting buildings in what amounts to a dramatic escalation. Israel had looked to be in control all day, attacking Iranian military sites in Tehran and far beyond,

including at least two nuclear sites and the residences of its nuclear scientists. The Zionist regime made a grave mistake and the consequences will bring it to ruin, Iran's supreme ruler Ali Khamenei said after Iran's response. More is on the way. The regime doesn't know what hit them. They don't know what will hit them. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the final planning for the attacks took six months and its intelligence service, the Mossad, released a rare video of what it said were its agents inside Iran taking out air defences. Maghdar, it's your win!

Maghdar, it's your win! In Tehran, people took to the streets carrying photographs of the familiar top commanders Israel assassinated. Israeli reports indicate many of them died together in a bunker that was hit. Among the dead, some of the country's most powerful men including the chief of the armed forces, the head of the Revolutionary Guard and the commanders of Iran's proxy forces outside of the country. Some protesters accused the West of betraying Iran that weeks of nuclear talks were in fact a sham to give Israel time to prepare. Either way Iran has

immensely difficult decisions ahead, says Farwas Gerges, an international relations professor at the London School of Economics. What Israel aims, strategic aims, are not just to destroy Iran's nuclear program, but basically regime change. Israel's strikes included extensive damage to the Natanz nuclear facility. We damage to the Natan's nuclear facility.

Military spokesman Efes DeFrin said the site was used by Iran to enrich uranium that could have been potentially used to build a bomb. The UN's nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi, however, expressed expressed alarm. Nuclear facilities must never be attacked regardless of the context or circumstances. For Israel attacking Iran amounts to opening another major front after 18 months of war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel's attacks there have left the territory in ruins with vast numbers of Palestinians dead, injured or near starvation. Danny Citronovich is an Israeli analyst who specializes in Iran and he says despite war fatigue in the country, there is support for these attacks. We're more willing to absorb casualties as a society.

And I think this is one of the reasons that Netanyahu initiated this campaign. In Jerusalem tonight, there were alerts and missile interceptions as well. Video from Tel Aviv showed damage from the Iranian attacks, including a high-rise apartment building in the center gutted with reports of wounded and other buildings hit and damaged in the suburbs. Chris Brown, CBC News, London. The role the United States plays in this could determine what happens next. President Donald Trump has reportedly spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu

following Iran's retaliation. Trump is backing Israel and has repeatedly supported its push to dismantle Tehran's nuclear program. Chris Reyes reports from New York. We must at all costs avoid a growing conflagration that would have enormous global consequences. A war of words at the United Nations Security Council from Iran's ambassador, Amir Saeed Irvani. The real motive behind the attack to kill diplomacy, to sabotage negotiation and to drag the region into wider conflict.

Furthermore, the aggression was intentional, coordinated and fully backed by a permanent member of this council, the United States. And from Israel's Ambassador Danny Danon, a forceful defense of the attacks on Iran. We uncovered intelligence revealing a multi-front plan directed by Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas for a future assault on Israel. How long did the world expect us to wait? Until they assembled the bomb? Until it was on route to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?

President Donald Trump has yet to address the public over Israel's attack on Iran, but he's told several media outlets that the U.S. was aware of what was about to happen and still believed a nuclear agreement was possible. On social media, though, he gave a bleak warning to Iran to take a deal before it's too late, suggesting further attacks will be, in his words, even more brutal. And then another warning at the Security Council from the U.S. Representative McCoy Pitt. No government, proxy, or independent actor should target American citizens, American

bases, or other American infrastructure in the region. The consequences for Iran would be dire. Even as the U.S. insists that Israel acted unilaterally, concerns that Americans could also now be a target for retaliation. David DeRosch is a professor specializing in the Middle East. Because Iran's ballistic missile inventory has been degraded, they don't really have an air-to-air capability that's credible against the modern force.

So I think that terrorist attacks will be the way to go. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also underscored that Israel is acting alone, but called on allies to work together to de-escalate the situation. There's was a unilateral action by Israel. So I think it is crucial for many allies, including the United States, to work as we speak to de-escalate. I know they're doing that. Diplomacy in high gear in desperate search of an emergency stop before it's too late.

Chris Reyes, CBC News, New York. [♪upbeat music playing -♪》 Still ahead on the podcast, Canadian reaction to the events in the Middle East. Also, families mourn the loss of more than 200 lives in the crash of an Air India plane just after takeoff. Investigators have recovered the so-called black box and hope the data will help determine what happened. Plus, a couple in Nova Scotia is trying to adopt three children

from their own relatives in Lebanon. But time is running out. We'll explain why it's taking so long. All that and more is coming up on Your World Tonight. All that and more is coming up on Your World Tonight. [♪upbeat music playing.♪ Ottawa has issued a warning for Canadians in the Middle East telling them to exercise a very high degree of caution and avoid all travel to Israel.

The fighting was top of mind on Parliament Hill and will likely be a topic of discussion and debate at next week's G7 summit in Alberta. Tom Perry has more on that. We need de-escalation, diplomacy and rule of law. In question period, New Democrat MP Heather McPherson rose to condemn Israel's attack on Iran, her statement coming before Iran launched its own counter-attack against Israeli cities.

Israel has the right absolutely to defend itself within the bounds of international law. Liberal Rob Oliphant, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, responded, laying out Canada's position that the government is urging both sides to step back from all-out war. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand expanded on that in an interview with CBC radio's The House. The key is going to be to de-escalate and to reach a negotiated solution. The response from conservative leader Pierre Poliev less nuanced. In a statement posted on social media, Poliev offered full-throated support to Israel and its right to defend itself by, in his words, disarming Tehran's genocidal nuclear program.

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet hopes the upcoming meeting of the G7 that Prime Minister Mark Carney will host in Alberta will be an opportunity for leaders to address this crisis. The G7 might be an occasion for those countries to speak common voice and say that there must be no escalation in this conflict. However this conflict plays out, it will likely be a topic of much discussion

when G7 leaders meet. Thomas Junot from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa says Canadian officials were already facing a difficult task trying to build this summit around the incendiary US president Donald Trump who famously blew up the last G7 meeting Canada hosted in 2018. With Israel's attack on Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran-Israel, have to be at least informally on the agenda. And here there is scope for disagreement,

there is scope for tension to rise. So if anything, it makes Prime Minister Carney's job way more complicated than it already was. Late this afternoon, the Prime Minister issued a statement, Mark Carney saying, Iran's nuclear program has long been a cause of grave concern and that its missile attacks across Israel threaten regional peace.

Canada, he says, reaffirms Israel's right to defend itself while calling on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and move toward a diplomatic resolution. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. People around the world are holding their breath as they watch these events unfold. Many have a personal connection, worried for friends and family in Iran and Israel. Jessica Chung with more on how people here in Canada are reacting. As customers come to pick up their morning bread at Tabra's Bakery, an Iranian shop in North Vancouver, the topic on everyone's mind is the situation overseas. First of all, it's so happy this happened that helped destroy the Iranian government

and the concern about my people because they are not guilty. Store owner Ali Reza is hopeful that this latest escalation will topple the current Iranian regime and eventually bring peace to the country. But like many in the Iranian community, he's worried about their family back home, a sentiment shared by Najaf Mahadi. I have family, many of us have family in Iran, but this is the only thing the war can make the regime go away. Otherwise, they want to stay there and do anything they want.

This week's attack on the country, the largest on Iranian soil since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The nature of this attack was completely unbelievable. Davoud Gavami is the president of the Iranian-Canadian Congress. According to census data, more than 250,000 people of Iranian origin live in Canada. Many of them left the country following the 1979 Iranian Revolution and remain opposed to the Islamic Republic. The current attack by Israel, we won't consider attack on Iran. We're considering attack on the Islamic Republic. The current attack by Israel, we won't consider attack on Iran. We're considering attack on the Islamic regime.

So what will happen? The Iranian people get encouraged and encouraged to come on the street and shout against the government and that's the hope is coming up gradually and it will actually grow predominantly. This afternoon Iranian ballistic missiles fired across Israel, a dangerous retaliation reverberating in Canada too. Noah Shaq is the interim president at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Toronto. There's a lot of anxiety in the community about the safety and well-being of the people of Israel who are facing the prospect of Iranian missile barrages targeting civilians. A long way from the war zone, Canadians with deep connections to a worsening conflict watching with anxiety from afar.

Jessica Chung, CBC News, Vancouver. CBC News has learned a Canadian permanent resident who lived in Saskatchewan was one of the victims in yesterday's Air India crash. All but one person died when the plane fell just minutes after takeoff. CBC South Asia correspondent Salima Shivji is on the ground near the site of the crash. She has the latest on the investigation and what the lone survivor is saying. The ambulances line up in the oppressive heat outside the hospital in Ahemdabad. One by one, workers gather the remains of the still unidentified victims of the Boeing plane crash in yellow body bags

and put them into the vehicles to be moved to cold storage. As family members crowd around, the smell of loss lingers everywhere. Families hand over their DNA samples and wait. The fiery explosion of the crash left many victims unrecognizable. Only a small number of bodies have been returned to their families so they can begin grieving. The rest need DNA test results in order to be identified.

For Imtiaz Ali Sayed, it's an excruciating weight. His brother, sister-in-law and the couple's two young children were all on board the doomed flight and he's struggling to process it. I am not yet, I am not imagining that he is dead. on board the doomed flight and he's struggling to process it. At the crash site where more than 260 people died including Canadian dentist Niruli Patel and Regina permanent resident Piyush Kumar Patel. The recovery efforts continue with sniffer dogs joining the teams as the investigation intensifies.

One black box from the plane has been found. The flight data recorder with crucial clues for investigators who are looking at whether possible issues with the aircraft's engine thrust or landing gear caused it to lose altitude and crash mere moments after it took off. Air India's CEO Campbell Wilson visited the crash site after India's aviation safety regulator ordered the airline to re-inspect all the Boeing 787 Dreamliners in its fleet.

And he had this to say. We know that the investigations will take time. But we will be fully transparent and we'll support the process for as long as it takes. India's Prime Minister also got a look at the destruction the plane left behind a day after the disaster and spoke with the lone survivor. The miracle man who somehow walked away from the crash.

I saw people dying right in front of my eyes, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh told India's national broadcaster. I can't believe I got out alive. A hole in the fuselage provided him an escape from the worst plane disaster India has seen in decades. Salima Shivji, CBC News, Ahemdabad, India. It seems like a logical and compassionate solution. A Halifax woman desperately trying to adopt three children out of Lebanon.

She says they've been neglected by their parents and are living in an orphanage. They're also her cousins. But despite the family connection and promise of a better life, by their parents and are living in an orphanage. They're also her cousins. But despite the family connection and promise of a better life, her efforts are being blocked. And as Kayla Hounsell reports, time is running out. So this is Anthony and Sherpa's room.

Victoria Joma proudly shows off two bedrooms in her house. Soccer balls in the boys' room, a pink owl clock, and a plush panda toy in the other, clothes hanging in both closets. They really love messy, so we made sure they had some messy gear. Even toothbrushes are ready to be used by the sink, all for children who don't live here.

We just want to bring our kids home. That's it. That's all we want. We don't want anything else. Well, I love you. I love you too. The children are her biological cousins, brothers 13-year-old Antoni and 12-year-old Charbel

and their little sister, six-year-old Teresa. Joma says they've suffered from neglect their whole lives. She's already their legal guardian, but she wants to adopt them. A decision solidified in August 2020 when a hanger full of improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at the port of Beirut killing more than 200 people. My whole body felt warm and it just came to me and I was like I have to adopt those kids. Joma says she was told she can't adopt the children in Lebanon because their parents are still alive though they've willingly signed over their rights and because she's gay but she spent the last five years trying to bring the children

to Canada now with her partner Chaya Meyer. She's got sticky notes taped all over the house trying to learn Arabic. I want these kids just as much as she does. But time is running out. The orphanage the boys are in doesn't take care of teens and they'll have to leave at the end of June. I'm very worried, says the centre's director, Sister Rashida Malouli in French. We're going to have street children it's terrible.

The couple has tried inter-country adoption, visitor visas and reached out to their MP Lina Mettlage-Diab who is now also the brand new Minister of Immigration. Jomar was told the minister could not help. She also declined an interview request from CBC News, citing privacy concerns. It is factually and legally untrue that the minister cannot help. The couple's immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges has applied for what's called a temporary resident permit, which Canada issues under exceptional circumstances.

Now it's just trusting that they'll make it home. The couple says clothing in the closets gives them hope, but that's harder to cling to each time another application is rejected. Kayla Hounsell, CBC News, Halifax. 200 marines are now on the ground in Los Angeles taking positions to guard federal property and personnel. They'll be taking over those duties from National Guard troops, which will now provide protection for immigration raids. There have been multiple protests in LA against those raids. It's a rare use of the armed forces for domestic policing, one that has been challenged by California officials. A court decided yesterday that

U.S. President Donald Trump can keep National Guard troops in the city for now. That decision paused a lower court ruling that declared the deployment illegal. Kilmar Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee. Garcia was deported to El Salvador three months ago even though he was legally in the United States. El Salvador then returned him to the U.S. to face criminal charges. Outside the courtroom, Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez-Sura, thanked the people fighting for his release.

Gilmar wants you to have faith. He said, these dark times are where we're facing all the tribulations that God has put in our path, but keep praying and keep fighting that the light will come soon. Prosecutors have also accused Garcia of being a member of the dangerous MS-13 gang. His attorneys have called the charges against him preposterous. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts.

Just find the follow button and lock us in. Some companies in Saskatchewan have high hopes for an emerging natural resource, helium gas. The prairies have a lot of it and the province is ready to boost production. But a key part of helium processing relies on American plants and there is a trade war with the United States. Alexander Silberman reports. In a farmer's field near Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Clayton Wenis is checking the flow of a helium well, a system of shiny metal pipes running nearly two kilometers deep under the prairie soil, pumping the natural gas to a nearby purification plant.

It's all new to this area and it's all exciting. Wennis is a field engineer with North American Helium, a company betting big on the emerging industry. His firm is the largest in a field of about a dozen businesses, all trying to turn a profit in southwest Saskatchewan and parts of Alberta. And we're just scratching the surface on our exploration and production at this point.

The demand for the gas goes well beyond balloons at party stores. Helium is needed for MRI machines, manufacturing of semiconductors, fiber optic cables, and to launch satellites into space. So that's the first step in our process is the membranes. Amid a maze of interlacing pipes, Wenis is showing the inner workings of a purification plant. It's an intensely loud and largely automated operation, a system of valves and vessels that removes nitrogen, water and other substances. Pure helium is then piped into transport trucks to be sent to Colorado and Oklahoma to be liquefied,

but Canada does not have a plant that can turn helium into liquid. The industry is now calling on the federal government to help it decouple from its reliance on the US and says there's a growing case amid a trade war. Chris Baker is co-chair of the Helium Developers Association of Canada. He says companies want tax credits available to other critical minerals to make it easier to attract investment. Both for the Canadian domestic use in hospitals here, you know, we have to ship it across the border, become liquefied and bring it back to Canada.

A Canadian liquefaction plant would eliminate that problem. Phil Kornbluth is a helium consultant based in New Jersey. He says the global market now has an abundance of helium after a series of shortages. But despite cooling prices, he believes a Canadian liquefier would be worth the investment. I think it sends a signal that Canada is in the helium business for the long haul, that they're more than a feed gas supplier to U.S. sources.

In Saskatchewan, the industry hopes its competitive advantage could come down to geopolitics as a safe and stable supply for trading partners that could also lift up the prairie economy. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, near Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Finally, this weekend's start to the G7 Summit is like a holiday for one group in Calgary. You're gonna have a very sore neck after this weekend for all the skygazing. Fantastic time to be a plane spotter, especially here.

Probably the highlight of my entire life, actually. That's Ken Meinser, creator of the group YYC Calgary Airport Spotters. He and the group's 20,000 members are having a great time, spotting all official aircraft flying in for the summit, snapping photos of their faves and checking them off their wish lists. Other than air shows, you really don't get this kind of collection of VIP and military aircraft, like the distinctive Air Force One that most people are familiar with.

And then in support of all of that, they've been bringing in the military aircraft, and so the skies have been just wild with activity in the last week and a half. It's prime time, it's our Super Bowl, as we say. and so the skies have been just wild with activity in the last week and a half. It's prime time. It's our Super Bowl as we say. Of course with so many VIPs there are a lot of security people around. And mine sir admits thousands of people tracking planes might raise some eyebrows. The general rule is pretty simple actually. If you're on your own property or if you're on public property

and you're not causing any kind of trouble, fill your boots, have fun taking the photos to your heart's content. But there is also an official viewing area. It's also the official protest area so things could get interesting there. Meinser says the plane he's anticipating the most, Air Force One. That's expected to arrive sometime on Sunday. This has been Your World Tonight for Friday, June 13th. I'm Stephanie Scanderis. Thank you for listening.

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