Your World Tonight - Pentagon says U.S. winning, conflict spreads, the dangers of radon, and more

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

The head of the Pentagon insists Iran’s military is growing weary after five days of strikes. Pete Hegseth also says the U.S. is just getting started.And: CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault reports from the northern border of Israel near Lebanon, where strikes and sirens are a persistent fact of life.Also: It's invisible, toxic and lurks in our homes. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada. And scientists say Canada should lower its guidelines on what’s an acceptable amount to have in your home.Plus: Canada debates between Gripens and F-35s, Mexico tries to reassure potential FIFA visitors, is the world looking to Canada for safe oil and gas? … and more.

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always overdelivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing. Donate at lovescarbro.cairro.ca.

This is a CBC podcast. America is winning, decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy. This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be. From blunt to full bluster, the U.S. Secretary of War, proclaiming early dominance and insisting the attacks on Iran are just getting started, vowing to strike deeper. as the operation expands, with a NATO ally threatened for the first time in this conflict, and a U.S. sub sinking an enemy ship with a torpedo for the first time since the Second World War.

What does this tell you it was about to happen? We have been. Come to my house, please. Scambling for safety in northern Israel, as Hezbollah clashes with Israeli forces, residents of a volatile region brace for a familiar fight. Welcome to your world to night. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Wednesday, March the 4th, just before 6 p.m., also on the podcast. If the U.S. use this red card, for example, for Canada, it will be a problem, yes. As fighting continues in the Middle East, Canada's military is preparing for future conflict by securing its next generation fighter jet, and it means deciding between an American model

or a European competitor. The Trump administration insists Iran's military is growing weary. The sirens and alerts blaring across the Middle East say otherwise. Missiles, bombs and drones. Iran's aerial assault has been tireless. And the one coming from the U.S. and Israel, even worse. We have full coverage for you once again tonight, beginning with Katie Nicholson in Washington. Long-range precision missiles hurtled into.

the air to strike deep into Iranian territory. America is winning, decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy. Pentagon had Pete Hegseth projecting confidence that five days in the U.S. has the situation well in hand, even releasing a video of a periscope view of a torpedo blowing an Iranian warship in two, killing Iranian soldiers off the coast of Sri Lanka, far from the Persian Gulf. Quiet death. There have been reported. The courts the U.S. may be burning through its weapon stocks too quickly, as top defense contractors are expected to converge at the White House Friday to discuss speeding up weapons manufacturing.

Hegsett batted away those concerns, suggesting it's Iran supplies that are dwindling. Iran cannot outlast us. General Dan Cain, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, more circumspect. I know there have been a lot of questions about munitions. We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense. The next phase of the operation, to push deeper. We will now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory. Why wasn't there more of a focus on evacuation plans from the Middle East that could have been at least put in place ready to go before the strikes this weekend?

Point House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt under pressure today to explain why thousands of American citizens in the Middle East were left in the dark before the strikes. The U.S. Department of State Consular Affairs shared a list of countries with level four, do not travel advisories. You can't be much more clear than that. Charter and military flights are now being arranged seizing windows of opportunity to move people to safety.

We're doing very well on the war front. U.S. President Donald Trump took a moment again today to justify the attack. When crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen. So we're in very good shape. While on Capitol Hill, the debates begin on whether to curtail Trump's war powers. Speaker Mike Johnson made his stance clear. I think passage of a war powers resolution right now would be a terrible, dangerous idea. The Senate debated for hours today, Democratic Senator Patty Murray.

You want to know where Trump's priorities lie? He has clearly put more thought and care and planning into this new White House ballroom than he has with the war with Iran. Republicans there voted the measure down. A similar fate is expected in the House. But questions about whether this conflict was justified and what happens next continue to echo through the Capitol. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. What happens next in the Middle East is also in flux. Israel is pressure. Hezbollah in Lebanon fighting its part of the conflict on two fronts, while inside Iran there is word of a U.S. plot to spark a civil war.

Senior international correspondent Margaret Evans is in Amman, Jordan. Careful work by a rescue team from the Iranian Red Crescent. They've found someone alive in the collapsed underbelly of a building in Kerman, another Iranian city facing the wrath of U.S.-Israeli attacks. They've already taken a devastating toll. More than 1,000 civilians killed since the start of the war, according to a U.S.-based human rights group. In Tehran, children's backpacks hang on big black gates at the university.

Part of a memorial to dozens of children killed in a strike on their school in the southern city of Minab on Saturday. Tehran resident Mohamed Reza, Jamati says he wants the world to see that schools, hospitals, and residential buildings are being hit. Of course they've hit military targets, he says. That's the basis of the war they started, but they didn't only hit military targets. Giant pictures of Iran's now dead supreme leader Ali Khamenei drape the city. His funeral planned for today, has been. now been postponed, along with the final decision on his successor. Israel has said he too will be

a legitimate target. Iran's ruling clerics are issuing dire warnings to any citizens seem to support the U.S. Israeli campaign. They are on the enemy's side and must be dealt with decisively and severely, says the head of the judiciary, Golam Hussein, must. Seneh Ejaya. The many Iranians who do want regime change are divided over how it should be delivered, especially as the bombing intensifies, says an Iranian woman in touch with us. We're protecting her identity and have altered her voice. I get more scared every day, she says, but I'm still not at a point where I wish this

wouldn't have happened. Whether we like it or not, everything has a price. The Iranian regime is now fighting on several fronts, including in the remote mountains of northern Iraq, where Iranian Kurds fighting Tehran have been given shelter by Iraqi Kurds. Rostom Jaghangiri is a leading member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. He says several Iranian drones hit their camp in the Iraqi Kurdish mountains. We believe the regime is nearing its end. He says. Our hope is for a democratic Iran moving away from religious dictatorship

where the rights of all nations are protected. There are reports that Washington is working to support the Iranian Kurds in any armed uprising and that Iran's feared Revolutionary Guard Corps is increasingly turning its attention towards the Kurdish areas of Iran. Margaret Evans, CBC News, Amman. I'm Adrian Arsano in northern Israel on the border with Lebanon on the edge of what's a new yet horribly familiar front. War with Iran is now also war with Hezbollah after Iran's proxy joined the fight. The Israel Defense Forces releasing footage of Israeli troops now operating inside southern Lebanon

and issuing warnings to all Lebanese residents of the south. You must leave, go north of the Latestine, you must leave, go north of the Latifian. River is the order in Arabic. So there's a squeeze from the south and fierce force in Beirut. Air strikes on what Israel calls Hezbollah strongholds. What some in Lebanon say are simply residential areas. The health ministry indicated by nightfall, more than 70 people had been killed. The Lebanese army seems worried about what is next for the country and has banned all Hezbollah military activities. At least one woman cleaning up the bombing debris. says she just wants life back, not war.

And we're going to keep living. The terrorists should be out of this country. There's bracing for worse to come in Lebanon reinforced when Hezbollah's leader Naim Qasam went on television to talk of what he calls the Israeli-American aggression. We will defend ourselves with our capabilities and our faith, he said. no matter the sacrifices.

Add that to the threats already facing northern Israel. 55-year-old medic Saghiliqqqqqabat bar has lived in her border cabots all her life. Perching on the edge of her ambulance, she says she's bothered by getting used to explosions. And it's a problem. Don't run to the shelter, and it's not good. So you're almost afraid because you're not afraid enough? Yeah, yeah, it's not good. Yeah. As we talk about whether the new Israeli offensive in Lebanon would make a difference, war barged into the conversation.

She heard the rocket before the sirens. To live so close to the border is to have barely a few seconds of warning, once in a reinforced room a moment to talk about the future. What does your instinct tell you will happen with this war? It's continued. For some years, it's happening again.

pessimism earned by experience. Adrian Arsenal, CBC News, Ayelet Ashaha, northern Israel. Turkey says NATO air defenses destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Iran into its airspace. It's unclear where the missile was headed. Turkey's defense ministry says it passed over Iraq and Syria before it was downed by NATO defense systems stationed in the eastern Mediterranean. Many countries have been working to get their citizens, out of the region. Some commercial flights are expected to resume out of the United Arab Emirates tomorrow,

and Canada now has secured some seats on flights from Beirut to Istanbul. They are limited, and anyone traveling would have to pay their own way. Global Affairs says about 103,000 Canadians are now registered in the Middle East and Gulf region, and it's looking for more options for those who want to leave. The Iran crisis has led to delay. The Iran crisis has led to delay. in energy exports from the Middle East. This could mean that countries in other parts of the world may need or want to increase their own exports. If Canada wants to sell more oil and gas, can it?

Anise Haydari takes a look at that. Canadian energy products don't go anywhere near the Strait of Hormuz, which means demand for them could go up. Look, what's happening in the Middle East right now is very disturbing and distressing to many of us. Tim Hodgson is the Federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. When it comes to those sectors, he says the world is looking to Canada. What it absolutely means for our position in the world as an energy and natural resources superpower

is we are even more important today than we were before the weekend. This clearly is a significant conflict. Tristan Goodman is the CEO of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada based in Calgary. He says it's expected. that the Canadian industry will try to sell more. So as prices go up, they will naturally try to adjust their businesses and likely try to produce more natural gas or oil. But as for whether there's enough additional capacity to get it anywhere...

We're talking about 4 to 5% available. Not a lot. So there's this year. Using specific numbers, you can probably add an additional 250,000 barrels per day roughly. For context, though, that's less. than a percentage point of what is produced each day around the world. And while Canada could ramp that export number up even higher by using railways, oil transport over rail is expensive.

Energy prices have to be high to justify the extra cost. However, these are still historically, I would say, on the low end of prices, these are not high prices. Heather Exner-Piro is the Director of Energy, Natural Resources and Environment at the McDonald-Lorea Institute. She's based near Calgary. She also points out, this situation, could bring back an older player. In a situation where you have this Iran conflict

and you're seeing 20% of global supply impacted, when push comes to shove, you'll start to see countries, you know, turning up their nose, but importing some Russian supply. From her perspective, regardless of what happens next, she believes Canada must expand how much energy it can export. But I think this just demonstrates that it will always be valuable for Canada to be a bigger player, to have a bigger market share.

But as for today, if someone rang Canadian industry doorbells and said, please replace what's stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. Can it in any way contributing in a large or significantly meaningful way to what is being lost? The answer is no. It can't today. But looking long term, all energy sources continue to be demanded and are increasing.

That includes natural gas and oil. And Canada should be capitalizing on that. Those predictions, of course, dependent on an international conflict, that has defied predictability. Eni said RACCBC News, Calgary. Coming right up, a closer look at the European fighter jets Canada could purchase instead of American F-35s. And after a wave of cartel violence,

Mexico's government says it's ready to host World Cup games this summer. Some residents aren't so sure. Later, we'll have this story. Millions of Canadian homes have high levels of radon, a cancer-causing radioactive gas, But some homeowners say it's not clear when to take action, since Canada's threshold is double the level of global guidelines. I was definitely concerned the government issues these guidelines, but they're different internationally. I'm health reporter Lauren Pelly and later on your role tonight.

I'll explain why researchers say Canada needs a rethink on its radon recommendations to prevent more cases of lung cancer. There is a difficult decision facing the federal government involving the military and pressure from the U.S. United States. It has nothing to do with what's happening in the Middle East. The Carney government must choose between procuring American fighter jets or a Swedish-built alternative. The CBC's Murray Brewster traveled to Iceland to see if the Swedish aircraft could work within Canadian defense operations. It was one frozen photo op on a snowy tarmac in Iceland. A grippen fighter taxis up to a wall of journalists and cameras. for the Swedish Air Force an important chance to demonstrate how the Gripin can fly and fight alongside NATO

and the F-35 fighter jet in particular. During our time here at the air policing, we have, for example, cooperated with Danish F-35s and German Eurofighters and doing exercises together in this area. Major General Jonas Wickman, the commander of the Swedish Air Force, who dismisses critics that claim the Gripon and the F-35 can't talk to each other when it comes to data. sharing. I expect the Grip and E to be able to integrate in any cooperation when it comes to sensor and sharing information. That's a significant point. The two aircraft are able to communicate with each other because of a sophisticated US-owned data terminal known as Link 16. Highly advanced

encryption technology that the US controls technology it could choose not to share if it wanted to block a Canadian purchase of Grypins. The U.S. use this red card, for example, for Canada. It will be a problem, yes. Colonel Johann Legart is the Swedish detachment commander in Iceland. All of his grippens have linked 16s, which the U.S. had to give permission for them to use. Americans are the ultimate arbiters of interoperability.

So what if Canada doesn't get permission to use the terminals in its grippens? A big issue, I would say. since lacking network data, it will be very hard to integrate the aircraft into the system. Trump administration officials have privately said they're not comfortable sharing highly classified data if the Grypen is on the network. While Washington has not publicly made the explicit threat of withholding the Link 16 terminal from Canadian Grypins, defense expert Rob Hubert wonders if it's coming. I think that's always been a possibility.

Under the Trump era, is anything possible? Absolutely. A decision on whether Canada would extend its purchase of F-35s or switch to the Gripin was due last September. The Carney government stopped answering questions about when it's going to decide. No doubt, one of the considerations, if not the consideration, is how the U.S. would respond if it was the Gripin. Marie Brewster, CBC News, Kavlovak, Iceland. It is invisible, toxic, and lurks under our home.

homes. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada after smoking. Scientists say Canada isn't taking the gas seriously enough, and as Lauren Pelly reports, there's disagreement on what, if any, level is safe. So we're expecting this to be going down after that. Maureen Hayes decided to install a radon mitigation system this winter, a simple pipe and fan setup to keep this radioactive gas from building up inside her Ottawa home. Before she installed the system, readings in her home over the last year showed a level below Canada's threshold for taking action, but were also higher than some other global guidelines. I was definitely concerned the government issues these guidelines, but they're different internationally.

Canada's threshold to act on home radon levels is 200 beckerels per cubic meter, a measurement referring to the amount of radioactive gas present in the air. That guideline is double the maximum threshold recommended by the World Health Organization. Canada's radon guideline is due for an update. Lisa Gou is with the David Suzuki Foundation. A decade ago, she wrote a report saying the country's guidance was already out of date based on emerging research. Speaking to CBC News this year, she says it's still discouraging many Canadians from trying to lower radon levels in their homes. The Canadian standard that recommends action only above 200 is really failing to protect Canadians.

Breathing in radon gas can cause lung cancer, and data shows close to half of all detached homes in Canada have levels above the WHO's guideline. In our view, Canada should aim to meet or beat the most protective standards when it comes to protecting human health and the environment. Health Canada told us the department encourages Canadians to reduce radon levels as much as possible, since there is no safe level of exposure. But at this time, there are no plans to change Canada's guidelines. The dirtier the air, the greater the dose from the radon. Aaron Godarsie is one of Canada's top radon scientists. He says more research is needed to understand how the risks of radon are changing in Canada before the country revisits its recommendations.

His team at the University of Calgary is now studying the impact of wildfire smoke. I always think of the particulate matter as the taxi that drives the radon into your lungs. He expects to find that climate change and more annual wildfires are increasing the risk. But we need to understand that. And from that, perhaps that's when the conversations about shifting the guidance happens in a more informed way. Okay, Arthur, moment of truth. In the meantime, homeowners like Hayes have to decide what level of this cancer-causing gas they're willing to live with. Lauren Pelley, CBC News, Toronto.

This is Your World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date and 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. There are now just 99 days to go until the FIFA World Cup. As the three host countries finalized preparations, Mexican officials are trying to reassure fans that despite last month's violence, the country is safe and ready for the tournament.

As the CBC's Jorge Barrera reports, some locals are not convinced. Hector Flores says the recent images of armed men setting vehicles on fire across his state of Halisco triggered the memory of the day in 2021 when his 19-year-old son Daniel was kidnapped at gunpoint and never seen again. I again felt that uncertainty, the feeling of being abandoned by institutions, says Flores, who lives in Guadalajara, the capital of Halisco. He leads a group called The Light of Hope, representing families of people who were among the 16,000 reported missing in the state.

Flores says the World Cup is important, but it should not be used to cover up injustices in Mexico, a country with 130,000 reported missing. Many victims of ongoing violence involving the state and crime groups He says he and other families of the disappeared plan to converge on Mexico City for June 11th the day the tournament begins to make sure that doesn't happen. Flores says he fears the violence from February 22nd could get worse.

The city, one of three hosting FIFA World Cup matches in Mexico, was paralyzed by a sudden explosion of violence that saw flaming blockades on roads and highways across the country with Halisco taking the brunt. The flare-ups followed the death of El Mentiono at the hands of Mexican Special Forces. The drug lord led the powerful criminal paramilitary organization that carries the state's name,

Halisco New Generation Cartel. It's left Guadalajara shaken. Restaurant owner Perla Montes de Oca says a shadow still lingers in the back of her mind that violence could strike again. Things happen in every country. But Gustavo Stouffert, Vice President of Halisco's Tourism Board says the World Cup will go off without a hitch.

People are going to have a fiesta all around. A message repeated by Mexico's government. We can confirm that Mexico is at peace and soccer will be enjoyed with calm. It's the Secretary of the Interior, Rosa Isela Rodriguez Velazquez, while Army and National Guard troops stepped up patrols throughout Guadalajara. Jorge Barrera, CBC News. but Lahara, Mexico. Finally tonight, we'll go out with a bang,

one that was heard across British Columbia. In Vancouver, across the south coast, inland to the Fraser Valley, and as far south as Seattle, a huge fireball lit up the night sky, followed by that loud boom. It was around 9 o'clock and captured on many security cameras. The spectacle lit up social media, too.

People guessed it was a meteor slamming into a mountain. Close. Turns out it was a piece of cosmic debris, but it didn't fall all the way to the ground. This was a space rock entering deeper into the atmosphere and causing an explosion as it broke up. Aaron Bowley is a physics and astronomy professor at UBC. The technical term for that space rock is a bolide,

a chunk of rock or ice from an asteroid or comet, larger than the tiny space fragments that burn away in the atmosphere, not large enough, thankfully, to hit the surface. And this is where you get to that meter size, roughly. It will penetrate deep into the atmosphere. It will be very bright. And once it gets into the upper portions of the stratosphere, all of that pressure just from the atmosphere breaks up the object. And that just dumps all of that kinetic energy into the atmosphere. atmosphere, and you can hear a big boom.

That boom was strong enough to register on seismographs, hard to miss. But for those who did, it may be a while before another bolide appears over BC. Every year, there are only a handful worldwide. Thanks for joining us on Your World Tonight for Wednesday, March 4th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC. www.ca slash podcasts.