Your World Tonight - The US bombs Iran, Air India bombing anniversary, Youth Unemployment, and more.

Episode Date: June 22, 2025

The United States has squarely inserted itself into Israel's war with Iran. Trump-administration officials say they aren't pursuing regime change, but Iran says the US has crossed a red line. And it is vowing retaliation.And: Monday, June 23rd, is the 40th anniversary of the largest mass murder in Canadian history. 329 people were killed in the Air India bombing. And one image from that scene is still haunting a relative of some of the victims, sending him on a search that's lasted for four decades.Also: When it comes to landing a summer job, young Canadians have their work cut out of them. According to economists, the job market for Canada's youth hasn't been this bad for years.PLUS: Prime Minister Carney meets with EU and NATO leaders in Brussels, dangerous heat in Ontario and Quebec, a history of separatist movements, and more. 

Ten years ago, I asked my partner Kelsey if she would marry me. I did that, despite the fact that every living member of my family who had ever been married had also gotten divorced. Forever is a Long Time is a five-part series in which I talk to those relatives about why they got divorced and why they got married. You can listen to it now on CBC's Personally. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Kimberly Gale. This is your world tonight. What happens next will now depend on what Iran chooses to do next. If they choose the path to diplomacy, we're ready.

If they choose another route, then there'll be consequences for that. And the world is watching to see what Iran will do next. Iran's leaders are promising the U.S. will face consequences for its overnight airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Meanwhile, world leaders call for calm, warning of a dangerous cycle of retaliation. Also on the podcast, military spending is top of the agenda as Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with EU and NATO allies. And nice work if you can get it. I have a spreadsheet of all the jobs that I applied to within a two-month period.

And it was over 80. And I only heard back from two of those. Summer jobs are in short supply for young Canadians. The United States has squarely inserted itself into Israel's war with Iran. Though members of the Trump administration insist Washington is not at war with Tehran. They call the overnight bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities a targeted attack. But for Iran, the dropping of massive bunker buster bombs within its borders crosses a red line.

As Katie Simpson reports, the Washington establishment is divided on whether the surprise attack was worth the risk. American bombs landed with force one after another. Lighting up the sky near the Esfahan nuclear site, one of three Iranian targets hit in the surprise attack ordered by US President Donald Trump. Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said

American forces were essentially unchallenged as they carried out Operation Midnight Hammer a secret mission with more than 125 warplanes and 75 precision guided weapons including the so-called bunker busters, the 30,000 pound bombs capable of penetrating underground facilities housing some of Iran's nuclear development operations. We're not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program. Vice President JD Vance describing it as a limited operation with specific goals while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran against retaliation. It was not attack on Iran, it was not an attack on the Iranian people, this wasn't a regime change move. This was designed to degrade and or destroy three

nuclear sites related to their nuclear weaponization ambitions. Early assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency have found additional damage at two of the three targeted sites. It's unclear what happened at Forto. It was hit, but because the facility is underground, it's difficult to assess. Vance says American action has set back Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon substantially, claiming the attack was necessary because diplomatic talks

had broken down. The Iranians stopped negotiating in good faith. That was the real catalyst, I think, to what the president ultimately decided to do. The decision is being criticized by Democrats. Some claim Trump overstepped his authority by not seeking congressional approval. Senator Adam Schiff also says the White House has not presented enough evidence to justify its actions. It's not an operation that should have ever been authorized by the

president in the absence of intelligence showing that Iran had made the decision to break out and build a bomb. While some Republicans are angry, Representative Thomas Massey saying Trump promised voters he would not get the U.S. involved in another protracted war. I'm here to represent the base of the MAGA party that got Trump elected. Most of us were tired of the wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and we were promised that we wouldn't be engaging in another one yet here we see this happening. The Trump administration insists this will not lead to U.S. boots on the ground and they're urging Iranian officials to take what they call the peaceful way out and focus on a negotiated settlement.

Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. While Trump's cabinet members are stressing regime change is not their goal, the US president is making provocative statements towards Iran's leadership. In a social media post, Donald Trump writes, quote, it's not politically correct to use the term regime change, but if the current Iranian regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change? Meanwhile, Israel is praising the United States for its bombing raid. The attack marks a significant escalation in the ongoing war in the Middle East. Margaret Evans is in Jerusalem.

Iran's initial reply arrived early this morning. Missiles aimed at Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. Some making it through Israeli defences, shattering residential buildings. Israeli citizens well disciplined in getting to safety. We got out of bed and we went to the safe room. We heard a tremendous boom. When we came back, we saw an apartment was not our apartment anymore. We're okay. They want us destroyed

and we're not gonna let it happen. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was quick to offer thanks and effusive praise to the U.S. president. His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace. Israeli analyst Efraim Inbar says that's a big ask. Our attempts at political engineering in Lebanon were a total failure in the 80s. The American attempts to create a new Middle East in Iraq, in Afghanistan, were a failure. The more immediate question is how Iran will respond to the United States' entrance onto the playing field. There is no red line that they have not crossed, and the most dangerous one was happened only

last night. The Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi says Iran will defend itself. It is an outrageous, grave and unprecedented violation of the fundamental principles of the charter of the United Nations and international law. In Tehran, still reeling from ten days of blistering Israeli attacks, there was a show of defiance on the streets, with chants of death to Israel and death to the United States. We became really upset, says Samaya Rajozad, because bombing these types of places is very inhumane. It was unforgivable says Farzaneh Mohakak.

They shouldn't think they can harm our country. Iran is stronger than they perceive. Iran disputes US President Donald Trump's claims that its nuclear facilities were completely destroyed. Some officials quoted saying Iran moved its stockpiles of enriched uranium to a secret location some time ago. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly said it would target US interests if Washington were to enter the fray. There are some 40,000 US troops stationed across the Middle East. But that would likely draw more fire from Washington, and Iran's regime leaders will

be calculating the potential cost of that. Margaret Evans, CBC News, Jerusalem. Still ahead, 40 years ago, a bomb hidden in a suitcase brought down an Air India flight over the Atlantic, killing all 329 people on board. It remains the largest mass murder in Canadian history. Later on Your World Tonight, a family member of some of the victims reflects on that tragedy and his four-decade search for a memento from the wreckage. The timing, nature, and scale of Iran's retaliation against the US is still anyone's guess, but its leaders have vowed there will be consequences.

Ali Valles is the Iran Project director for the International Crisis Group. He explains Iran's capabilities and the different scenarios its leaders may be considering. Look, Iran has still hundreds of ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles with heavy payloads. It has cruise missiles. It has suicide boats, speed boats, and it can still do a lot of damage to U.S. bases in the region, U.S. interests in the region on Israel, on shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, on energy infrastructure in the region. So it can really put the entire region ablaze. So the risks are very high

here. But there's also a version in which Iran would respond similar to what it did after President Trump killed General Soleimani in 2020, which was a barrage of missile attacks on one of U.S. bases in Iraq, which didn't result in any fatalities and the tensions were contained. In a joint statement, the leaders of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are urging Iran to not take any action that could destabilize the region. Prime Minister Mark Carney is also calling for restraint in the Middle East.

Carney is in Brussels today, ahead of a planned meeting with NATO and European Union allies. Murray Brewster is there. Murray, the Prime Minister issued a statement while in transit to Europe. What's Canada's position on the bombing? In a word, it was careful. There was no outright condemnation. The statement said that Iran's nuclear program was a grave threat to international peace and security and that the regime should never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. The U.S. intelligence community, meanwhile, has estimated that while enrichment of nuclear fuel was close to being achieved, the actual construction of a device was not yet underway.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's statement says that the U.S. military action was meant to alleviate the threat, but the Middle East remains volatile. Canada called on the U. the US and other allies and Iran to return to the negotiating table. We spoke with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Onnen just a short while ago, and she had been working the phones this weekend ahead of the attack,

talking to a number of her counterparts. Let's hear what she had to say. One of those calls included a call with the foreign minister of Iran, where I emphasized the importance of the safety and security of Canadian citizens in the region. I also emphasized the importance of de-escalation. There's another important point to raise here. I mean, it was thought by intelligence agencies and defense experts that Iran's end goal was to develop as many as 10 nuclear weapons.

Murray, what's the sense on how this will affect the NATO summit? Well, NATO secretary general last week on power and politics said that any potential conflict with the US and Iran was outside of the Euro-Atlantic zone. Now, it's not on the formal agenda, but that doesn't mean NATO leaders don't care and they won't be talking about what's happening in Iran. The question is very much, how is Russia going to respond? Iran is a key ally of Moscow and an important supplier of military equipment and munitions, such as the Shaheed drones.

It's unlikely that Russia is going to take this bombing lying down. More broadly, how does Iran respond? Now if the US continues the attacks and doesn't limit it to just Iran's nuclear program, that could also be a further escalation. Then NATO will be on tender hooks throughout this whole process. We also understand there's some breaking news ahead of the NATO Summit about defense spending. What do you know? Well, I mean, that's correct.

But according to Reuters, NATO members are being urged to accept a benchmark of 5% of their GDP on defense spending. And according to the report that we've seen this evening, it seems there's agreement to do that, but by 2035. Now, essentially, the members of NATO are giving themselves a decade to further ramp up defense spending. The Trump administration has pushed for this new target and we'll see how happy they are about the timeline when the summit begins on Tuesday.

All right. Thanks for this, Murray. You're welcome. The CBC's senior defense and security reporter, Murray Brewster in Brussels. Former cabinet minister John McCallum has died. Over his long career, he was a professor, an economist, a politician, and an ambassador. He served in multiple cabinet roles under three liberal prime ministers, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, and Justin Trudeau. In a statement, his family calls him a beloved husband,

a devoted father, and a proud grandfather, adding that he was deeply committed to public service and cared deeply about making a difference in the lives of others. John McCallum was 75 years old. Across Ontario, Quebec, and large swaths of the US, of others. John McCallum was 75 years old. Across Ontario, Quebec and large swaths of the US, it's hot. Dangerously hot. Heat warnings are in place for Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and parts in between, Philipp Lee Shanock

reports. Like one day it's cold, one day it's hot. After a wet and rainy late spring in Toronto, the sudden start to summer took many by surprise with temperatures on Sunday hitting 35 degrees Celsius, feeling more like 46 with the humidex. Sarah Bae Jung says she'll be limiting her outdoor activity over the next few days. Frankly, it's really hard on me. Like it's just, I would rather it be too cold than too hot. Environment Canada issued its first significant heat warning of the season for southern and eastern Ontario and southern and western Quebec.

Daytime highs could hit 36 Celsius, feeling more like 40 to 50 degrees with the humidex for the next few days. This has been really late coming, and so we're just not really ready for it. Senior climatologist Dave Phillips says after a cool spell the sudden heat could have a big impact. The first heat wave is the worst. We see hospital admissions go up because people are just not acclimatized to it. Dr. Sejai Bhargava is with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

She says it won't just be uncomfortable for the young and old and those with underlying health conditions, the sudden heat could be deadly. Dehydration, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, you're at a higher risk for things like a heart attack or cardiovascular system collapse, heat-related pulmonary edema, which is when there's water sitting on the lungs. She advises everyone to have a heat plan and to check on loved ones who are at risk. Think about having water on hand, think of how you're going to access cool air, have a check-in buddy. While Ontario will experience the hottest temperatures, the heat will extend into much

of Quebec and at least one school board there has cancelled classes tomorrow. Julianne Pellerin is a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. It is kind of exceptional by its intensity. Pellerin says much of the heat has stagnated south of the border, setting high temperature records from the U.S. Midwest to the East Coast. Heat advisories are in effect for more than 200 million Americans. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency in dozens of counties due to extreme heat and severe thunderstorms. We're facing four to five straight days of blistering hot heat.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Extreme heat can be deadly. That oppressive heat is expected to dissipate as a cold front moves through the area by the end of the week. Philipp Lee Shanok, CBC News, Toronto. This is the start of a difficult week for a group of people united by tragedy. Monday June 23rd is the 40th anniversary of what's been called the worst act of terrorism in Canadian history. It was Air India flight 182 that left Toronto last night, flew on to Montreal and was headed

for Bombay. A Boeing 747 jumbo jet flying high over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland. Suddenly it disappeared from air traffic control radar screens. It is now suspected, though not confirmed, that a bomb blew the plane apart. It was eventually confirmed to be a bomb hidden in a suitcase. All 329 people on board were killed, most of them Canadian, others from the UK and India. And one image from that scene is still haunting a relative of some of the victims, sending him on a search that lasted for four decades. Angie Seth has that story.

My sister, baby sister, she was three years old, Sandita, she was on board. His little sister, the apple of his eye, lost forever. And I loved her with all my life. I used to feed her, bathe her, as a baby, cook her breakfast and stuff like that before I went off to school or college. And she was very dear to me, very, very dear. And she's, wouldn't be fair to say I don't miss my dad or mom, but

she's probably the biggest loss for me in my life. Sanjay Lazar living in India was just 17 when his whole world was destroyed. I lost everybody in my family, so I was literally orphaned at 17. Lazar's father Sampath was an in-flight supervisor on Air India Flight 182. When you playback the recording of the last minutes of the aircraft, you can hear him in the cockpit

talking to the pilots. So yeah, I keep listening to that off and on. His stepmother, also on the plane, five months pregnant with a baby boy. They were on their way from a family trip to Toronto. Sanjay had stayed in India to continue his studies. He immediately traveled to Cork, Ireland, where the plane went down.

I had identified my sister. I was ready to take the body home for burial. And at the last day, you know, it was discovered that another family had identified the same body. And then it came down to, you know, physical attributes were the same. It was just jewelry and physical effects. And they had caught, rightly, it was their child, they caught the body. So I was distraught. But something belonging to his sister was found.

When I got close to this object, I struck out to get a proper grip on it and it was hollow. Mark Tait was the Royal Air Force Search and Rescue helicopter wingman based in Ireland. He was one of the first on the scene. I thought, oh is it a doll? Oh, yes, it is a doll. That doll, the first item pulled from the waters, was captured in news footage seen around the world, a doll belonging to Lazar's three-year-old sister,

who was probably clutching it when the plane exploded midair. So they picked up this cabbage patch doll in Frankfurt. And how I know that she was carrying it with her was because the crew told me later on that we saw her with this huge doll that was almost as big as her. And she was so possessive about it. For decades, Lazar has been searching for that doll, hundreds of letters and emails to the RCMP, the British Navy, the Irish Guard and

to Air India, asking them to look for it among the items put in storage during the investigation into the bombing. I never got it back and I pray that if somebody has it, you know, return it to me, it's mine and it's my family's. Yeah, it's a very precious memory of my family. Determined to keep pushing officials, hoping that Dal will one day be discovered among the possessions of the victims of that faithful flight. Angie Seth, CBC News, Toronto. Separatism is on the ballot Monday in one Alberta by-election.

The leader of the Alberta Republican Party, Cameron Davies, wants his province to break up with Canada and join the US. He's running in the rural riding of Olds' Dididsbury Three Hills, just north of Calgary. Meanwhile, the provincial NDP is trying to hold on to two Edmonton area ridings, including the one held by former Premier Rachel Notley. Former Calgary Mayor Nahed Nenshi is running for that seat. Alberta's burgeoning separatist movement has led to concern and derision in other parts of Canada, but if history can teach us anything, few independence movements actually succeed,

John Last reports. Alberta will win. This is Dennis Modri. He's an organizer with the Alberta Prosperity Project, one of several groups now calling for a referendum on Albertan independence. He certainly sounds confident, but Modri might want to hedge his bets. Look around the world and you'll find one simple fact. The success rate for secession is low.

Ryan Griffiths is a professor of political science at Syracuse University and author of The Dis-United States, Threats of Secession in Red and Blue America and Why They Won't Work. He's studied secession movements all over the America and why they won't work. He studied secession movements all over the world and he's found that separatist movements almost never succeed. At best maybe 20%. I would say that for secessionist movements in advanced democracies there's really none, right? There haven't really been any. Take Europe as an example. In 2018, one study found that there were ongoing separatist movements in 21 European countries. But even the most popular have met with little success. Case

in point, in the 1990s, Venetian nationalists led calls for the creation of an independent northern Italian state, called Padania. They came up urgently thinking of ways to invent a nation which didn't exist because the real reason was absolutely economic. Mark Gilbert is a historian and author of Italy Reborn, From Fascism to Democracy. He says the real cause of Padania nationalism was resentment about financial transfers to the South, whose sluggish economy risked dragging Italy out of Europe's common currency. That sounds a lot like what separatists like Modri complain about.

And the movement for Padania did meet with some electoral success, securing 10% of the national vote and a role in government. But the movement eventually withered away. And for Griffiths, stories like this one show one of the main reasons secessionist movements fail in developed countries. National governments simply have too much to offer their critics.

It becomes a political debate, right? And the central government has a lot to give. Griffiths says the lesson here is, if Canada wants to stick together, the feds will need to combine a carrot with the stick. There is a limit, of course. Griffith warns of tactical separatism, using repeated threats of referenda to blackmail national governments. And that certainly sounds a little like what Modri has in mind. Daniel Smith could ask for the voters sometime in the next 30 to 36 months for a mandate to negotiate from a position of strength. Understand that negotiations might also lead to Alberta remaining in Canada with complete

control of its wealth and affairs. That means the threat of Albertan separatism could be here for a while. You could get this endurance of secessionist interest, but it's not a conveyor belt towards just greater secessionism. These things wane. Basque independence, Catalonia, Scotland, Sardinia, Ireland, Brittany, Wales, all have seen their separatist movements wax and wane with time. Even Padania is now largely forgotten. But perhaps not gone forever.

Take a drive from Venice Airport and you'll still see a reminder, spray-painted on an overpass, two words. Veneto libero. Free Venice. For CBC News, I'm John Last in Veneto, Italy. When it comes to landing a summer job, young Canadians have their work cut out for them. According to economists, the job market for Canada's youth

hasn't been this bad for years. Georgie Smyth now on the struggle teens and young adults are facing as they apply for their very first jobs. I heard that with AI, like AI is the deciding factor in a lot of resumes. Shoricko is getting some help tinkering with their resume, structuring it, adding certifications, anything that might help them stand out in a very tight job market. It's hard, it's hard. I have a spreadsheet of all the jobs that I apply to within like a two-month period and it was over 80 and I only heard back from two of those and

they were both gig jobs so nothing stable. A few years ago Canada had a shortage of workers but now hiring is down. Many economists blame the trade war for fueling uncertainty and job agencies say employers are reluctant to bring on new staff. Sophie Robinson helps place students in summer jobs at CareerZone in Vancouver. And a lot of people without experience are having difficulties entering into entry-level positions because there's people who have more experience

who are trying to apply for those jobs as well. Canada's unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds is more than 14 per cent. That's 1.44 percent higher than last year and double the national average. Yeah you type in what you want like part-time full-time. While the job search might be smoother now with the help of online platforms economists say it hasn't been this slow for young people since 2012.

Most places like don't give back to me or they... It's a truth 15 year old Ella Milford from Victoria knows too well. She's been applying for jobs for years. I apply indeed online and then some places I follow up and go in and give them my resume. It doesn't make a difference? No. And so you still haven't got a job? No.

I always go a person for my jobs. Young workers like 18 year old Holly Dawson say it's more important than ever to make an in-person impression. I went a few times and then I feel like that worked out for me and then another drop I scoop ice cream which is the funniest thing. But yeah, also I had to go to a hiring fair for that so yeah, it's definitely difficult like I won't say it's not. I think we just need the economic situation to get on a stronger footing.

Brendan Bernard is a senior economist at online job platform Indeed. He says it'll continue to be hard as long as the trade war drags on. Getting this, getting the ship turned around for job seekers is just going to require a turnaround in the overall economic situation, which can happen quickly, but we need things to actually change on the ground for that to happen. A frustrating start to working life before it's even begun. Georgie Smythe, CBC News, Vancouver.

Don't cry for me, Argentina. American actress Rachel Zegler in London promoting her debut in Evita. The Guardian calls it the hottest ticket in the West End right now, with audiences paying the equivalent of 460 Canadian dollars for a seat. The musical about the First Lady of Argentina, Eva Perón, her rise from poverty to becoming one of the most powerful figures in Argentine history, politician, activist, and philanthropist

in the late 40s and early 50s. Zegler's creating a stir, and not one of her making, but because of where British theater director Jamie Lloyd is staging the most iconic scene. They are illusions, they're not the solutions. Act Two, where an eloquently dressed Deve Peron emerges on the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, to address her people, reaffirming her allegiance to them, and it culminates with the song, You Know the One. For it, Zegler leaves the stage and emerges on a balcony outside the London Palladium

to perform Don't Cry For Me, Argentina for whoever has gathered on Argyle Street below, while ticket holders inside watch a livestream. British theatre critic and social media influencer Mickey Joe on YouTube addressing the disgruntled theatregoers. I get the frustration of wanting to see and hear Rachel Ziegler sing that song. It's just not happening right there in front of you. And sometimes the use of cameras can be that little bit emotionally distancing. But other reviewers are cheering for it, saying because the show is about Eva Perron

giving power to the people, singing this song on the balcony to the people who might not be able to afford tickets only makes sense. This has been Your World Tonight. I'm Kimberly Gale. Thank you for listening. Don't cry for me, Arif Dina. The truth is I never left you. All through my wild days, my mad existence, I kept my promise. Don't keep your distance. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.com. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. And if you're interested in learning more about the CBC podcast, go to cbc.com.

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