"It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling that duty [to make peoples' lives better] use the smoke of war to hide their failures and, in the process, line the pockets of a few -- the only ones who win when the world stops building hospitals to start making missiles."

"You can’t respond to one illegality with another because that’s how humanity’s great disasters begin."

"You can’t play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions … Nobody knows for sure what will happen now. Even the objectives of those who launched the first attack are unclear. But we must be prepared, as the proponents say, for the possibility that this will be a long war, with numerous casualties and, therefore, with serious economic consequences on a global scale."

"We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone."

"MAGA-style leaders may say that our country can’t handle taking in so many migrants — that this is a suicidal move, the desperate act of a collapsing country. But don’t let them fool you. Spain is booming." 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez 

President Donald Trump greets Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Monday, October 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

"Iran represents a miscalculation for Spain."

"The U.S. will find other ports or bases from which to launch its operations. Spain gains nothing from this equation and risks reinforcing its position as a political opponent at a particularly sensitive moment."

"Energy prices could ultimately derail the current government."

Joan Luis Manfredi, senior lecturer in foreign policy, University of Castilla-La Mancha 

 

"Sanchez has been the European leader who most consistently and publicly has pushed back against the things Trump has done that he doesn't like."

His public criticism is even more noticeable given the studied silence of most other European leaders."

Amanda Sloat, professor, IE University, Spain  

This would be the very same Spanish Prime Minister who has accused Israel of  'genocide' against the Palestinians in Gaza and succeeded in imposing an arms embargo on Israel. He also pronounced Spain's official recognition of a Palestinian state, along with France, the United Kingdom and Canada. That Hamas, the terrorist group governing Gaza precipitated the conflict in Gaza when it sent 6,000 of its operatives into southern Israel to embark on a orgy of rape, torture and slaughter is immaterial to this man who feels one 'illegality' does not justify another.

 

Politicians, he waxed sanctimonious, should be engaged in making lives bettee for people; the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, in his opinion, was 'illegal' and unjustifiable. As the most senior socialist leader in the European Union, more radically left than even Britain's Keir Starmer, Sanchez stands alone in his outright denunciation of the President of the United States, eschewing diplomacy for the more direct route of full frontal accusation.

 

As a self-declared pacifist, it seems nothing -- no provocation, no empathy for a people suffering under the yoke of Islamofascism exercised by a theocratic government, nor outrage over the Islamic Republic's threats to annihilate a neighbouring country, much less sponsor a coterie of diehard Jew-hating jihadists to do its bidding through a Shi'ite 'ring of fire' surrounding Israel threatening its existence through violent 'resistance' to its presence on ancient Judean land -- could persuade him that pre-emptive existential action is ever warranted.

 

The malign international presence of a theocracy that worships a god that demands total submission in every facet of life, including dedication to jihad in the interests of global Islamic domination, and awaits the return of the 'hidden Mahdi' whose appearance will presage Armageddon and the ascent of all faithfully loyal Muslims to heaven, while the world is destroyed, believes that the return can be hastened by a man-made catastrophe of immense dimensions -- which the possession of nuclear devices could certainly assist in, fazes Sanchez not at all.

 

Spain has minimal direct trade exposure to the U.S. within the euro zone; below average for exporters in the euro zone, but its dependence on gas imports from the United States represents a trade Achilles heel, at a time when President Trump threatens to cut off trade with Spain. "We don't want anything to do with Spain", said the U.S. president, leaving the possibility of an halt to commerce through a blanket 'embargo'.  Spain is a liquefied natural gas hub for Europe with the US. accounting for 31 percent of its recent supply, rising to 44 percent in January.

 

Pedro Sánchez addressed the nation the morning after President Trump said he did not want 'anything to do' with Spain. La Moncloa Handout

"I believe our position is not naive at all."

"We will not be complicit in something that is bad for the world, and is contrary to our values and interests simply out of fear of reprisals from somebody."

"Spain’s position is the same as in Ukraine or Gaza. No to the breakdown of international law that protects us all. No to resolving conflicts with bombs. No to war."

"The world has been here before. Twenty-three years ago, another U.S. administration led us into an unjust war. The Iraq War led to a dramatic increase in terrorism and a serious migration and economic crisis. That was the gift of the ‘Azores Three’ (George W. Bush, Tony Blair and former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar) : a more insecure world and a worse life."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez 

Yes, the world HAS been here before; in 1938 to be precise, when Britain's Prime Minister 

Neville Chamberlain following the Munich Agreement, arrived back home to triumphantly proclaim: "Peace for our time".  

 

"The war in Iran has been well underway for a week. Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of the regime’s leadership are dead, more than two thousand targets have been struck across the country, and per U.S. Central Command, the U.S. military has “struck or sunk” more than thirty Iranian ships. Iran has retaliated in full force, unlike its token attack against U.S. forces in Qatar after Operation Midnight Hammer, striking military, civilian, and infrastructure targets in eleven countries so far."

"With the exception of China, Russia, and maybe North Korea, very few countries are going to cry tears for the loss of Khamenei, whatever their public posture on the U.S. and Israeli attacks at the moment. His regime wreaked havoc across the region, sponsored terrorism, and had challenged U.S. interests and the interests of Western and Gulf countries for some time. Nevertheless, there is still clearly some discomfort with the operation, from Capitol Hill to our European allies and throughout the Middle East. At the risk of stating the obvious, my sense is that this operation will ultimately be judged on its long-term outcome. If we end up with a more stable and peaceful region and a less hostile Iranian regime, it will be heralded as a resounding success. If, on the other hand, we find ourselves in a quagmire with ongoing chaos and conflict, there will be a lot of second-guessing."

Michael Froman, president, Council on Foreign Relations

Men watch from a hillside as a plume of smoke rises after an explosion on March 2, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

 

"It could be six, it could be eight, it could be three [weeks before operations are concluded]."

"[The U.S. has an] unlimited supply of weapons."

"Iran is hoping we cannot sustain this."

"Our capabilities are overwhelming and gathering still, as are those of our Israeli partners."

"Our munitions are full up."

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth  

If he isn't assassinated before being chosen, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's second-oldest son, himself a hard-line cleric, without being the Islamic Shi'ite elite scholar -- the 'pope' of Islam's Shia minority's faithful -- his father was, may yet be named as his successor, as the next leader of Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei, in that role is without doubt, a marked man. One whom President Trump considers a 'lightweight' with whom the regime's policies would remain sacrosanct. 

 

Some Middle East and Iran experts hypothesize that Iran's Islamic Republican Guard Corps who answered to no authority but that of the Supreme Leader, and now continue to follow through on his final instructions, are counting on the U.S. and Israel running out of munitions. For while the IRGC sets off inexpensive drones, its challengers are making use of expensive missiles to intercept them. Reckoning that if they can hold out against the U.S. and Israel long enough, victory will be theirs.

 

In the meanwhile, they continue to lob missiles and drones at their near neighbours, friends and foes alike. That part of their wartime schematic posits that if the IRGC places their Gulf neighbours under enough strain and stress, they will demand a cessation of hostilities; for the U.S. and Israel to pull back and leave off hammering the Islamic Republic. It was revealed that Russia not only has given Iran intelligence on U.S. installations in the Gulf, but is also supplying them with drones; a reversal of Iran supplying Shahed drones to Russia for its conflict with Ukraine. 

 

"Action to reduce pressure on oil is imminent", Mr. Trump said Thursday even as pump prices advanced to their highest level since 2024 in the U.S. ahead of November midterm elections. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is at a near total halt, leaving exporters to scramble for routes away from the region. A protracted war could "bring down the economies of the world", warned Qatar. Gulf energy exporters could shut production within weeks, it was predicted. 

 

A barrage of missiles and drones targeting Gulf countries overnight and into Friday sent powerful blasts into Kuwait and Bahrain. Dubai sent out missile alerts for the second day, on Friday. While maintaining airstrikes on the Islamic Republic, Israel "significantly expanded" its presence on the ground in Lebanon where Tehran-linked Hezbollah sent missiles into Israel and for their trouble saw a wave of airstrikes by Israel hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Shia Hezbollah's stronghold. 

 

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. As the conflict in the Middle East widens, Iran may find many of its traditional allies are reluctant to get directly involved. (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

 

The Islamic Republic, stated Iran's sidelined (by the IRGC) president Masoud Pezeshkian, is "committed to lasting peace", and to that end will continue to defend itself. For his part, Mr. Trump vowed to "totally demolish" Iranian forces, planning to "clean out" the Iranian leadership structure. So far in the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, 1,332 people are estimated to have been killed, dozens others elsewhere in the region by Iran's retaliatory strikes, among them six U.S. troops. 

 

Overnight into Friday Arab states intercepted Iranian projectiles, with Bahrain revealing that the region's oldest refinery, a unit at its Sitra site, had caught fire, struck by a missile. An attack targeting the U.S. military facility at Al Udeid Air Base  was thwarted by Qatar, while multiple missiles and drones were intercepted overnight by Saudi Arabia where strikes were directed at a U.S. facility at Al Kharj near Riyadh, and the Aramco headquarters in the east.

 

Iran has launched 500 ballistic and cruise missiles plus 2,000 drones since the war's start; 60 percent at American targets located in Gulf states. South Korea is in talks with the U.S. in potential redeployment of weapons, Patriot air-defence systems among them, while France authorized U.S. military support aircraft to use Istres Air Base as long as they are not used in Iran operations. 

 

"UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" wrote Trump Friday on Truth Social, demanding that Iran surrender, on the seventh day of the conflict. There will be no negotiations for the conflict's end. 

 

Strikes continue to hit Iran’s capital, Tehran, late Saturday night. CNN

 

"I believe God saved me. God saved my life. Nothing happened to me. Nothing happened to my house. Everything is going good."

"I just called the cops. I know who this person is."

"This person belongs to Khalistan."

"I feel scared. He tried to give me a warning. 'Shut your mouth. Don't raise your voice about this topic."

"I'm a Canadian citizen, but I don't feel safe in this country right now." 

Nancy Grewal, 46, deceased, Windsor, Ontario

"I don't feel safe here," Nancy Grewal said at her Windsor home in late February. (CBC)

"Investigators are confident this was not a random act of violence. Ms. Grewal's murder is being investigated as an intentional act against her."

"All information is being considered. While we recognize the significant public interest in this case, we will not share information that will compromise the investigation, including leads, tips, and investigative avenues."

LaSalle Police Chief Michael Pearce 

 

"It is very sad to hear about the loss of Nancy Grewal's life."

"We are not in the position to make any comment. Thank you."

India Canada Association Windsor and Essex County 

Nancy Grewal was stabbed to death at a home in LaSalle, Ontario Tuesday, where she was engaged as a personal support worker. She was also a social media influencer. She had a very large following on Instagram and YouTube where her postings were mostly in Punjabi with only a scant few in English. One of her English posts detailed an incident where a man poured gasoline on her front door to set her house on fire. She wanted all 'white Canadians' to know what was happening to her, as a fierce opponent of Sikh-Canadians known as 'Khalistanis'. A group agitating for a homeland carved out of India that they call 'Khalistan'.

 

As a Sikh herself, and one who opposed the violent separatist movement, she had been warned and threatened in relation to her involvement in the anti-Khalistan group. Ms. Grewal had reported the attempt to burn down her house to police, along with other complaints she had against the man she was able to identify to Windsor police. Police did not immediately reveal whether they had a suspect in custody over her murder, only that they were involved in a homicide probe.

 

Paramedics alongside LaSalle police had responded to a stabbing report on Tuesday evening where they found Nancy Grewal with stab wounds and rushed her to hospital. At the  hospital she "succumbed to her injuries". The news of her death quickly spread to India and elsewhere internationally. That her activism was the reason for her death seems indisputable. She is by no means the only Sikh-Canadian who had spoken out publicly and vehemently against the Khalistanis whom India considers a national security threat for their violent outbreaks.

 

The worst terrorist plot ever devised on Canadian soil was carried out by Sikh-Canadian Khalistanis in the bombing of Air India Flight 182, causing the deaths of 329 people in 1985. In 1998 Tara Singh Hayer, the editor of North America’'s largest Punjabi-language newspaper, was murdered. Ujjal Dosanjh, a former Sikh-Canadian premier of British Columbia was outspoken in his condemnation of the Khalistani movement in Canada for their violence, and himself became a victim of a dreadful beating. A visiting Indian parliamentarian was the victim of an unsuccessful plot to assassinate him on Canadian soil.

 

New Delhi has been exasperated that Canada refuses to deport Sikh Khalistanis wanted in India to stand on trial for violent crimes committed in India. While Khalistanis from time to time mount large, vocal public demonstrations against India and celebrate murderous Khalistanis who lost their lives in the commission of vile crimes, iconizing their photographs as 'national' weapons-carrying heroes, they also carried large posters of former Indian president Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, in jubilation of her murder.

 

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a gurdwara leader who advocated for an independent Sikh state, known as Khalistan, in parts of present-day India. He was killed at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey in 2023, in a high-profile case that strained relations between Canada and India. Four Indian nationals have since been charged with first-degree murder in relation to the death. Still from video, CBC

 

Recent tensions between Canada and India over accusations that India had an involvement with the assassination of a prominent Vancouver-based Sikh Khalistani-agitator outside his gurdwara, saw the former allies at odds with one another. Nancy Grewal spoke out against that situation as well. She criticized former prime minister Justin Trudeau's crude diplomacy in accusing India of being responsible for the murder of the man, standing in Parliament to deliver his condemnation. Indian officials for their part, accuse Canada of failing to address "Sikh extremism".

 

Images  inside Gurdwara Khalsa Parkash in Windsor include images of martyrs with guns. (CBC)

 

The Sikh gurdwara in Windsor came under criticism from Nancy Grewal, for its prominent display of posters of revered dead Khalistanis known for their courage in fighting for that Khalistan 'homeland' by murdering opponents of separatism. "When we [are] going in the gurdwara, we need a peace and prayer. But everywhere you look at the gurdwara … all pictures with the AK-47s, guns", she said of the images of martyrs and their weapons in what should have been a peaceful space for prayers only. She spoke of her concern over the gurdwara's children's exposure to those posters' sentiments.  

 

Nancy Grewal, shown here with her dog, said she had received 40 death threats. (CBC)

 

"The radicals objected to her content and had an enmity with her."

"Two months ago unidentified miscreants set her house on fire [and she] reported to the police."

"I am grateful, she had so many people who loved her all over the world. She was so blessed to have so many people who loved her and the best thing was she never lied." 

Shinderpal Kaur, 70, Nancy Gerewal's mother, India 

 

"I think, for the moment, we're talking about lone wolves -- individual radicalization -- as you saw in Texas a couple of days ago."

"Jewish communities are less soft targets than they were two-and-a-half years ago. But I think they're still pretty inviting targets in terms of ... targets of opportunity."

"We had 20 years of the global war on terror, and then we figured out that we hadn't been paying sufficient attention to China. So you've seen this over-correction in American policy toward great-power competition."

"We are now at the apex of the emphasis of great-power competition over counter-terrorism."

"They're [governments] going to figure out that counter-terrorism is really significant." 

Ilan Berman, senior vice-president, American Foreign Policy Council, Washington 

 

"Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security."

"We support efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security. We do, however, take this position with regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order."

"Canada has long supported the imperative of neutralizing this grave global threat."

"It is a failure of the international system that this country repeatedly violated international laws, terrorized an entire region, and through extension the world, including the murder of Canadians."

"We would like international law to always and everywhere be respected. Canada's policy itself is to always and everywhere respect international law."

"Canada reaffirms that international law binds all belligerence [requiring a de-escalation of  hostilities]." 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"I personally wish that Mr. Carney had not said anything in this regard. [Canadians] have no dog in that fight."

"[Carney's explicit public support for the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran places] Canada within the bull's-eye [from a Tehran perspective]."

"People say it's one more example of Israel killing Muslims ... So I think that paints another target on Israel's back."

Phil Gurski, former counter-terrorism analyst, Canadian Security Intelligence Service 

Smoke rises above Tehran as US and Israeli strikes continue to rain down (Image: Getty)

 

Israel and the United States attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran in coordinated but separate aerial bombardments on Saturday. The regime's nuclear sites, government offices, elite government and military figures were targeted for assassination, including the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Compounds of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij police were flattened. The U.S. focused on destroying the Iranian maritime fleet. Israel struck at countless rocket launchers and weapons depots. 

 

And on Sunday the Iranian clergy Grand Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani and Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi from the presidium of the Assembly of Seminary Students and Scholars in Qom, issued fatwas, authorizing Muslims anywhere and everywhere to wreak revenge for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's assassination. It is fairly well known that government agents of Iran and IRGC operatives have infiltrated the west, they have assumed positions of influence to those countless Muslims now living in Canada and the United States who sympathize with Islamist jihad through Muslim Brotherhood affiliations.

 

Intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Canada are on the alert with the certain knowledge that retaliatory incidents could occur anywhere on their soil. It is anticipated that small-scale attacks by 'lone wolves' at the very least will occur as a result of the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran, prompted by the newly-issued fatwa. According to Mr. Gursky, small-scale targeted attacks with the use of guns, not bombs will be the likeliest to occur; even that criminal gangs could be contracted with by IRGC agents to carry them out.

 

The US launches a missile as part of Operation Epic Fury (Image: Getty)

 

This, without entirely ruling out a larger-scale event where Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah in particular with their well-established presence in both countries, might act in a concert of atrocities. As it is, Iran under attack, has lashed out in surprising ways, to launch missiles and drones throughout the Middle East, at Arab-Sunni states that are hostile to Tehran and Shiite-supporting states friendly to Iran, with equal abandon, sending countless missiles in an effort to fully involve the entire region. Lashing out in all directions could conceivably include much further abroad.

 

While Gurski points to Iran's transnational repression that targets diaspora communities such as Iranian-Canadians who deplore the regime, as being the likeliest targets in punishment of their hostility and agitation, M. Berman points out that retribution by Iran would make Jews vulnerable to violent attacks within both countries. Jewish schools, synagogues and community centres have been the focus of violent attacks in the past two years following the atrocities in southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023. 

 

Counter-terrorism, both experts agreed, was the primary focus throughouy the 2000s, when the focus was in preventing jihadis -- al-Qaeda at the time primarily -- from executing attacks, followed by the Islamic State. Phil Gurski recalled that counter-terrorism at that time was "running to stay in place on jihadis", until former prime minister Justin Trudeau made the decision that the far right represented a larger, more imminently dangerous threat, and diverted resources to that presumed threat, from terrorism.

 

On the part of the United States, the diversion of attention to terrorism was overtaken by a perception of the need to focus on competition between the great political and economic powers that challenged American primacy. In the face of which the Middle East and Africa became afterthoughts of less concern, even while both regions ramped up their terrorist-jihad strides, leaving North American intelligence unprepared for the increased scale of their belligerent enterprises. "We're seeing that this problem set hasn't gone away", commented Mr. Berman wryly. 

 

 

"For 25 years, there has been a standing incitement to genocide, a stand-alone breach of the Genocide Convention."

"The ongoing missile attacks over the years means Israel is entitled to exercise its right of self-defence because of the standing and imminent threat of genocide."

"[The United Nations has provided] protective cover [for Iran rather than holding it to account for[ genocidal antisemitism."

"The problem has been that those who should have been protecting the rules-based order -- including the U.S. -- have, regrettably, abandoned transnational alliances and upended the rules-based international order."

"But that doesn't mean we have to acquiesce to Iran and its murderous proxies."

Irwin Cotler, former Canadian justice minister, human rights activist

A handout picture provided by the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office shows him greeting the crowd before addressing the nation on May 20, 2025 in Tehran.  Photo by -/KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty Images

 

This is a man who was once part of the Government of Canada, and at that time a Liberal cabinet minister, decades ago. He has since fully immersed himself in human rights affairs, as a seasoned lawyer and dedicated human rights defender. Iran is just one egregious purveyor of human rights offences that Mr. Cotler has engaged with. But it is also the only source of an active lethal threat against him, that many might recognize as a fatwa. In 2024, Mr. Cotler was advised that Canadian intelligence services was aware of an active plot to assassination him, from Iran. To this day he remains under police protection.

 

Canada cut off diplomatic relations with Iran under the Conservative-led government of then-prime minister Stephen Harper. When Justin Trudeau became prime minister under the banner of a Liberal government he mused about the need to renew diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Much to the consternation of the large Iranian-Canadian population which had arrived in Canada following the 1979 Islamic Revolution to escape the excesses of the new fundamentalist Islamist government.

 

Despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Iranian-Canadian citizens have noted with dismay and fear the increasing presence of Iranian officials linked to the regime, as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, residing in Canada, walking its streets, establishing their families in Canada as a safe haven. Among them is the family of the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani. In the chaos of the joint Israeli-U.S. aerial attacks against the Iranian regime to destroy its nuclear facilities and ballistic missile launch sites, agents of the regime live in Canada.

 

Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), holds a press conference in Tehran, Iran. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

 

Many of them are in Canada illegally. Some among them are elite members or family members of the IRGC and the government. Many who are identified are meant to be deported, a process that has succeeded so far in deporting one single individual. In the past few years, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had elevated Ali Larijani to a powerful authority post that even the current president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian must report to. Before his death Khamenei tasked Larijani to take any and all measures to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic. During the mass protests of January that roiled the country, Larijani oversaw the brutal lethal response that left thousands dead.

 

The Larijani family was second in influence and power only to the late Ali Khamenei. As a surviving member of the Iranian ruling elite, Larijani has control second to none now. While a governing council was struck to decide a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei, not much is done without Ali Larijani's approval and guidance. One of five Larijani brothers, serving top posts in the hierarchy of Iran's Islamic Republic he is now the power behind the throne of Shiite domination in the majority Sunni Middle East.

 

Two of his brothers are very familiar with Canada, having spent considerable time there, alongside their families. "The Larijani family is at the head of the Iranian state", a 2016 CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) analysis stated. Fazel Larijani was a cultural affairs attache at the Iranian embassy in Ottawa prior to diplomatic ties being severed in 2012. According to Iranian-Canadian anti-regime activists, Fazel's family continues to live in Canada. 

Iran's wartime power structure

 

The London-based Iran International outlet wrote of Bagher Ardeshir Larijani being granted permanent residency in Canada in 2016, which was rescinded ultimately on the basis of his having failed to live in Canada for a minimum of 730 days over a five-year period. Bagher's son, however, the report stated, "is now a Canadian citizen". There is much irony here in that Canada's large expatriate Iranian community organized immense demonstrations in celebration of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death in an Israeli strike on his compound in Tehran.

 

The Iranian diaspora in Canada, one of the largest in the world, has warned for years that regime officials were present in their community, making use of Canada as a vacation destination, or alternately a safe haven where they could deposit their families. Morteza Talaei, a former police chief in Tehran who had been involved in the violent repressive response to Iran's 2003 demonstrations, had been reported by outraged Canadian Iranians having been seen working out at a Toronto gym. 

 

"Larijani is responsible for co-ordinating the response to the (January country-wide) protests on behalf of the Supreme Leader of Iran and has publicly called for Iranian security forces to use force to repress peaceful protesters" a report by the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated, leading to his being sanctioned on January 15. At a time when Larijani's nieces and nephews as well as  his own children lived and worked in the United States.

 

Despite barring entry of senior Iranian officials into Canada since 2022, Canada has been inexcusably tardy in removing Iranian officials from Canada. The Canada Border Services Agency, while tracking down 20 Iranian officials deemed ineligible to remain in Canada, managed to remove only one of those identified.  

"Based on their actions, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the IRGC has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity, or has knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of, or in association with an entity that has knowingly carried out terrorist activity. Listing the IRGC means that they are a terrorist group."

"The decision to list the IRGC through the Criminal Code listing regime sends a strong message that Canada will use all tools at its disposal to combat the terrorist activity of the IRGC, conducted both unilaterally and in knowing association with listed terrorist entities such as Hizballah and Hamas."

"As a now-listed entity, the IRGC meets the definition of a “terrorist group” under Canada’s Criminal Code. As an immediate consequence of this listing, Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, are required to immediately freeze the property of a listed entity. It is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group."

"Listing can also assist Canadian security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to combat terrorism, including by helping to facilitate the laying of terrorism charges against perpetrators and supporters of terrorism. The terrorist listings mechanism plays a key role in countering terrorist financing. A listing can also help block sympathizers in Canada from providing assistance to terrorist groups."

Public Safety Canada, June 19, 2024 

"The martyrdom of the Supreme Leader at the  hands of Israel and the criminal America was a great disaster for our country."

"With the power of God, we will continue the path of the Imam, the path of the dear leader, and the path of all those who seek justice in the world with power." 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian

 

"Irrespective of what the guidelines say and what the politics may have been, it was always going to be improvisational."

"Under the circumstances of an existential conflict, the succession process is going to be very much dictated by the context of the moment."

Suzanne Maloney, vice-president, Brookings Institution

 

"The structure of the Islamic Revolution has been designed in such a way that after the martyrdom of any commander, at any rank or level, qualified and capable individuals immediately replace them."

Fars News Agency

 

"The succession process is not key in the short term because they're going to try and fight on."

"Firing off missiles does not require a supreme leader." 

Alex Vatanka, Iran analyst, Middle East Institute

Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran on Monday. (Mohsen Ganji/The Associated Press)

 

The first step in a process of succession in the aftermath of confirmation  of the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resulting from an Israeli aerial attack on his compound containing the Ayatollah's offices, was announced. That a commission of three experts as called for in Iran's constitution, would meet to select the next supreme leader. Unfortunately, while the experts and others around them were in close consultation the building they were in was bombed to smithereens.

 

Evidently, before that happened, the decision was promulgated. Although Ayatollah Khamenei was said to have spurned the idea of  succession, even though rumour had it that he was grooming his oldest son to succeed him, the panel of experts had decided on elevating that son to the now-empty position of Grand Ayatollah. That, despite that the son did not have the required scholarship credentials to obtain that role. 

 

Iran International reports the Assembly of Experts has elected Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as his father’s successor.

 

According to President Pezeshkian, an interim leadership council was struck to begin the process of overseeing the country locked in war with the  attack of its government institutions by the combined military forces of the United States and Israel. Moreover, it was latterly reported that the building housing the deliberating council was bombed: "Following the decapitation of 88 Members of the Islamic Supreme Council, which was set to choose the Ayatollah regime's next "Supreme Leader"; Mossad announced: "It doesn't matter who is chosen today; his fate has been decreed. Only the Iranian nation will choose their future leader."

 

Following the U.S.-Israeli attack that began on Saturday, Iran retaliated by firing waves of missiles and drones at Israel and targeted U.S. allies in the region. Here, boys watch as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone in the U.A.E. (Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

 

With the elimination of many contenders and in the current regime instability various rivals and factions are certain to emerge, each claiming their right to assume wartime power in the face of questionable support from the country'[s military establishment. The solution to which may be a decision to retain the temporary council, but then the fact is the temporary council is now rather unavailable, given that blast that destroyed the building they were meeting in. 

 

Even though Mojtaba Khamenei was widely expected to be favoured as his father's successor, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resisted the transfer of the supreme position along hereditary lines. Such a move would smack too greatly of the ruling system of the Pahlavi dynasty, when the Shah was replaced by the Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. 

 

In Iran the supreme leader is a high-placed religious figure considered to be a representative of God, while also being the head of state. During the 37 years that Ali Khamenei served, he expanded his power and the scope of his rule over the civilian government which itself was elected under a quasi-democratic rule. As such the Grand Ayatollah had the power to wield final decision-making on all manner of regime initiatives, even as he also consulted.

 

What the Iranian Shiite regime -- or what is left of it -- has failed to take into account is its future presence in the Middle East where it has succeeded through its violently hostile actions toward its Sunni Arab neighbours by sending endless streams of missiles and deadly drones into their territory, attacking both oil extraction sites and civilian infrastructure and in so doing inciting deadly enmity from those same neighbours, is the future consequences. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others will never now countenance a continuation of the Islamic Republic. 

 

The U.S. and Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran on Tuesday, as the conflict entered its fourth day. Here, plumes of smoke rise following reported explosions in Tehran early Tuesday. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)

 

 

"We had prepared for such moments and have plans in place for all scenarios, even for the time after the martyrdom of revered Imam Khamenei."

"You'll see that after the leadership council is formed, the power and integrity of officials, defensive forces and the people will be beyond imagination."

Mohammad Bagher Galibaf, parliamentary speaker, Iran 

 

"We are ready in our country."

"We are not looking for war, and we won't start the war. But if they force it on us, we will respond."

Ali Larijani, 67, head, Iranian Supreme National Security Council 

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leads an Eid al-Fitr prayer marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 31, 2025. Photo by Uncredited /AP

 

Well, 'they' did proceed to 'force it' on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States and Israel in a tandem of determination, after failed nuclear talks and in the wake of massive, prolonged popular protests by Iranians fed up with the economic plight they found themselves in as a result of sanctions imposed on Iran for its intransigence over international demands that it forego its nuclear programs, where the regime's brutal crackdown on protesters led to thousands killed, tens of thousands injured and arrested, the decision was finally made to attack the regime's nuclear development sites, its IRGC weapons depots, ballistic missile launchers and leading government figures.

 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, as are many of the leading military and security figures of the Islamic Republic. Before his death, the Grand Ayatollah left instructions with trusted aids how they must proceed in a continuation of the Islamic Republic after his death. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan 2026 saw the aerial invasion of Iran by American and Israeli fighter jets targeting the regime's infrastructure, its military, its government figures, after a massive buildup of American military assets at sea and in the air. A joint, well-planned agreement between Israel, whom Iran has repeatedly threatened to destroy and the U.S., whose military assets Iran has repeatedly targeted with its proxy terrorists.

 

Provisional Leadership Council, Sky News

 

 Facing the threat of strikes and dealing with nationwide protests in January, Ayatollah Khamenei assigned Ali Larijani, Iran's foremost national security official, to take the reins of government. He chose Mr. Larijani, and not the current president of the country, Masoud Pezeshkian to be tasked. President Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon turned politician and considered a moderate, would then report directly to Mr. Larijani. Larijani is a veteran politician, currently head of the Supreme National Security Council, formerly commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps.

 

Mr. Larijani had been tasked with crushing the January protests throughout the country that demanded the ouster of the regime and the end of Islamic rule. The lethal force that was unleashed under his command was in fact a reflection of the government itself, prepared to kill as many protesters as was deemed necessary to convince Iranians that the government was unmoved by the passion of their protests other than to continue the regime's resolve to crush dissent.

 

It has been Mr. Larijani who has been front and central in liaising with Russia, Qatar and Oman while supervising the nuclear negotiations underway with Washington. He has been at the helm of planning Iran's response to the expected strike by the United States in view of the American forces being amassed in the region. Alongside Larijani, a handful of other close political and military associates of Ayatollah Khamenei were tasked to ensure that the Islamic Republic would survive any assassination attempts on the regime's leadership including that of the Ayatollah himself.

 

Four layers of succession were assigned by Ayatollah Khamenei for each of the military command and government roles of critical importance to the longevity of the regime. All those named to leadership roles were themselves in turn to name up to an additional four replacements with responsibilities delegated to a circle of confidants for decision-making, in the event that communications were disrupted or the death of the Ayatollah. All of the country's armed forces were placed on the highest state of alert in preparation for fierce resistance. 

 

Sky News

 

A three-person temporary leadership council has been formed to govern the country and temporarily assume the duties of supreme leader, in line with Islamic Republic law. Mr. Larijani tops the list to manage the country, followed by Brigadier General Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former Guards commander and current speaker of Parliament, designated as the de facto deputy to Khamenei, to command the armed forces during conflict. President Pezeshkian has been sidelined.

 

None of the men in this tight little circle of command and control would be considered with any favour by the angry people of Iran, given their accusations of financial corruption, and complicity in violations of human rights, inclusive of the recent slaughter of thousands of unarmed protesters over a three-day period in early January.