Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Iran’s military leadership, nuclear sites and nuclear scientists Thursday night.
Canada’s foreign affairs minister warned both parties of further action. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thanked Israel for dealing with Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
The Israeli Defence Force launched around 100 drones at the Islamic Republic of Iran overnight. The IDF claims it hit several nuclear sites and took out the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Hossein Salami and other top officials.
According to an IDF spokesman, Itay Blumenthal, 200 planes dropped 330 munitions, and vehicle-based technology was also used to destroy the IRGC’s defence systems at the start of the surprise attack.
Iran announced six of its scientists were killed and claims civilians and children as casualties as well.
Mark Carney has yet to comment. However, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Anita Anand, released a statement, warning of potential regional escalation if either party engages in further action.
“Further action risks triggering a broader regional conflict with devastating consequences. De-escalation must be the priority,” Anand said on X. “We urge all parties to refrain from actions that further destabilize the region. The protection of civilians must be paramount.”
Anand noted that Canada was “deeply concerned” by the threat posed by the Islamic regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, though she stopped short of thanking Israel for the military operation.
She further warned Canadians in the region to “exercise a very high degree of caution,” actively monitor developments closely, and follow the advice of local authorities.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, including preemptive strikes to disarm the government in Tehran’s “genocidal nuclear program.”
“It cannot wait until the regime has capabilities for a nuclear strike,” he said in a post to X.
“We should all hope that this is the end of the regime’s nuclear program and that the great Persian people can now rise up to reclaim their country from the totalitarian regime.”
He urged all levels of government to take “extra steps” to protect Canada’s Jewish community, warning that the strikes could be used as an excuse by “vile antisemites” for “further acts of violence” domestically.
Poilievre also reposted a clip from October where he said Israel preemptively taking out the Islamic regime, “desperate to be overthrown by its own people,” would be a “gift by the Jewish state to humanity.”
Canada’s anti-regime Iranian diaspora isare applauding Israel’s strikes against the IRGC and its nuclear program on X, though they hope for no civilian casualties.
Melissa Lantsman, a staunch advocate of Israel and a Conservative MP, shared her own post of hope that the people of Iran can “reclaim” their country from the murderous theocratic dictatorship.
Salman Sima, a survivor of torture at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran and an advocate for his home country of Iran to be free of the Islamic theocracy, took to X Thursday night, celebrating the death of Salami.
“Thank you Israel for serving justice to terrorists,” Sima said on X. “A world without Hossein Salami is a better place.”
Goldie Ghamari, a former Conservative MPP for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, shared videos of the strike, noting that the people in the video were not upset but merely shocked by the aftermath of Israel’s operation.
Ghamari was a refugee from the Islamic Republic, which she says is merely occupying Iran.
In a later post on Friday, she posted a hope that the people of Iran could take back their country.
“Iran is the only country in the world where her past is also her future. It’s time for the world to stand on the right side of history,” she said. “Stand with the Iranian People fighting for freedom and democracy against the terrorist Islamic Republic.”