Iranian Sponsored Social Media Propaganda

"You've got one end of the spectrum that's at zero and you've got that other group that's disproportionately probably more and more susceptible to following direction from influencers on selected social media, which is probably what this is attributable to."

"Medium to long term, there may be some unlearning that needs to be done amongst persons that are adopting such positions that clearly are not well informed if they think the majority of Iranians are  supporting the Iranian regime. That's incorrect." 

Jack Jedwab, President and CEO, Association for Canadian Studies

 

"[Scores of fake online accounts that were] coming from Iranians inside Iran linked to the regime and fuelling the campus protests at McGill [University, Montreal]."

"A massive, funded, co-ordinated and organized [effort by Iran designed to influence public opinion and government policy]."

Canadian investigative journalist Nagar Mojahedi

 

"As the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, 2023, Iran immediately surged support to Hamas with its now well-honed technique of combining targeted hacks with influence operations amplified on social media, what we refer to as cyber-enabled influence operations."

"By late October, nearly all of Iran's influence and major cyber actors focused on Israel in an increasingly targeted, coordinated, and destructive manner, making for a seemingly boundless 'all-hands-on-deck' campaign against Israel."

Microsoft Threat Analysis team

While most prefer neutrality in the Iran war, many in the Gen Z cohort think Canada should support the Iranian regime, according a new poll. Photo by Peter J Thompson/National Post

 

A  new Leger poll highlights that a significant portion of Canada's youngest adults subscribe to the belief that Canada should be supporting the Iranian regime in defence against the U.S. and Israel's aerial onslaught against the Islamic Republic. One-fifth (20 percent) of respondents between the ages of 18 to 24 felt that Ottawa should 'politically support' the Iranian regime's leadership. Among that age cohort only eight percent think the United States, Israel and other allied nations in the three-week-old war should receive Canada's backing. 

 

In contrast, results for older Canadians are the reverse to the youth contingent. Among Canadians aged 45 to 54, three percent support the Iranian regime; among the age group 55 to 64, one percent, and zero percent among Canadians aged 65 and older. A quarter of these older Canadian groups feel that Canada should be in support of its historic allies; at the rate of 23, 25 and 26 percent respectively.

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has been listed on the Canadian government terrorist list for the past two years. Jack Jedwab, whose group commissioned the poll, felt that the response by young Canadians reflected the fact of misinformation that has been disseminated by malign foreign interests among the gen Z cohort -- among whom 32 percent believe that Iranian-Canadians do not support the U.S.-Israel military actions against Islamic Republic of Iran. 

 

Despite the demonstrations by Iranian-Canadians celebrating in support of the U.S.-Israeli actions in Iran on the streets of Canada in jubilation that this may see the end of that violently repressive regime, over half of all respondents said they don't know.

 

Across all age groups, half of the poll's respondents felt that Canada should remain neutral in the escalating conflict, while one-fifth said they don't know are aren't certain. "It's a combination also of our own sort of self-evaluation or assessment of ourselves as the nation that is seeking or desires peaceful solutions and outcomes", was Mr. Jedwab's interpretation of the poll results, highlighting a November 2024 ASC poll finding that Canadians are 92 percent for peace with all nations, yet still felt that war could not be avoided even if one side stood down.

 

"Things are going to be more complex than that. I think some of that thinking underlies part of the neutrality view." In his view, Mr. Jedwab stated it appears that the Liberal government is attempting to balance neutrality with some Canadians' expectation that Canada should aid its allies. "That's a challenging position to take and we'll see what types of pressure are exerted in the coming days and weeks on the part of the U.S. and its allies for middle powers like Canada to become engaged, and assist those who prefer greater disengagement to better understand what the stakes are." 

 

The youth cohort, Mr. Jedwab observed, is especially drawn by anti-Trump sentiment, despite the fact that the IRGC is a terrorist entity, and the Islamic Republic itself is universally acknowledged to be a regime that encourages and supports and funds terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Yemeni Houthis, as well as Iraqi Shiite terror groups. 

 

"That is not something that can be taken lightly at all in trying to see one's way clearer in this war."

"It's something one needs to consider carefully in terms of drawing conclusions about where Canada should stand on this." 

 

Al-Quds Day protesters, right, were met with a sizeable counter protest near the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, Ontario, on March 14, 2026. Photo by GEOFF ROBINS /AFP via Getty Images

 

"In late 2024, Meta -- the company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp -- shut down a sophisticated Iranian influence operation run by the dictatorship's Islamic Revolutionary Guard."

"Meta's Threat Disruption Center revealed that Iran, aided and abetted by Hezbollah, was running multiple fake accounts across Meta's platforms as well as on TikTok, X, and others."

"Iran-supported Hezbollah created fake sites and purchased thousands of dollars of advertising on Facebook and Instagram."

Warren Kinsella, The Hidden Hand: The Information War and the Rise of Antisemitic Propaganda 

Vital Global Shipping Route --- Strait of Hormuz

"[Iran has managed to profit from oil sales and also] preserve its own export artery [by using control over the choke point]."

"[The latest passages through the Strait of Hormuz show the Strait was not simply] closed. It is better understood as closed selectively against some traffic, while still functioning for Iranian exports and a narrow set of tolerated non-Iranian movements."

Kun Cao, client director, Reddal consulting 

 

"[The risks of transiting Hormuz have raised] insurance costs for cargo and ships while increasing logistics costs for shippers choosing alternate routes."

"[Supply chain disruptions] would begin to affect production in Turkey earlier than in other areas." [Turkey is a major supplier of light commercial vehicles to the European market]." 

"[If the conflict persists], production cost inflation would become more entrenched."

Stephanie Brinley, analyst S&P Global Mobility 

 Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia, that cleared the Strait of Hormuz and was seen in port in Mumbai, India on March 12. Photo: AP

"Rerouting shipments around the Strait of Hormuz will add days or weeks to travel time, adding to freight costs and causing a backlog from the slower cargo turnover."

"And that’s before any increase in the cost of ‘war risk' insurance premiums."

"Though Iran itself isn’t a semiconductor producer, the conflict’s disruption to global shipping will cause chip deliveries to be delayed or stranded at ports in Asia, reducing availability for assembly lines. Given that modern vehicles may contain as many as 3,000 chips each, and the industry hasn’t completely recovered from a number of supply chain issues over the last half decade, another disruption magnifies the ongoing vulnerability."

"Automotive manufacturers operate on very thin margins compared to many high tech sectors. There’s just no room to absorb dramatic changes in input costs such as steel, plastics, and freight, and, ultimately, prices to the consumer rise."

AutoForecast Solutions manufacturing expert Sam Fiorani   

The Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax managed to cross the strait last Friday, one of the few vessels that have done so since the war broke out. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters

 

Since the onset of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, some 90 ships, including oil tankers, have managed to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Iran itself continues to export millions of barrels of oil, despite the waterway having been effectively closed, a revelation owing to tracking by maritime and trade data platforms. The difference is that many of these vessels passing through the strait represent 'dark' transits that evade western government sanctions and oversights, with ties to Iran according to Lloyd's List intelligence.

 

As governments step up negotiations with Iran, vessels linked to India and Pakistan also have successfully crossed the strait recently. While crude oil prices leaped above US$100 a barrel, Western allies and trade partners were being pressured by U.S. President Donald Trump to send warships to the region to help reopen the strait in the hopes of bringing prices back to a semblance of normal. His request was met with a decided lack of enthusiasm in Europe.

 

The Strait of Hormuz, long a waterway for global oil and gas transport famously supplying one-fifth of global crude oil, has been closed to shipping  traffic since early March, following the start of the conflict. Since then, some 20 vessels were attacked in the area, targeted by Iran. Which hasn't stopped Iran itself from exporting above 15 million barrels of oil during that same time period, according to trade data and estimates by analytics platform Kpler.

China, in the face of Western sanctions, is the largest buyer of Iranian oil. Even so, some transit of ships linked to China have also been blocked from using the Strait. However, data show that between March 1 and 15, including 15 oil tankers, at least 89 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence, greatly diminished in numbers from the normal 100 to 135 daily vessel passages prior to the war's outbreak.      

                                                                                       

Of the 89 vessels that transited the waterway, over a fifth were thought to be affiliated with Iran; Chinese and Greece affiliated ships were among the rest, even as other vessels also have been managing the transit, some turning off their transponders to avoid detection. According to Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd's List, vessels may be transiting "with at least some level of diplomatic intervention. In other words, the Iranian regime may have effectively created a safe corridor" allowing some ships to pass close to the coast of Iran. 

 

Marine Traffic ship tracking platform revealed that some vessels near or within the strait declared themselves to be linked with China, or they had all Chinese crew to reduce risks of being attacked. Military sites on Kharg Island off the coast of Iran were bombed by the United States. The island is vital for Iran's oil network and exports, but the bombing was confined to military sites, leaving Iran's oil infrastructure intact, for the present. 

"The thinkers within the Islamic establishment, they recommended that if there is a next time [following last summer's 12-day war] — and a good half of them actually believed that the next round would be coming at some point in the near future — pressure should be put on the world or oil markets."

"And, if the United States is involved, on the US companies involved in the Middle East oil and gas market and also on the Gulf countries because they house those air bases. "

"This particular body of water is one of the most important, strategic choke points in the world."

"[Iran] no longer allows any ship to use the international shipping corridors in the Strait of Hormuz using Omani waters. They actually reroute them north of the Larek Island, completely inside Iranian waters, and then they’re turned all the way back in toward the Gulf of Oman."

"I think [the rerouting is] part of the psychology of this whole thing, they want to show that they have full control, and they want to prevent or dissuade or deter the Americans from interfering with this kind of controlling operation."

"They are making the transit too dangerous and, without actually mining the Strait, they [have] effectively stopped all shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz." 

Farzin Nadimi, Iran military analyst, senior fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

 

"Each country, according to international law and the law of the sea, has got about 12 nautical miles [approximately 22km] of territorial sea, which is part of the land of the coastal state."

"That means that the narrowest part of the Strait of Hormuz is shared between Oman and Iran as their territorial waters."

"This means every vessel which passes through this strait, whether military vessels, ships, oil tankers ... they pass through either the Iranian territorial waters or Oman territorial waters."

"[Under the law of the sea, while either nation might put regulations or checks in place], they cannot hamper innocent passage of vessels, including military vessels."

International law expert, Hossein Esmaili, Flinders University  

Ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Mina Al Fajer, United Arab Emirates, on March 11. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 

Transgenderism in British Columbia Schools

"We need to suspend SOGI [Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity] provincewide until an examination is done on its impact, if any, on the perpetrator of the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge."

"[There is a need for a] full public inquiry [on the impact of SOGI in schools in British Columbia]." 

"A school board trustee is technically an employer, and any one of 2,500+ District employees could claim discrimination in the workplace if I made a remark about gender. [I could face a] huge penalty [for speaking freely while serving on the board]."

"As the disastrous recent Human Rights Tribunal ruling made clear, the bar to prove workplace discrimination is low." 

"I can no longer do my job. All democratically-elected officials must feel comfortable to speak their mind without worrying about accusations of workplace discrimination. Since I no longer feel safe in expressing myself on the board in legitimate ways, the only proper course is to resign."
"[My freedom to speak to board issues going forward has been] obstructed. [While the B.C. Human Right Tribunal decision expresses support for freedom of speech], there is a fine line between speech that falls afoul of the Human Rights Code and speech that doesn’t."

Laurie Throness, British Columbia school trustee, Chilliwack, B.C.

Laurie Throness has resigned from his role as school trustee on the Chilliwack School Board citing the Barry Neufeld hate-speech decision as a reason on Feb. 26, 2026. (Submitted)

"The Board is committed to reducing and where possible eliminating, the practice of segregating students based on sex and/or gender in order to ensure the full inclusion of transgender and/or gender non-conforming students."

Sooke School District School Board, British Columbia 

Six people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School were murdered; five children and a teacher on February 10, 2025 when 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, a former pupil at the school, entered the school premises and began shooting people. The teen was a biological male who began transitioning to female a few years previous to the tragedy. Before embarking on his murder spree at the school, he had killed his mother and younger half-brother. Reports of the shocking tragedy spoke of the gun-toting intruder as a dress-garbed woman.

 

A month ago, another former member of the Chilliwack School Board who had fulminated in public and through social media postings over the normalization in the school district of transgenderism as a harmful ideology being forced on schoolchildren through mandated policies such as SOGI. Transgender teaching staff at the school he had represented filed a human rights grievance against Barry Neufeld. The B.C. Human Rights Commission found him guilty of expressing hatred against LGBTQ groups and fined him a ruinous $750,000 to be paid out to the grieving transgender teaching staff.

 

In the wake of that spectacular miscarriage of justice in a province that venerates progressive social justice, a second school trustee, Laurie Throness, decided to resign before calling out the malign influence of gender ideology practised in schools across the province. Formerly a provincial Liberal MLA, Mr. Throness takes full issue with the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity curriculum imposed upon the province's schools.

The first set of temporary classrooms have arrived in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. They are being set up on the grounds of Tumbler Ridge Elementary School to support the students displaced by the Feb. 10, 2026, mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. (Matt Preprost/CBC)

 

Under SOGI "rainbow displays" find prominent place on school property, alongside a policy of "affirming self-stated gender identity" claimed by students, while enforcing among the student body respectful observation of personalized gender identity. A move  toward "gender neutral washrooms and change rooms", and girls' and boys' sports to be recognized in absolute respect for student-self-identified gender preferences rule the day. 

 

In the instance of the Tribunal's ruling against Barry Neufeld's refusal to accept gender distinct from biology...the ruling read in part: "...to accept that a person is transgender, one must accept that their gender identity is different than their sex assigned at birth". The Tribunal premised their ruling on Mr. Neufeld's comments having created a discriminatory work environment for transgender teachers in the district, while Mr. Neufeld was still a sitting trustee.

 

Mr. Throness, by resigning his post as trustee, seeks to defend himself from a similar ruling, while he disputes the gender ideology that has taken root in the provincial school system. Mr. Throness references a "pattern of similar events in the States", with transgender students mounting school massacres. A 23-year-old biological man identifying as female in Minneapolis killing two young students, a female alumnus of a Nashville, Tennessee school murdering three children and three adult school employees. 

 

"Significantly higher" rates of suicide, suicide attempts and "suicide-unrelated mortality among transgender individuals" was identified in a 2023 Danish study. Among trans adolescents, found a research review published in the Journal of Psychiatry Treatment and Research in 2021, that among trans adolescents, up to 45 percent "have some type of psychiatric comorbidity". 

 

Hundreds gathered to leave candles, flowers, and other items for a vigil held in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Feb. 13, 2026. The next day, friends, family, and neighbours were still visiting the steps outside town hall to pay their respects to those who were lost. (Tom Summer/CBC)

 

Significantly, the Tumbler Ridge mass murderer had a history of being taken into custody under the Mental Health Act. He was not to be given access to guns. His mother, however, was a gun aficionado, and despite her son's mental breakdowns from time to time, encouraged his interest in guns. He repaid her by using one of her own long guns to shoot her and another of her sons to death. 

 

The office which houses the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is seen in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, March 28, 2023. The Tribunal ordered former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 after a complaint about workplace discrimination. Chilliwack trustee Laurie Throness says he's resigned his seat in wake of the decision against Neufeld. (Nono Shen/The Canadian Press)

 

 

 

Canadian Curse of Multiculturalism

Police Chief Warren Driechel Greg Southam/Postmedia

"[I see my recent trip to Israel] as valuable, among multiple learning experiences I will have in this role." 

"I remain focused on my longstanding and ongoing commitment to dialogue, learning and connection across communities and across boundaries."

"In mid-February, I joined police Chiefs from Canada and the United States, on a visit to Israel where we met police and community leaders in several cities. I spent time with police officers from Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze faiths representing a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. I also met with Muslim community leaders who shared openly about their concerns and their reasons for working with police."

"These officers and community leaders operate in an environment that demands extraordinary vigilance - managing crime, counter terrorism, supporting community and crisis response all amid extreme complexity. Police to police we were able to talk about the toll this work takes on the people who do it. We talked about building trust in communities where there is little trust. We were able to get a glimpse of the undertaking required to police in complex environments. "

"I am grateful for what I was able to learn and share with those we visited and among my North American peers. These missions offer a great deal of insight and valuable perspective. I am grateful for the continued leadership and support of the Edmonton Police Commission who have supported me in this."

Edmonton Police Service Chief Warren Driechel 

Sharif Hasan Abdulahi is accused of hitting Const. Mike Chernyk with a car and stabbing him multiple times before driving a U-Haul truck through downtown Edmonton and striking and injuring four people on Sept. 30, 2017. CTV News 

 

This professional development trip for the purpose of coming to grips with and intimately coming to an understanding of how the most terrorist-attack-prone nation in the world handles this reality of its existence is one that is conducted on an annual basis, when Chiefs of Police from around the world gather for an unusual type of conference, but one increasingly of concern globally as terror attacks have not abated but gathered steam. The professional organization for North American big-city police chiefs on this year's delegation paid for Chief Dreichel's seat on the tour, and it was approved by the Edmonton Police civilian oversight board. 

 

However, when news of the trip and Chief Dreichel's public comments on the value he took from his participation went public, Edmonton's Muslim community expressed its disapproval of this educational opportunity. No fewer than 26 Edmonton mosques and Muslim groups notified the police commission through a jointly-signed letter that they felt "profound disappointment and hurt".  Chief Dreichel's trip, they emphasized, was the cause of 'deep pain' for Edmonton's Muslim community, affected by the conflict in the Middle East.   

"My big takeaway was that what they're learning and what they're working on. How do they build that connection to all of their community, including the Muslim people that live within Israel."

"[Understanding the] historical, geopolitical context, and how that maybe shapes things that go on in our own community [was helpful]."

Chief Dreichel

 

"At a time when countless families in Edmonton are grieving the devastating violence unfolding in Gaza and the region more broadly, the decision by the chief of police to travel to Israel to meet with policing institutions demonstrates a serious failure of judgment toward the communities he is sworn to serve and protect."

"For many members of Edmonton's Muslim community, particularly those with family directly impacted by the ongoing genocide, this decision has caused great pain."

Edmonton Muslim community joint letter

 

"At a time of rising Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism, and hate towards marginalized communities, the choice to make this trip is harmful and further alienates members of our community."

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack  

Chief Dreichel made it clear that the delegation met no one from the Israeli government, its military or intelligence networks. This was purely and simply a police gathering to discuss how societies that face the spectre of terrorism can best use tried-and-true methods of intelligence, communication, cooperation and methods of collaboration with specific smaller communities within the larger one, to find common ground in the interests of security for all concerned.

 

In Canada, as in Israel itself, it is the Jewish community that has been under siege for the years following the Hamas-led terrorist attack that took place in southern Israel, on the border with Gaza, on October 7, 2023. It is also a known fact that Muslim youth groups in Canada on the very day of the atrocities and the day following and other days ad infinitum organized public rallies, marches and protests in support of Hamas, characterizing the mass brutality of murder, rape, torture and abduction of Israeli civilians as an understandable reaction to 'occupation'.

 

An 'occupation' that would never be necessary had Palestinian leaders over the years not incited their populations to hate, resent and resist the very presence of the State of Israel, claiming the very ancestral territory Israel sits on as the property of Arab Palestinians for their state. A state that could have been theirs in 1948, and every year after, had they recognized the legitimacy of Israel's existence, had they not aspired to destroy the Jewish State to claim the geography it sits upon for a Palestinian state, 'from the river to the sea'.

 

Islamophobia is a symbol of the victimhood that Palestinians clasp close to their bosoms, as a grievance against those who believe that Jews, like the Arabs that surround them, are entitled to their sliver of land; a tiny proportion of land apportioned by the United Nations, representing a minuscule part of Judean indigenous heritage, as opposed to the huge areas 'occupied' by the Arab nations that repeatedly went to war with the nascent Israel and failed with each endeavour to dislodge it. Muslims in Canada replay that 80-year-old scenario.

 

Edmonton itself has had experiences with Islamist terrorist attacks. And during the Islamic State reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, Islamist stalwarts from Edmonton went off to join them in their atrocity-laden Caliphate drive. 

 

Israel's response to the mass murder that took place on October 7, 2023, was to do what any other country in the world would do, in total accordance with international norms; enter the geography that had enacted the mass atrocity to hunt down and dispose of the terrorists, which in this case was the governing body of Gaza. It is a conflict of mass proportions, one that Hamas is comfortable with sacrificing its own population to achieve its purpose; destroying Israel. 

 

The charges of 'apartheid' and 'genocide', while playing well to the Muslim ummah abroad, are both hyperbolic terms of propaganda, since Israel's population is itself 20% Muslim, along with a wide array of other groups, from Christians, B'hai, Druze, Kurds and Circassians holding citizenship. As for 'genocide', under the 'occupation', the Palestinian population in both territories grew exponentially in size. It has been Hamas that has fuelled a war that has claimed victims among the population it hides behind. 

 

Yellow police tape outside Edmonton's city hall after the building was evacuated on Jan. 23. Bezhani Sarvar, 28, was arrested and is facing a number of terrorism-related charges. (Emily Fitzpatrick/CBC)

 

A Non-Coalition of the Unwilling

"We are not at war with anyone."

"[France's warship deployment's intent is to allow France] to respond to emergency situations [and evacuate French nationals if necessary."

"We stand by the side of our allies and our friends. There have been some interceptions that have continued in recent days."

French President Emmanuel Macron

Cargo ships and tankers are seen in the Strait of Hormuz on Feb. 25, 2026. (Giuseppe Cacace / AFP via Getty Images)

"We must be careful -- it's always a risky operation -- to make sure our warships are not targeted." 

"Because if they are attacked, we have to fire back."

Former French President Francois Hollande 

 

"It is not NATO's war. NATO is an alliance to defend the alliance area."

"[Berlin has taken note but] The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for NATO or the German government."

Stefan Kornelious, spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz

 

"It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait [of Hormuz] will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there."

"If there's no response or if it's a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO."

U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)

 

The American President, during the U.S.-Israeli aerial strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the consequential blockading by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz to the world's 1/5th most important shipping route, has asked his allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and others, that includes France, China, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom for their assistance in securing global shipping through the strait. Thus far there have been far more demurrals than offers of assistance. Appealing to China, in any event, would be a non-starter since it has allied itself with Iran and signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in its thirst for Iranian oil. 

"From our perspective, it [the Strait of Hormuz] is open -- just not for the U.S., Israel and its allies."

"[There have been] delusional [claims that Iran is searching for a negotiated end to the war]."

"[Wrong, Iran seeks nether] truce nor talks." 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Smoke can be seen in the distance from Dubai International Airport after a drone struck a fuel tank, forcing the temporary suspension of flights on Monday. (The Associated Press)

 

At the present time, cargo ships are stuck waiting in the Gulf, or have the alternative of a much longer detour around the southern tip of Africa. As the war in Iran continues, there will appear shortages and price increases on a widening range of goods, beyond soaring energy prices. The wider global supply chain beyond energy includes pharmaceuticals from India, semiconductors from Asia and Middle East-derived products such as fertilizers from oil byproducts. 

 

Foreign citizens from around the world work in the Middle East; more than any other country in Europe, France alone has over 400,000 of its citizens working there; with over 60,000 in the United Arab Emirates. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Greece have deployed their frigates in the region. France has signed key defence agreements with several countries; Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates -- a permanent base in Abu Dhabi where French air and naval forces saw a doubling of Rafale fighter jets.

 

Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, helicopters and air defence systems have been sent by the U.K. to assist in intercepting Iranian missiles and drones and to protect British troops stationed across the region, particularly in Cyprus and Qatar, along with Britain's other partners in the Middle East. France's Rafale jets have intercepted drones from Iran targeting the U.A.E. since the war's beginning. 

 

France's President Macon urged Iran to halt strikes against regional countries as the first Western leader to speak directly with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian since the war broke out. It will be remembered that President Macron was always the first, the second and the third to speak with Vladimir Putin about his invasion of Ukraine. According to Mr. Macron "a diplomatic solution" is required to put a stop to the escalation. As  a major peacemaker, Mr. Macron spoke as well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

The war continues. 

 

Fire and smoke rise from Dubai’s international airport on Monday after a ‘drone-related incident’. Flights were disrupted. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

"The feeling is, this is not Europe’s war."

"Of course we are allies with America, but we don’t really understand their moves recently."

"We haven’t been consulted, and we don’t really understand, what are the objectives of this war."

"It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open." 

Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief 

China's Great Wall of Steel

"It is necessary to speak to invaders in the language they know."

"That is, a war must be fought to deter invasion, and a victory is needed to win peace and respect." 

Chinese President Xi Jinping 

 

"The strategic takeaway for China is pretty simple."

"Don't assume your adversaries will pay by the rules. They may strike without warning, and they may do whatever it takes, ignoring both the results of the game and the rules of war."

Song Zonping, former Chinese military officer 

Smoke plumes rise following missile strikes in Tehran on 1 March 2026. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

 

"On 28 February, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) Fu Cong pointed out at a UN meeting that the US and Israel had brazenly launched military strikes against targets inside Iran, causing a sudden escalation of regional tensions. He added that China is deeply concerned about this development, and that China consistently advocates that all parties should abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and opposes and condemns the use or threat of force in international relations." 

"Though Fu said that the US and Israeli strikes on Iran had led to a sudden escalation in the regional situation, he too avoided using the word “condemn”. In contrast, Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the US and Israel for launching “a preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression” against Iran, which violated “fundamental principles and norms of international law”."

Yu Zeyuan, Think China   

While China may be a trifle more circumspect in its reaction to the U.S.-Israel joint attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran,than Russia, both allies of the Islamic Republic, condemnation in whatever form it takes is rather absurd in light of China's constant harassment and threats against Taiwan, with its intention of 

'unification', clearly against the breakaway republic's best interests and in view of China having flouted international law in Tibet, Mongolia and Xinjiang. As for Russia's characterization of the U.S.-Israel's 'preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression', that fairly well describes Russia's annexation of Crimea and full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

Xi Jinping's strategy of warning his population against America's aspirations of world dominance by armed force has been nicely validated, in his view, by recent events. Previous U.S. interventions in conflict areas around the world motivated Mr. Xi to direct his military elite of the necessity to construct a world-class military for China to perform the function of a "Great wall of Steel" as a deterrent to any potential invasion plans by the United States of America. This, while Beijing continues to threaten its near neighbours in its drive toward control of strategic water, air and ground; contested areas where it seeks dominance.

 

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping react after posing for photos ahead of a bilateral meeting at Gimhae Air Base on October 30, 2025, in Busan, South Korea. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

 

There can be no doubt that the spectre of raw-brute American military forces reaching out to challenge the Iranian regime and in the process summarily decapitating its executive head, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may have caused a certain amount of heartburn in Beijing. Despite practical assurances that the U.S. would never assume that a similar type of attack might succeed in China, a global powerhouse rivalling that of the U.S. According to political scientist Zheng Yongnian of Hong Kong's Chinese University, the U.S. manipulated Israel to serve as a conduit for war with Iran.

 

"Beijing now sees more clearly the extent of American capabilities", leading it to take a "sober look at the balance of power", offered Shen Dingli, international relations expert in Shanghai. The People's Liberation Army posted a graphic on social media listing lessons from the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran; stressing the importance of 'superior firepower'. China must guard against 'the enemy within' topped the military's list, in reference to the concerns over foreign spying ... of which just incidentally, China itself has become extraordinarily skilled at, in other countries worldwide. 

 

According to Chinese analysts, the United States has emerged as a more unpredictable and dangerous challenger to China's own aspirations, making it imperative that China become increasingly vigilant. "The decision to strike while talks were underway conveys a disturbing precedent: Diplomacy is not a forum for sovereign equals but an instrument subject to the whims of the dominant power", an editorial in Chinese state media pointed out. Perhaps somewhat akin to China's own use of its very own special 'hostage diplomacy'.

 

The EuroAsian Times

 

"From Beijing's perspective, the United States may frame its actions as a pursuit of peace, but what it really offers is peace through domination or containment."

"Xi doesn't want that for China. He wants peace through Chinese victory."

Kirsten Asdal, Asdal Advisory Group 

The Passions Unleashed by Dominating Hatred

"[The Al Quds Day rally has] long been a venue for antisemitism, hatred, intimidation and the glorification of terrorism."

"While the judge cited Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, when we talk about rights we need to be clear that every person has the right to safety and security."

"We need to be clear that no one in Canada has the right to incite violence or free licence to intimidate and hate."

"I won't stop working to put an end to the hatred and division that runs too rampant on Canada's streets." "I won't stop working to protect the greatest province in the greatest country in the world."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford 

 

"The Attorney General has known for at least a year that the Al Quds rally would take place around this time. The Attorney General relies on statements made by protest organizers that date back to 2016. The province of Ontario did not pass any laws or regulations to deal with this event. It did not invoke the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.9."

"Even allowing for rapidly moving current events, the Attorney General should not have come to court mere hours before the rally was set to start. There was no possibility of cross-examination on any of the affidavits and the oral argument was necessarily truncated. Such a compressed timetable puts the court in a difficult position."

"There is no evidence that participants at last year’s rally incited hatred or engaged in hate speech. There is no evidence before me of any criminality arising out of this rally in the past, much less evidence that could satisfy me that there is a ‘strong case’ that there will be criminal activity this year."

Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Centa 

Protesters and counter-protesters demonstrate by the U.S. Consulate during a rally for Al-Quds Day in Toronto, on Saturday, March 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

 

"It was a political show by Ford. He doesn't need any court order. He's a premier and he has a duty, he has power and full authority to implement the law."

"If Ford, [Prime Minister] Mark Carney, Toronto police, [Toronto] Mayor [Olivia] Chow, they don't want to do their job, we the people ... have the duty to stand."

Salmon Sima, Iranian refugee, Canadian activist  

The Premier of Ontario tasked his attorney general to seek a court injunction against the annually ritualized Al Quds Day taking place in Toronto. The injunction application stated: "There is a serious risk of violence arising from or occurring at the rally", including mischief, intimidation and in the process ignoring Criminal Code hate laws that include public incitement of hatred, or wilful promotion of antisemitism. Rally organizers along with the Al-Quds Committee, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Lebanese4Palestine and the Canada-banned terrorist group Samidoun linked with the PFLP were sued by the Province.

Al-Quds Day is a creation of the  Islamic Republic of Iran, dating from the 1979 revolution when the Palestinian 'cause' was taken up by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, the contested ancient city of Judean ancestral heritage claimed by the nascent state of Arabic 'Palestine' as their capital, championed by the Iranian regime, became the purpose of the annual rally, a disguised scheme to invalidate Israel's claim to the city and to portray Israel as an interloper, not the rightful claimant through ancient indigeneity. 

Wherever Islamists have settled in the West they subscribe to this historical revisionism and mount such an infamous rally in world capitals.

On Saturday, 14 March, in Toronto, an estimated 4,500 people turned out to the pro-Palestinian rally with a double purpose this year, a protest against the U.S.-Israel bombardment of the Islamic Republic, that very regime that two months earlier slaughtered tens of thousands of Iranian protesters who marched for the end of the regime in cities across Iran, only to be met with armed police action shooting protesters to death, arresting untold numbers to be tortured in Iran's hated prisons. 

 

This is the country that has the Middle East and the West on edge over their nuclear program and medium-to-long-range missiles.

 

A counter-protest also took place outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto Saturday. (Mercedes Gaztambide/CBC)

 

A counter-rally was staged by Iranian Canadians opposed to the Islamic theocracy that has transformed their country of origin into a pariah in the Middle East and abroad for its broad range of human rights crimes, its well-known support for terrorism and its control of terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Territories. Both supporters of Israel, Canadians of Jewish extraction carrying Israeli flags and Iranian Canadians carrying the original flag of Iran under its dynastic Shahs were present to wave their Canadian flags in allegiance to the country which under the Liberal government appears to be signalling that allegiance is now misplaced.

 

Mere days following shots being fired at the U.S. Consulate at University Avenue and Armour Street, the Al-Quds rally attendees made their presence known. They stood on the south side of Armoury Street, holding up Palestinian flags and calling for an end to the war in Iran. On the opposite, north side, counter-demonstrators waved Israeli, pre-Revolutionary Iranian and Trump 2028 flags, along with Canadian flags. 

 

The Al-Quds crowd held up large banners with the insignia of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On this occasion, Iranian regime flags outnumbered those of the Palestinian flags, mourners carried portraits of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and protesters urged support of retaliatory attacks on Israel from the Islamic Republic that has always outwardly threatened to destroy the Jewish state. 

 

This display of pure, unadulterated hatred for Israel's right of existence, inflamed by the support of terror against 'colonialism' and 'unjust wars', aiming directly at Israel's right to defend itself from existential threats represents the sole purpose of such events. And Iranian Canadians will have none of it, knowing all too well that it is that state theocratic regime that has destroyed their country.

Unit: Hate Crime Unit

Case #: 2026-538606

Published: Sunday, March 15, 2026, 10:32 AM

The Toronto Police Service is making the public aware of two arrests made at the Al-Quds Day demonstration. 

On Saturday, March 14, 2026, the Al-Quds Day demonstration took place in the University Avenue and Armoury Street area. In addition to those attending the Al-Quds Day demonstration, counter-demonstrators were also present. During two unrelated incidents, two men were arrested. 

It is alleged that:

• the accused, a male participating in the counter-demonstration, engaged with the victim, a participant in the Al-Quds demonstration, who was holding a stick with an Islamic Republic of Iran flag attached
• the accused began swinging his arms and fists at the victim, breaking the stick and causing pieces of it to strike the victim in the head

Mostafa Shabanian Bashmandoost, 39, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with:

1. Assault
2. Criminal Harassment
3. Theft Under $5000
4. Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Under $5000
5. Public Incitement of Hatred

He is scheduled to appear in court at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre, 2201 Finch Avenue West, on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 10 a.m., in room 105.

These investigations are being treated as suspected hate-motivated offences.

 

Farshid McVandifar, 56, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with:

1. Mischief – Damage Property Under $5000
2. Assault

He is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice, 10 Armoury Street, on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 11 a.m., in room 203.

It is further alleged that:

• the second accused, a male participating in the counter demonstration, followed the victim, a participant of the Al-Quds demonstration, who was wearing an Islamic Republic of Iran flag on their back
• the accused spat on the victim and ripped the flag off their back
• the accused returned into the crowd and was later located among the counter demonstration group
• the accused was then observed to be lighting an Islamic Republic of Iran flag on fire and wearing Islamic Republic of Iran flags attached to the soles of his shoes.

As usual, when police attend to these events, it is those who are victimized, threatened through the intimidation of double-speak that are driven to respond with action that reflects their outrage at the malice directed against those who subscribe to liberty and the defence of  human rights, who are held accountable for disturbances, rarely those who mount such radicalized pure-hate events whose purpose is achieved through the police applied courtesy of enablement... 

Toronto police said Thursday they planned to increase their presence in the area of the rally. (Mercedes Gaztambide/CBC)