Can the U.S.-Israel Strikes on Iran Escalate into a Wider War? | The Rundown

The U.S. and Israel launched attacks across Iran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. We talk about the latest developments in Iran and Canada's response with Maral Karimi, a faculty lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University; and Jon Allen, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel and a senior fellow at the University of Toronto's Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History. 0:00 — Intro 0:19 — US Defense Secretary press conference: key takeaways 1:24 — Is the US signaling a long war or regime change? 2:06 — US & Israeli politics: midterms and domestic pressure 2:46 — Could limited strikes avoid a wider regional war? 3:26 — Understanding Iran’s power structure and the IRGC 4:31 — Why pressuring Iran was always unrealistic 5:27 — Reactions inside Iran after the Supreme Leader’s death 6:37 — Does the assassination threaten the Iranian regime? 7:30 — Canada’s support for US‑Israeli strikes under scrutiny 8:07 — Is Canada abandoning international law? 9:27 — Legal limits on military strikes under the UN Charter 10:48 — Why Canada avoided calling the strikes illegal 11:33 — Iranian regime threats against the diaspora abroad 13:00 — Best‑ and worst‑case scenarios for Iran’s future 14:22 — Can the Iranian diaspora shape regime change? About The Rundown: The Rundown is your nightly half-hour deep dive into just one headline. With host Jeyan Jeganathan, we’ll cover everything from housing and health care to climate and AI. We’ll break down why each topic matters, who’s living it, and what’s being done to make things better – starting right here in Ontario. Slow down. Tune in. Make sense of the moment. And tell us what you think. Follow on social media: Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/therundowntvo Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/TheRundownTVO X- https://twitter.com/therundowntvo Bluesky- https://bsky.app/profile/therundowntvo.bsky.social Subscribe to TVO Today to watch more content like this: https://www.youtube.com/@tvotoday Listen to the podcast: https://www.tvo.org/podcasts/the-rundown-audio Check out the rest of the TVO ecosystem TVO Docs - https://www.youtube.com/@tvo TVO Kids - https://www.youtube.com/@TVOkids TVO Learn - https://www.youtube.com/@tvolearn Download the TVO Today App Apple - https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/tvo-today/id1616182112 Available on: Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung, LG, Amazon Fire TV Enjoying this content and want to make a meaningful impact? Consider donating today! https://support.tvo.org/site/Donation2?mfc_pref=T&idb=599945504&df_id=16843&16843.donation=form1&DONATION_LEVEL_ID_SELECTED=1661&mfc_pref=T