Iran

As commendable as it may be that US President Donald J. Trump is apparently hoping that he can turn “swords into ploughshares,” the inclusion of avowedly pro-Islamist, pro-terrorist countries such as Turkey, Qatar and Pakistan in his so-called “Board of Peace” has all the potential thoroughly to undermine the American leader’s peace initiative in Gaza.

With Trump’s 20-point peace plan for ending the Gaza conflict entering a new stage, the American president is insisting that the Hamas terrorist organisation surrender all its weapons within the next two months.

The phone calls, when they came, lasted three minutes.

In those minutes, a young woman told her mother she was alive. A son told his parents he was exhausted, and said that if the security forces wanted to execute him, they should, for at least then he’d be free.

It has been nearly a month since Venus Hossein-Nejad, 28, and Peyvand Naeimi, 30, were marched out of their workplaces by Iranian agents and held prisoner as part of the regime’s crackdown against the widespread protests threatening the Islamic Republic.

Up to 350,000 people flooded a stretch of Yonge Street in North York on Saturday in what police described as one of the largest Iran-related demonstrations the city has seen in recent months.

The rally, part of a worldwide Global Day of Action called by exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, brought major road closures, transit adjustments and hours of gridlock to the city’s north end — but for the most part, outside of one arrest, demonstrations unfolded peacefully.

BREAKING:

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians and Canadian allies are marching in Toronto for the fall of the Islamic Regime in Iran pic.twitter.com/u2nnS6trBT

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 14, 2026

Toronto Iranian Freedom Movement

Have you ever seen so many people marching in a Canadian City?

Amazing to witness. pic.twitter.com/KxfjkZXDCO

— Marc Nixon (@MarcNixon24) February 15, 2026

Information on the current mood on the Iranian street can be found here: “Iran fears US strike could break Islamic regime’s grip on power by reigniting protests, sources say,” Jerusalem Post, February 2, 2026…

Iran has sentenced the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to more than seven more years in prison after she began a hunger strike, her supporters said Sunday, as Tehran cracks down on all dissent following nationwide protests and the deaths of thousands at the hands of security forces.

The new convictions against Mohammadi come as Iran tries to negotiate with the US over its nuclear programme to avert a military strike threatened by Donald Trump. Iran’s top diplomat said on Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers”, striking a maximalist position just after negotiations in Oman with the US.

Iran’s rulers, now that they are on their knees, apparently want to “talk.” Iranian officials, including the foreign minister, have signaled openness to negotiating a new nuclear deal — not from “moderation” or a genuine change in behavior. The plea from Iran’s regime is clearly a last-ditch effort to hold on to power so the mullahs can keep on torturing, slaughtering and putting out the eyes of their citizens.

The regime is searching for a way out. This moment, therefore, is not one for misplaced diplomatic optimism that the mullahs are now prepared to stop building nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can reach the United States, or to stop brutalizing innocent Iranians. The regime, which rules by terror, is evidently still hoping to rule the rest of the world by terror, too.