Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio. Welcome to Policy and Rights, the show about the government policy and human rights. All right, welcome back to Policy Rights. Here in Depictions Media Radio, I'm your host, Michael Cloggs. So we're gonna hear uh from the Minister of Foreign Affairs UH for the Liberal government as she speaks about what is going on in the Middle East,
Israel, in Iran, Israel and Gaza and other things. She's m making statements and she is going to talk with people in the hopes of bringing about ceasefires and commer heads in the wake of a Jones drone strike. Along with it that the w h O reported about the hospital in Gaza that is just simply left in ruins. They're standing in the rubble as they're reporting about it. There were patients that have been transferred to other hospitals. And here's
the thing. According to u N rules and on war combat things like that, that civilian sights such as hospitals, are supposed to be considered to be safe havens. And we're seeing more and more that that isn't the truth. We're seeing that the MAS may have been using hospitals to shield their operations, knowing that military operations cannot reach them from within the hospital. We're seeing that under that same guys that Israel has gone ahead and destroyed hospitals and other civilian
sites that should have been safe havens. There's a lot going on with the Middle East, a lot to that has to be accounted for before a real peace could be found, and we had to keep that in mind as we listened to Melanie Jolie as she's speaking about Canada's stance on what is actually happening in the Middle East at this point. So why don't we listen to what it is? She said in her statement to the press from Aroawa. Okay. So, first and foremost, Canada and equivocally condemned the attacks by Irun
against Israel over the weekend. This is unprecedented. We stand with the people of Israel, and of course this attack only served to destabilize the region and further escalation and this is completely unacceptable. I've been in contact over the weekend with my Israeli counterparts, with many actors in the region, having many conversations. Canada is pushing diplomatically to stop further escalation, and at the same time
we are still calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. It is important that hostages be released, and it is important also that aid be sent to Palestinians in Gaza. I'm heading tonight to Italy for the G seven Foreign Ministers meetings. We'll have many conversations about this, will be indeed talking about the Middle East, putting much more further sanctions against Iran and its regime, and also engaging with the global seult as. We are looking forward to bring much more peace
to the world. Don francs the Canada condan san Ziki vok Li's attack Contrirael called the weekend city, this city, this attack, sant president uh Israeli dancing moments, sil attack regionalad complete my axceptam she don't contact AVEC monomeologue Israeli of course weekend she don't contact region. He like Canada continue the pussy poor stoppe lescalad potanciel dollar region a zoo Nusan silf a Gaza life liber plus died a Gaza, the fin al Mairi SA and Italy jest the minister country.
The mologue is the Mologuelma sudnus continent or like a posy the san Fort ma Hamney plus the Don region. You'll see Atala. Okay, I'll just guys, I'll just start with French and then I'll go to English and sipple this Islamic community, not ris de propa preparatus. May you see a trava region.
Continue, I met the LA press pointer uh new Paige and then on continual fire in minis the LA security public see the the yard the I g fran so come from let's see realist collect the security public cast and posit dis sanction and sure to sus the cell conyn at the terror par par le revolution Islamic. Yes, another co in French. And then I'll go in English. When you would diplomatic your daughter knows that declared revolution when you diplomatic affair
on the comes with zim is the secutive public. It's new sa sports SoC nivoda dit plusia person ARTSTI in sanction presson maximal p called weekend l Israel complete my next atta a la di esi avec premiur refleca getting the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Thank you so. First and foremost we know that Iran is spread against terror within its own country and also across the region and the world, and that is why we've sanctioned very clearly key individuals and will continue to
put maximum pressure against the Iranian regime which completely disregards peace. The Minister of Public Safety is actively working on options and it is important that we also coordinate with our key allies. Meanwhile, that it is clear that Canada is pushing for de escalation in the region, and that is a coordinate message that we're all sending the G seven countries. A clarify, Minister, when is one of the options on the table can be very clear for Canadians. It's one
of the options on the table designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Is that an active option you're considering? The Prime Minister already answered that question back in January and he already said that we were actively working on it. That being said, as of now, under my purview, what we can do is quickly designate key individuals that are part of these activities that are criminal activities against Israelis and also against our interests. And that is why on my side,
I'll be working on this issue. The escalator. When you say the escalator, are you taking the position is Canada taking the position that Israel should not pond to this attack by Iran. We think that it's important that Israel be able to protect itself. It has done so over the weekend, and we are clearly pushing for the escalation and we need to make sure that the
conflict doesn't extend through the region. So that is why I've been clear to my counterpart in please take the win and make sure that we can work together to bring back peace in the region. Pressure, what does it look you're not going to designate it as a terrorist? Can you come start again? Rafi? Sure? What does maximum pressure look like? If you're not going to take the step to as a terrorist organization? What will we do instead?
I've said that we are actively working on this. The Prime Minister answered the question back in January, and the Minister of Public Safety is on this issue. What I can do under my own purview, in my own responsibility, under my own legislation, is designating people and making sure that they're sanctioned.
And that's what I'm working on. Because we've already sanctioned dozens of key RGC officials, we need to go further and that's why I'll be working with g seven countries as I'm heading to Italy later today, which Pascal Israel concrete mosque and Angeles Israel Israel reel amenta Pari pari an again and take the wins Anfes israelas weekend I did de monstra the capastics. Now the strategy Petre travails on fel courtes weekend parsquals if it's inden attacks Saint President bar lir p t
Dney as well. Region is the exact americavailable. I want to ask you on the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist svo Well, certainly, I have one of the largest Arenian Canadian populations in my riding in the country, and I speak with the community about it all the time. I would say, we put into place a whole range of sanctions and UH, and we are continuing to look at all other ways to actually continue to tighten the screws on the government
of Iran. That includes UH. The issue around list of the IRGC. It is not simple under Canadian law, and of course we want to ensure that we are not impacting conscripts to the IERGC. But it certainly remains a love conversation. Would you talk to your constituents about it. What are they
telling you. They are telling me that they have appreciated the acts that the government put a range of different restrictions on the government of Iran, and they are looking for us to continue the efforts to tighten the screws on the government of r N and to ensure that we are enforcing some of the regulations around people who shouldn't be in this country to not be in this country. Do you think, though, do you think that the IRGC is a terrorist organization?
Do you think it should be labeled as such? Well, I think you know, it's recognized around the world that the government of Iran's there's terrorism and the IERGC is involved in that in a direct way. So again there are complexities under Canadian law that mister Pouliov likes to ignore. But we certainly are looking for any in all ways to tighten the screws on the government of Iran and on the IURGC. Are continuing to look at the issue of listening
within the Canadian law. Fran Le franc a vote position. So the i r g C a common group terrorist leg say say key h Commas cont the key contribute a terrorism Dono Moan amas Ques Bala group, the terrorists, a new volon metron plas, the Governor, Duran a mems and cud ir GC a new new president mon news Avon news all News Avon conversation, the commerce
on pur plus news plus Boku the Mexico to address as new news. A conversation to Ald Monte Le prescient government no means a group come and group terrorist Well see Patris Simps sur Lelward Canada, say say different lelard the detas you need for example, a new ul asq new pranzowns you say down lelard in Canada, maybe a sieur metna new consider boku the diy day and clue come on on pur Versa on a cart le Loard Canada, the John Riding concern
most put the rus mambre, the community, the Canadian iran an bok, the converser sur l as ils so Canada ill near Leon inquis on a CAO govern s DC a new volont news Apple que Lesion concree a Augmont said Priscion may say they kept new devon faire. The Governor and prem thank you very
much. Here's a couple of soundbites from the w h O and the u N as you're going to tour the al schefta hospital that was left in ruins after fighting and the hospital was built and supplied by efforts by the w h L, and they are touring it, showing one the emergency room, neonatal care units and nurseries and talking about the destruction that had there. And then the clip after that, we're going to hear as doctors are talking about the
medications that are needed. You will hear one talk about anesthesia, and we're also going to hear some statements from grateful patients as they're being transferred to other hospitals for for better care and for needed treatment. So they the part of the clips will be actually in the native Palestinian Arabic and not in English,
so we'll just have to bear with that. So when we listen to those two clips right now, and then we'll come back from the un floor as we hear a representative from the AEA as they're making statements to the press. This is what used to be the emergency department and as you can see, it's totally destroyed. Everything is burned and there's a smell of seawach. End of the rotten bodies around. What you also see here in the yard of
the hospital are the graves of people who have died. Some of them have been buried, some of them are not yet and buried in many other places. You can see the bodies that are opening under the gazen sun. Behind me is the remains of the Nanatal Intensive Ky Union and the nursery. In the last three years, who has passed more than five billion USD to make sure that patients would be getting proper care. Now the place that used to
save lives and limbs, it's all torn down to pieces. In the chapel of a Larky hospital which also served as an impatient ward the majority of patience of trauma cases. There's still the shortage of all kinds of medication, including anesthesia, which we need to get in as quickly as possible because of our mire. We're taking with us three creative patients, but we could have taken with us maybe fifty patients or one hundred patients as who deserve better treatment and
care. Absolutely, I know an and and the hat dog and you're a decided the look and as we can on a coping and thank you, okay, So the representative for the International Atomic Energy Agency or the AEA, mister Raphael Grossi, he's going to make some statements about threats to international peace and
security following his addressing the Security Council Atomic Energy and Security. We have seen, at least in the Ukraine and Russia that nuclear power plants have been targeted and the results of tarketing such a site can be absolutely disastrous for many generations. We've seen in the past, We've seen accidents such as Chernobyl that have
happened where we're decades later and the land still is not usable. So imagine if a nuclear power plant is specifically targeted by a drone or missile and the destruction to communities, surrounding communities and the people around them, what they could
actually mean. So with that, why don't we listen to what mister Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has to say about global security and international peace with reticular and atomic energy when making statements as far as the agency is concerned, I don't refer to national statements, But as far as the agency who is inspecting there is concerned. We don't have any information
or indication that there is a nuclear weapon program in Iran. At the same time, while we say this, which we need to say, we are telling our any account counterparts that this important accumulation of nuclear material at levels that are very very close technically identical, almost to a weapon grade level, of course, is not irrelevant and raises questions in the international community. This is
why we are always urging, asking requiring them to cooperate with us. In full, I can say that I am re established, re establishing contacts with the Iranian government in order for me personally. Of course, our inspectors continue to do their work. As I was just responding to your colleague here. It's not that we are not there, but we are not there at the level that we consider we should be. So I hope in the next few weeks to return to Tehran and to try to put the situation back on track
with your traveling to Iran. We are talking about that. Yes, I'm mister Margaret, is your voice of Martha. I will switch it back to Ukraine now please and Zaparitza. Sorry, I just like wrote so many notes here for just one clarification. First, if I could you talked about two two external lines of power. That only has two external lines of power for those of us who are not nuclear sciences, could you tell us how many lines of external power facility like that it used to have ten? It used
to have ten. So now as you can see, with only two seven hundred and fifty kiload and the other three hundred and thirty with only two lines and frequent interruptions including nine blackouts, this safety situation of the plant is very serious because you need this external power supply in order to ensure the cooling function of the reactors, which even at the current status which is in the jargon we call it shutdown, means that they are working almost at a very very
minimal level or completely stopped. Temperatures are lower, but you have a lot of nuclear material there and of course which is still in need of continuous cooling. So if you lose the power that allows the cooling systems to work, then as it happened several times, then you have to recourse as you would in a private house. You need to use emergency generators, which are,
you know, the last line of defense. I would say so one never wants to be with the last emergency measure, the last emergency tool that you have in your toolbox to avoid a meltdown. So this is why the issue
of the power lines is something I am constantly repeating. And on the five on the five principles that you have been going over, you seem to be pretty clear excuse me and the council on four of them, but you didn't really you didn't seem to say whether weapons or have the equipment are being stored in There is no heavy weaponary there heavy no. I have to say it because when we establish this five concrete principles, we did it not top of
my head. It was the result of almost a year long effort where we consulted with Ukraine, with Russia on what would be the essential elements that should not happen, should not take place, and we even if you look at them, we gave some examples multiple rocket launchers, tanks, heavier artillery and ammunition. So at the same time there is security presence, There are armored vehicles and some security presence at the plant, which has been publicized quite openly
and also in my own reports. But when it comes to heavy weaponry at the plant, the vicinity is something else. But at the plant, within the plant, our experts so far have not been have not seen that yes, sir, thank you. See Stefanova watched the New York Title Press. You know you've been here several of times. I remember a year ago and you were kind of worried, very worried the situation. So now after two years of Russian invasion, comparing with the situation, now, how worried are
you more or less? And and today we saw again, you know, the Russian ambassador the Ukrainian ambassador pointing fingers to each other. Basically, everyone is saying that somebody is somebody else thought all the time. Now you in your report, would you clarify if you had to give a yellow card, which one gets the first yellow card? Russia Ukraine. Well, what you raise is a very important point, and it is the point that everybody is
talking about this issue of attribution. Point finger says it's this country or that country. We are not commentators, We are not political speculators or scholars or analysts. We are an international agency of inspectors. And in order to say something like that, we must have proof, indisputable evidence that an attack or remnant of ammunition or or any other weapon is coming from a certain place. And in this case, it is simply impossible let me remind you that these
attacks have been performed with a multitude of drones. First of all, the drone, as we all know by their own technical functioning, has a diverse trajectory. It hovers its circles. It can go into Remember this plant is at the front line. It can go to the Russian occupied territory. It can come from different places. It could be man from one side and belong to another side. So for us it would be impossible. At the same time, because we have been looking at the at these drones. These are
for rather drones which can be obtained almost anywhere. So the technical I would say forensic is not there to allow me to say it is undisputably something coming from here or there. This is why we keep the information as accurate as we can and we do not sway into speculating. Okay, so this is what we do. You were saying, how concerned we are. We are very concerned. This is why at times I have said at the moment, at the moment, we don't see a problem, but this is very precarious,
and somewhere saying well, but nothing is happening. You see what happened. This is a combat zone in a combat zone. Any day, something very very serious can happen. So I have the red card, I have the yellow card, I have them ready in my hands. The thing, the most important thing is that they see that the referee is there on the pitch. Thank you, mister Grossi alam Bucati from news agency Rea oversty. Do you mean that you won't be able anytime soon to define the perpetrator in
terms of the approach in nuclear problem, it depends on the circumstance. That depends on the circumstance. The idea would not be in the business of hiding anything. You know, this is very important when we see something in if we have evidence of something, we do not have a problem in reporting, but we have to be extremely measured in what we do. We know that
in a war there are certain operations. There are sometimes operations leading the observer to believe that something is happening in a certain sense while it is happening in a different sense. Intelligence operations and many other things, and voice of the IEA is very important. The credibility of the IEA which applies to this, applies to Iran, applies to Korea, applies to applies to the Middle East,
applies to everything must be preserved. I am the guardian of this institution and I have to measure the words so that when we put something on the public domain, it's something that is concrete and proven comination. In case of anything, well, it will depend on the magnitude of accident. It would depend. If there is a minor league, then it would be restricted to the perimeter. If it's something bigger, it could be regional. The thing is, and this is what we have been saying. You don't want to
try. You don't want to run the risk of something that could have a very widespread effect that would affect and let's let us be reminded that radiation would not respect borders or control territories. It would have a very wide, big impact. Yes, sir, please Dennis Akchefta's news agency. Did you negotiate with easy side mechanism of UHU of inspection and given in suspecting accountability mechanism?
So how to Yeah, I understand your question accountability. No, I mean the the isam's mission and the five concrete principles that I established here a year ago indicate what should not be happening and says that we are going to be monitoring that. We are not a tribunal if you want that would be attributing you know, punishments or any anything of the sort. We are there informing providing a technical assessment. Sure, yes, thank you very much for taking
questions, mister grocer. Gabriel Alessandro from Al Jazeera English. Just a quick clarification on your comment one of your comments to the council, you said, just in the last couple of days, under the IAEA's suggestion, that all six of the reactors are now in cold shut shut down. Can you explain this significance. I know five were in cold shutdown, now that all six are, what is the significance of that and why was the why did you
recommend that? Yeah, indeed, this is as I was partially explaining to one of your clleagues. Now, this means that the reactors are operating at an extremely low level. They are not producing any energy or electricity or power, which means that the temperature of the core is much much lower. So in case if there was an attack or something that would compromise the physical integrity, then the consequences would be easier to mitigate. It doesn't mean that there
wouldn't be consequences. It would be an easier crisis to be mitigated. The agency had been recommending advising the management of the plant to put this unit at culture down like all the others. But this is an evolving situation. Let's see how it continues. Please access that you need and demand from the Russian officials on site or not. I would say, by and large yes, But it's also true, and I have said it in some of my reports
that on occasion we haven't been given the access. What happens on some occasions, and we do not have an element to assess whether this is justified or not. We have to accept what we are told. Sometimes we are told that our teams cannot access a certain area. You know, the plant is a very huge site, that they cannot access this site because there is an impending attack or something of the sort. And with this happens, of course,
my responsibility for my staff is that we should follow those instructions. But we are saying, we are asking constantly and saying, like I said again today that for us to be giving an accurate impression of what is happening, we must have access to the entire site. Yeah, please, what are you hoping to accomplish by traveling to Iran? You say you're going to travel in the next Well, what I hope to accomplish is to get or to put the situation, to help put it in a higher level of cooperation.
If I can put it like this, we are getting access which in my opinion, could be much better. Let me remind you that again. A bit more than a year ago, I went to Tehran and I signed a joint decoration with the Iranian government indicating a number of actions that we would be
taking together with Iran beyond in addition to what we are already doing. We started that process and that process was interrupted, and I have been insisting, I have been saying, we need to go back to that understanding we had in March twenty twenty three. So I hope one of the issues that I should be discussing with the Iranian government if I return soon, is how to go back to that path of corporation and Ukraine any time soon? Yes, yes, we need to Ukraine and Russia. As I have been doing since
the beginning. I will. And another point I stress is that we must keep these channels of communication open. One of the pressures. Things about this mission by the IEA is that we are talking to both. We keep both engaged and we try to make the most of the situation in spite of the difficult circumstances. Not yet, but it will becomeing soon. I thank you very much. It's always a pleasure to see you, and I will be keeping you informed of any of any use. Thank you very much, have
a nice evening, bye bye by. In other updates from CNN, how about this one, NASA is rethinking a plan to return to Mars to retrieve samples. The Perseverance Rover has been gathering specimens since twenty twenty one and to help better understand life if there ever existed on the Red planet. And now the Space Agency is solicting proposals for sample return mission with less complexity, costs, and just a chance to learn from what the Red planet has to tell
us. Okay. On a more serious note, the Trump trial. Former President Donald Trump is set to return to a New York City courtroom for a second day of jury selection continues in his criminal hush money trial. A total of ninety six New Yorkers were brought in on Monday as perspective jurors fifty were immediately dismissed when they said they couldn't be a fair They couldn't be fair and
impartial. With Swiss dismensal of prospective drury poll underscores the difficulty in finding a drury when a defendant is the former president who elicits that strong feelings on both sides of the isle. Moving on funding, flight, Speaker Mike Johnson Monday and the House take up separate bills this week to provide aid for Israel and Ukraine, heating demands far from the right to keep the issue separate, as the threat of a vote to oust him from the speakers looms in the wake
of Iran's unprecedented retaliatory strikes on Israel. Democrats have called on Johnson to bring up a Senate passed foreign aid package that includes aid to Israel and Ukraine, but hardline conservative urge that the Louisiana Republican against attaching Ukraine funding to any Israel package aid and let's move on to the Baltimore Bridge. Federal authority have launched a criminal investigation into last month's ship crash that destroyed Baltimore's Franciscott Key Bridge.
And killed six people. According to a US official familiar with the matter, the bridge collapsed on March sixteenth after a massive cargo ship lost power, feared of course, and struck the bridge. The ship owner and manager have since filed a court document in an attempt to limit their financial liability. The FBI and the US Coastguard are leading probes to determine rather the crew failed to report an earlier issue with the ship that delayed its departure, the officials said.
Also Monday, authorities confirmed the body of a fourth victim had been recovered from the collapse. And moving on Rust sentencing, Hannah Goutez, read the Armor of the film Rust, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison Monday, the maximum possible punishment. She was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month for the
twenty twenty one one set fatal shooting of cinematographer Helena Hutchins. The verdict comes two years after Hutchins was killed by a live round of musicians fired from a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin. And moving on to Tesla, Tesla is looking to cut ten percent of his global staff of one hundred and forty thousand. The CEO Musk rote in an email to Tesla employees, must attributed the
planned job cut to the need to cost reductions and increased productivity. According to reports, this after Tesla recently announced a year over year decline in sales in the first three months of this year. It's such a drop since the height of the pandemic amid softer demand for electric car sector. Other automakers, including General Motors Forward, have also pulled back on their electric vehicle production. So
updates from CNN for would be April sixteenth, twenty twenty four. So final thoughts and I want to thank you for listening to Depictions Media Radio here On final thoughts, though, we do need to find peaceful solutions to things. We need to stop the attacks. We need to slow down and think about what we're doing and the lives that are gonna be lost. We need to think of all of our fellow human beings as equal fellow human beings and not
just as human animals or something that is less than what we are. Stop pointing at oh those people, and welcome our brothers as we are all part of the human race. Find that subscribe button wherever it may be so you can get continued updates from US. This show has been produced by Depictions Media. Please contact us at Depictions That Media for more information.