WASHINGTON — President Trump was stunned to learn last week that US intelligence indicates new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei may be gay — and that his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, feared his suitability to rule the Islamic Republic for that reason, The Post can reveal.
Trump couldn’t contain his surprise and laughed aloud when he was briefed on the intel, according to sources.
The war against Iran unleashed by the United States and Israel two weeks ago brings to the boil the clash of civilisations that has been simmering since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Despite the efforts of the mullahs to incite the entire Muslim world against the West, that conflict has so far been largely contained. Iran’s sporadic drone and missile strikes on the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have failed to provoke these states to distance themselves from the US, while the “Arab street” has remained quiescent.
The US is offering ordinary Iranians a $10 million reward to help them track down the regime’s hardline leaders.
The US State Department issued a Most Wanted poster, featuring the new Supreme Leader and his top henchmen, urging Iranians to make contact via encrypted social media channels.
As well as the reward – equivalent to £7.5 million – there will be an opportunity for informers to relocate to the US, says the notice, which was posted on the department’s website and across social media.
American and Israeli strikes have severely degraded Iran’s ability to wage war.
Perhaps more important, they are finishing off Xi Jinping’s most cherished narrative of the “China Dream” of national rejuvenation and dominance. In Beijing these days, just about everyone knows China’s arrogant leader was wrong about the long-term direction of the United States.
New Ipsos polling conducted for Global News reveals 61 per cent of Canadians disapprove of the U.S. military action against Iran.
Only one in four (23 per cent) Canadians approve (eight per cent strongly approve, 15 per cent somewhat approve), while 16 per cent are unsure either way.
Forty-two per cent were found to strongly disapprove, while 19 per cent somewhat disapprove.
President Donald Trump revealed that he may launch more strikes on Kharg Island, Iran‘s oil lifeline that he just bombed on Friday night.
The U.S. military targeted Iran’s military in the strike on Kharg, hitting 90 different targets including naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers, according to U.S. Central Command. Trump said the strikes “totally obliterated” Iran’s military on the island, calling the operation “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East.”
Iranian combat power declines, as U.S. dominance builds over vast swaths of Iran. pic.twitter.com/LrYe5PVMj1
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 15, 2026
VATICAN CITY — In the days after President Donald Trump unleashed a military attack on Iran, the Catholic Church was quickly on a war-footing — against the war.
America’s rational for preemptive strikes, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state warned, risked setting “the whole world … ablaze.”
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the church’s top authority in Washington, called the war neither “morally legitimate” nor “just.”
This is not an overnight development that just happened in the past two weeks, after the Trump administration and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
Reports were emerging in January that even while Iranian citizens fed an uprising that led to the murder of roughly 40,000 of them at the hands of the Iranian regime, members of the regime have been quietly relocating to Canada.
h/t PA Cat
Donald Trump has said the US military has bombed a small island off the coast of Iran – home to a major oil terminal that is considered the country’s economic lifeline.
The US president said Kharg Island’s military facilities were “totally obliterated” but that it had held off targeting its oil infrastructure.
Trump, however, warned that he would reconsider the decision not to target oil facilities on the island should Iran or others “do anything to interfere” with the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important shipping channels, located south of Iran’s coast.
🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 Kharg Island sits just 15 miles off Iran’s coast, comfortably inside the range of Iranian missiles, drones, and coastal artillery.
So if the U.S. ever tried to land Marines there they’d be storming a beach while the mainland shoots at them the entire time.
Kharg handles… https://t.co/HreA4DtBBu pic.twitter.com/VK9WtCmIfK
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2026
Barbara Boyd gives her take on the Kharg Island action last night
President Trump is following the pattern/plan used in Venezuela
from Promethian Updates pic.twitter.com/8WaaSacVwg
— Dangerous Thoughts (@DangerousThinkg) March 14, 2026
Overnight on Wednesday, around 100 Basij soldiers were killed across Tehran by dozens to hundreds of suicide drones in a covert operation some are comparing to Israel’s previous pager operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The drones hit Basij bases, motorcycles, and vehicles, targeting IRGC, Basij, and special forces checkpoints.
Iraq also experienced a heavy night of strikes against pro-Iranian militias.
At the same time, the regime in Iran continues its efforts at self-preservation through sustained attrition from within Iran and on other fronts.
🚨 NEW: Israel appears to be opening a new phase of the war—suicide drones striking IRGC & Basij checkpoints across Tehran.
Street-level regime control posts are being taken out, potentially weakening the regime’s grip and giving Iranians space to take to the streets.
Stay… pic.twitter.com/TbnR1SEJkI
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) March 11, 2026
In a scene straight out of a dystopian nightmare, self-styled “Sharia patrols” on horseback charged through Manchester’s streets on March 4, 2026, chasing down peaceful demonstrators celebrating the end of Iran’s brutal Islamic Republic regime.
More: The true story of the ‘horsemen of the Ayatollah’ who rode to defend pro-Iranian supporters in Manchester – sparking claims of a ‘sharia police patrol’
They were Pro-Ayatollah out to protect Mullah Regime acolytes.
h/t Blackgriffin
New polling suggests the public is anxious about escalation and prefers neutrality and de-escalation, placing pressure on the Carney government to tread carefully as the conflict unfolds
The war in Iran broke into the news cycle quickly and dramatically two weeks ago today. Within hours it was dominating international headlines, raising fears of wider conflict across the Middle East, and prompting urgent debate among Western allies about how they should respond.
Canada was not immune to that debate.
More US Marines and warships are expected to be deployed to the Middle East, two officials confirmed to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
The officials said the reinforcements were to come from an amphibious ready group and its Marine expeditionary unit, with one official adding that the group would be led by the Japan-based USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship.
The unit headed by the USS Tripoli typically consists of around 5,000 sailors and Marines distributed across several warships.
Reminder that Canadian troops were attacked by the Islamic Regime and they didn’t bother reporting it. https://t.co/3wXSBVzh1w
— The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) March 13, 2026
The Palestinian armed group Hamas has called on Iran to stop its attacks on Gulf states, in a rare appeal to its key ally.
In a statement, the Tehran-backed group urged its “brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighbouring countries”, saying all regional nations should co-operate “to preserve the bonds of brotherhood”.
At the same time, Hamas, which runs Gaza, affirmed Tehran’s right to defend itself against attacks by the US and Israel, which are continuing to strike Iran.
h/t Mauser
The possibility of a quick resolution to the conflict is looking less likely for the president, but every way out will come at a cost
President Trump has already declared the war on Iran won. But this week he also said that it was still necessary to “finish the job”.
“We don’t want to leave early, do we?” he said. “We don’t want to go back every two years.”
Trump sometimes speaks as a president but often he speaks as a commentator on his own decisions.
B-2 stealth bombers takeoff to conduct a mission during Operation Epic Fury, delivering long-range fire to not only eliminate the threat from the Iranian regime today, but also eliminate their ability to rebuild in the future. pic.twitter.com/ebyUYNnOLo
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 13, 2026
The Iranian regime has been the number one threat to peace and stability in the Middle East for years. U.S. forces continue to take decisive steps to neutralize Iran’s power projection capabilities. pic.twitter.com/JOT7rRGH7L
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 13, 2026
