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TORONTO — Foad Farhani was driving to work Tuesday morning when his wife called him in tears while reading U.S. President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social threatening the existence of their homeland.
Trump wrote that a “whole civilization will die” if Iran does not agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, just the latest threat in increasingly inflammatory rhetoric that has rattled the couple.
“This has been going on for a few days now that he would (post) certain things that wouldn’t make any sense to us,” Farhani said.
Farhani, a Toronto-area resident whose family members are in Iran, said Trump’s threats have the Iranian Canadian community on edge.
“He would keep us to some sort of … stress and fear for a long time and we don’t know what is going on in his mind and what he wants to do,” he said.
Farhani who works as an engineer said Trump initially stated that he started the war to liberate the Iranian people, but he doesn’t think that is the case anymore.
“Nowadays he’s just telling us that he would want to make Iran go back to the Stone Ages or destroy everything, all the history of this culture,” he said.
“It’s just ridiculous … and the fact that he’s telling this kind of stuff is so scary.”
Trump announced in another social post Tuesday evening that he is pulling back on his threats to widen attacks on Iranian energy and power infrastructure subject to Iran being ready for a two-week ceasefire and to reopen Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also added that Iran has presented “a workable basis on which to negotiate” as part of its 10-point proposal.
“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” Trump said in the post.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Wednesday it had accepted a two-week ceasefire but warned it doesn’t mean the war has ended. Its statement said it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday.
“It is emphasized that this does not signify the termination of the war,” the statement said. “Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force.”
The country’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.
Farhani said Trump’s threats to bomb and destroy power plants, oil production facilities, bridges and hospitals would only harm the civilians in Iran.
“Honestly, there’s no justification, these are all war crimes,” he said ahead of the temporary ceasefire announcement.
Farhani said Saturday was the last time he was able to speak with his parents, who are both Canadian permanent residents and have been stuck in Tehran for months.
“We are so worried, and I don’t have … any way to touch base with them and see if they are even alive every day,” he said.
He said his parents haven’t left the capital because nowhere is safe. Leaving Iran via Turkey to return to Canada isn’t an option for his ailing father and elderly mother, he added.
Aitak Sorahi, another Iranian Canadian who lives in York Region north of Toronto, said Trump’s posts stress her out so much that she tries to avoid checking social media – but doing so has become her daily morning routine.
“I don’t even know how to describe my feeling because I don’t have a name for it,” she said, her voice disappearing into sobs.
Trump’s inflammatory statements about U.S. military action in Iran have triggered global condemnations.
Speaking Tuesday at a news conference in Brampton, Ont., Prime Minister Mark Carney said leaders involved in the war in Iran need to “choose their words” and act prudently, without specifically criticizing Trump over his post.
Carney said all parties involved need to respect international law and that means not targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the United States against that in recent days.
In some of the strongest comments against the war so far, Pope Leo XIV called Trump’s latest threat against all people in Iran “truly unacceptable,” adding that any attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international law.
The war began when Israel and the United States carried out massive airstrikes, assassinating the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his top generals in February.
A girls’ elementary school was also struck in the city of Minab where more than 165 people, mostly children, were killed. A preliminary U.S military investigation into the deadly strike found it likely occurred due to outdated intelligence, The Associated Press has reported.
Iran responded with missile attacks targeting Israel and U.S. military bases in the region. The country has also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting oil supply and threatening the global economy.
Iran’s UN envoy Amir-Saeid Iravani said Tuesday that Tehran will “take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures” if Trump follows through with his latest threats. Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian also said in a social media post that 14 million Iranians, including himself, have volunteered to sacrifice their lives in the war.
The government has called on Iranians to form human chains around public infrastructures in an effort to deter looming attacks.
Sorahi said she feels like Iranians have been held hostage between the warring factions.
Although she was able to speak with her family in Iran on Tuesday morning, she feared for their safety.
“There was a bomb like one block from them last night and … fortunately they are OK, but it was pretty stressful for them,” she said.
Farhani said his wife was also worried about her aging parents’ safety in Iran amid the intense bombing.
“She cries like every couple of hours because of all the stress that she’s going through,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2026.
–With files from The Associated Press
Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press
