The article is correct in reporting that Iran is carrying out retaliatory strikes against U.S. bases and strategic assets across the Gulf region and against Israel. It is also correct in noting that Iranian strikes have hit civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries such as Qatar and Bahrain. However, the article fails to provide important context regarding the nature of Iran’s attacks on civilian infrastructure.
To the CBC Newsroom,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (www.cjpme.org) regarding the CBC News article published on March 6, 2026 titled: “How America’s war with Iran has shattered the U.A.E.’s sense of security.”
The article is correct in reporting that Iran is carrying out retaliatory strikes against U.S. bases and strategic assets across the Gulf region and against Israel. It is also correct in noting that Iranian strikes have hit civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries such as Qatar and Bahrain. However, the article fails to provide important context regarding the nature of Iran’s attacks on civilian infrastructure.
According to a spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Islamic Republic is not targeting its neighboring countries but rather U.S. military bases and related assets across the West Asian region. Iranian officials have furthermore stated that the targets include facilities connected to U.S. or Israeli military and intelligence operations, including hotels reportedly housing U.S. or Israeli personnel.
Without including this perspective, readers are left with the misleading impression that Iran is indiscriminately targeting civilian infrastructure.
This omission is particularly troubling given CBC’s reporting practices in other regional military aggressions. In its coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, CBC routinely includes the Israeli government’s claims that Palestinian hospitals are legitimate targets because Hamas allegedly operates beneath them. Whether or not these claims are independently verified, CBC nonetheless reports Israel’s stated justification and perspective.
For instance, in this article published by CBC News on April 13, 2025, the article mentions that “the Israeli military said in a statement it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians before it struck the compound, which the military said was being used by Hamas militants to plan attacks. It did not provide evidence.”
Why, then, is a comparable perspective absent here? By excluding Iran’s stated rationale regarding the nature of the targeted infrastructure, readers are left with the misleading impression that Iran is indiscriminately attacking civilian infrastructure, while a similar standard of contextual reporting is applied elsewhere.
CBC must apply the same standard of contextual reporting across all regional conflicts and instances of military aggression. Failing to do so undermines the journalistic principle of fairness as outlined in the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) Ethics Guidelines.