‘I started crying’: How Iranian Canadians reacted to the US strikes in Iran
Iranian Canadians gathered in several major Canadian cities over the weekend, expressing joy and support for the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The strikes began on Saturday morning and appear to be targeting areas in central Tehran, including areas linked to Iran’s leadership.
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the purpose of this “huge” operation was to ensure that Tehran does not get a nuclear weapon, “to eliminate threats from the Iranian government.”
For Sedi Minachi, the strikes were a good event.
“I can’t stop being happy,” he said at a rally in Vancouver on February 28. “I just, at first, cried, I couldn’t believe it. I feel like the nightmare after 47 years is ending, it’s about to end. We haven’t heard the news of the collapse of the regime, but I’m looking forward to it.”
On Saturday afternoon, Trump said on Truth Social that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the strikes. State media later confirmed his death.
Minachi has organized protests and rallies in Vancouver in recent weeks, protesting the Iranian regime’s crackdown on anti-government protests.
Iranians fed up with corruption, economic mismanagement and oppressive religious laws in their country have been rallying since late last year.
Iran’s government, which has implemented an internet shutdown, said in mid-February that more than 3,000 people had been killed since the protests began. But the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in its death toll during previous unrest in Iran, put the death toll at more than 7,000.
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Protests broke out in many countries, including the US and Canada.
On February 14, hundreds of thousands of people marched in Toronto, with similar protests in Vancouver and other cities.
On Saturday and Sunday, different gatherings were held – to celebrate.
Shermineh Esmati Novak, an organizer of Saturday’s meeting in Toronto, said there is “a lot of excitement.”
“It’s just a concept, you know, we’ve achieved something,” he told Global News. “There is an element of unity.”
Esmati Novak admitted that some people would find it “strange” to call for military intervention, but “I think we all hope it will happen.”
“We really want military violence from the United States, because this regime is not going to go away unless you bring real military power to take them out,” he said.
Ardeshir Zarezadeh, a former political prisoner of Iran who escaped to Canada, said that the US-Israel attack is an excellent situation for both the Iranian people who want to end the oppression of the government, and the Western powers who want to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
“If there is a free world … there will be no nuclear bomb,” Zarezadeh said. “It will be beneficial for everyone in the Middle East and obviously for international peace.”
Zarezadeh, who is now president of the Toronto-based International Center for Human Rights, called the killing of protesters in Iran a “crime against humanity” and said the international community had a duty to intervene.
But some Iranian Canadians say they are worried about the actions of the US and Israel, even if it means the end of the Iranian regime.
“Intervention from foreign governments does not work in favor of Iran’s national sovereignty,” said Mona Ghassemi, president of the Iranian Canadian Congress.
Ghassemi said that since the president is still alive and the temporary council, the current government has not fallen, but he is not sure what will happen if the government falls.
“If that government falls, I would worry about what will come in its place with this foreign intervention, because what the United States and Israel may want is a government that will comply with their demands,” he added.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a pre-recorded message that the new leadership council has “started its work” to find a new leader.
There is still some concern among Iranian Canadians about their loved ones back home, Esmati Novak told Global News. However, Ali Hassan Abadi, who attended Saturday’s meeting in Toronto, said he believed that could change.
“When we heard the first news, we were happy, we were shocked, we are celebrating,” he said. “We hope the fear is over, the fear is over soon.”
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