Trump’s intervention in Iran worries some Iranians abroad

LONDON/PARIS/BERLIN – US intervention in Iran’s aerial war with Israel has provoked mixed feelings among Iranians abroad, with some fearing for the safety of relatives back home and questioning whether bombing is the best way to topple the leadership in Tehran.

After US bombers struck three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21 (June 22 in Singapore), US officials said the goal was not “regime change”, but President Donald Trump later raised the possibility of Iran’s hardline clerical rulers being toppled.

Some members of the Iranian diaspora have long dreamt of the Iranian leadership being toppled and Mr Reza Pahlavi, son of the US-backed shah overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, urged Western leaders on June 23 to pursue “regime change”.

But others have reservations about the US intervention, according to several interviews with members of the Iranian diaspora in European cities, including Paris, Berlin and London.

Some said they feared that if the current authorities survive, they will take revenge on the Iranian public.

Mr Tooran Dana, an IT engineer who left Iran 37 years ago, voiced concern that bombing the Islamic Republic – causing destruction and possibly more deaths – would strengthen the country’s leadership.

“This war, apart from destruction, means poverty for the Iranian people,” he said at a rally in Paris against the war, the Iranian leadership and Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The Iranian people do not need the major powers. We ourselves will liberate our country,” he added.

Also in Paris, sociologist Bahar Azadi, 39, said she feared Iran could suffer the same chaos as Libya if the government of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was overthrown by foreign powers.

Libya has had little stability since a 2011 Nato-backed uprising ousted long-time autocrat Muammar Gaddafi and the country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions.

Fears that chaos could spread

Iranian officials did not immediately comment on the remarks made by members of the Iranian diaspora, but Tehran has threatened to retaliate for the US bombing. Iran’s military said on June 23 that it had launched a missile attack on the Al Udeid US airbase in Qatar.

The US and Israel say their actions are intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and that it is not seeking atomic arms.

Accountant Mina Zamani, 41, fears chaos in Iran could spread across the Middle East.

“History has shown us that every time the Americans... have decided to intervene somewhere it has only brought chaos, problems (and) instability,” she said, speaking in Paris.

Mr Hamid Nowzari, an Iranian who has lived in Berlin since 1980 and manages a counselling centre for Iranian and Afghan refugees, said that he opposes Iran’s leadership but does not agree with the war.

“My wish is that the regime will one day be abolished through the initiative of the people in Iran, through political demands,” he said.

“This is a wish that is very important to us, and it must not be forgotten in the shadow of war.”

In London, supporters of Mr Pahlavi welcomed US intervention and called for a transitional government.

“We have all the organisation,” said Dr Sara Sabet, a doctor in biochemistry. “We have the set-up for transition time. We’re ready for a change, and we just need the international support.”

Ms Said Behnaz, an Iranian who has lived in Western Europe for more than a decade, said she did not trust the US and Israel’s motivations but that many exiles welcomed the war if it brought about the regime change they have sought for decades.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” she said, declining to give her surname out of concern for family members in Iran.

“I’m not thinking Trump or Israel are after freedom, democracy. They’re after their own agenda, especially (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu... But if that war can help regime change in Iran, we support that.” REUTERS