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Washington Post
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
A fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Iran war tests the harmony of Los Angeles' huge Iranian community
LOS ANGELES — 'Tehrangeles' in West Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran. This cultural enclave, also known as Little Persia, is where Iranian Muslims, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Bahai have peacefully coexisted for decades. But the recent war between Israel and Iran — a bloody, 12-day conflict paused by a fragile ceasefire — has brought up religious tensions and political debates that rarely surface in this culturally harmonious environment. To complicate matters, the U.S. — an ally of Israel — bombed Iran during the war.
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE In the Iranian capital of the US, ex-pats watch as their homeland is bombarded by airstrikes... and they have a message for President Trump
They fled from the oppression of a cruel regime in their homeland in search of the American Dream. In the decades since the 1970s, Iranian immigrants have settled in Los Angeles for a fresh life, creating the largest diaspora of their countrymen in the world.
CTV News
28-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
‘So terrifying': Iranian student on fleeing back to safety in Canada amid conflict
A damaged car is seen on Thursday, June 26, 2025, after an Israeli airstrike on early Tuesday, in Tehran, Iran. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Vahid Salemi Arash Ghaderi can't forget the moment his wife tearfully woke him up to tell him a war had just started. Ghaderi, a 35-year-old PhD student at the University of Alberta, and his wife travelled last month to Iran to visit their family members. The couple was still there when the conflict between Israel and Iran broke out on June 13. '(On) the very first day of the war, we heard some bombings and we heard the jets flying low to the ground. It was so terrifying,' he said in an interview. 'My wife's family members, her nieces and nephews, were there and they were crying ...The noise was so horrifying,' he said of their experience in Zanjan, a city located about 300 kilometres northwest of Tehran. 'I just tried my best to control myself and try to calm my wife down, but in my heart I was so shocked and I was feeling so bad. I wanted to vomit actually.' Ghaderi is one of many Iranians living in Canada who have been affected by the war that broke out when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and senior military leaders, and Iran responded with its own strikes. A ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, after the United States launched strikes on key nuclear facilities in Iran. Earlier this week, Tehran said 606 people in Iran had been killed in the conflict, with 5,332 people wounded. At least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 were wounded, according to officials in that country. Ottawa has urged Canadians in Iran to leave if they can do so safely, noting that its ability to provide consular services in the country is 'extremely limited.' Ghaderi said he and his wife decided to leave Iran through a land border crossing after all flights were cancelled at the start of the conflict. They travelled seven hours in a van before crossing into Turkey. All domestic flights in Turkey were fully booked for days, so they had to take several buses between Turkish cities for about 28 hours to reach Istanbul. 'I couldn't feel my legs anymore,' he said of the long journey. Ghaderi and his wife eventually flew to Edmonton from Istanbul via Paris and Toronto, landing on June 23. 'I was happy on the way, on one hand, that at least my wife and I are safe now,' he said. 'On the other hand, I was feeling so bad because my little brother is still in Iran, and my parents are there.' Sara Shani, the president of the Iranian Students Association at the University of Alberta, said she is aware of about 15 students at the school who got stuck in Iran while visiting their home country. 'They are stuck back home and ... since the ceasefire, the flights have technically resumed, but they're still very limited,' she said. Shani said some of the roughly 500 Iranian students at the university are already facing financial difficulties as their families back home are unable to support them – either because they've lost income and assets during the conflict or because they're unable to transfer money to Canada. 'When the internet shutdown was sort of in place in Iran ... it made it extremely difficult for the families to send money, and on top of that, many businesses were closed during the war,' she said. 'And some were even destroyed by Israeli economy in Iran is now weaker than before.' Shani said she had difficulty contacting her own family in Iran during the war. 'Many of us didn't know whether our families were safe,' she said. Iran is a notable source of international students in Canada, with government data showing that more than 8,000 study permits were approved for students from that country in 2023. 'Most Iranian students in Canada have only recently left home to study here, so our ties to Iran are still very strong,' said Shani, who came to Canada in 2023 to pursue a master's degree in computer science. 'Our families are back there and I think emotionally we are still in Iran.' The community also has mixed emotions about the strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership, which 'continues to be a source of oppression for Iranians both within and outside Iran,' said Ali Nejati, president of the Iranian Student Association at Humber College in Toronto. 'Many of us feel a sense of relief at the weakening of such a violent arm of the regime. We had hoped to see justice served in a courtroom, to expose the full extent of their crimes and hold them accountable through international legal channels,' he wrote in a statement. 'We also recognize that war is never a desirable path. Many of our members feel anxious about the consequences of further escalation.' With files from The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2025. Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
CBC
24-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Iranian-Canadians in Saskatchewan react to ceasefire talks and escalating conflict
Social Sharing As tensions between Iran and Israel continue to escalate, Iranian-Canadians in Saskatchewan are watching the ever-changing situation with a mixture of fear, sorrow and, for some, cautious hope. A tentative truce brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed early Tuesday, just hours after both Iran and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire to end nearly two weeks of conflict. Pooyan Arab, executive director of the Saskatoon Iranian Cultural Association, said the ongoing developments have stirred intense and complicated feelings. "These are times of very conflicting emotions," Arab said. "There was some relief in seeing how targeted some of [the Israeli strikes] are. But there's also a lot of pain knowing that, however targeted an attack is, there's bound to be casualties from the civilian population." Arab said staying in touch with family members back home has been inconsistent, due to Iran's strict censorship and filtering of communication tools. "These days it's very difficult to get in touch with people in Iran. The government has basically done a very strict filtering of the internet, and the phone system isn't working properly either," he said. "There's a lot of stress involved with this lack of contact." He said many in the Iranian community in Saskatoon are worried not only about family members' safety, but what could happen if the fighting stops. "From our previous experience with the Iranian government, we know when something like this happens, their next step after the conflict stops is to basically start a severe crackdown on the population," he said. WATCH | Trump swears in front of cameras while voicing anger at Israel, Iran: Trump swears in front of cameras while voicing anger at Israel, Iran 6 hours ago Duration 6:50 'It's more terrifying if the war ends without regime change' In Regina, Shima Aghaaminiha is watching developments with a different kind of intensity. Born and raised in Tehran, she said she immigrated to Canada just over four years ago under compulsory exile by the Islamic regime. Aghaaminiha said the current conflict may be an opportunity to remove the regime she fled. "I feel hopeful that it would be the end of Islamic regime," she said. "I hope all the foreign countries also support regime change in Iran." She said the biggest threat would be a return to the status quo without addressing the regime itself. "It's more terrifying if the war ends without regime change — it is even worse," she said. "Because the Iranian nation sacrificed their life. A lot." Aghaaminiha said Iranians have long opposed the regime's actions. "It's an ideological war that Islamic regime is waging against a country," she said. "It's not the will of any Iranian people to be involved in a war with any of our neighbours." She said she hopes the exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is able to guide the country toward democracy. "Most of the Iranian nation, we trust him," she said. Ceasefire wasn't negotiated in any traditional sense, expert says Colleen Bell, an international relations expert at the University of Saskatchewan, said the truce was never a concrete thing. "Trump announced the truce between the parties without actually pursuing a negotiated truce," Bell said Tuesday on Saskatoon Morning. "He sort of made the announcement and then sort of called the parties to tell them what he had decided." Bell said this falls far short of the standards for a meaningful diplomatic agreement. "I think it's fair to say that the truce itself is not really a classic truce, in the sense that it's not really a negotiated agreement between the parties in any kind of traditional sense." She said Israel's initial airstrikes — which targeted nuclear and military sites, and killed Iranian officials — came just days before scheduled U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. "Many people would argue that Israel wanted to sort of upset the apple cart because it really would like to see regime collapse in Iran," Bell said. Trump's motivations may be more personal than strategic, Bell said. "We all know that Donald Trump is very interested in trying to get himself the Nobel Peace Prize," she said. Getting back to negotiating table Bell warned that the collapse of diplomacy could push Iran to abandon international treaties and pursue nuclear weapons in secret. "It's arguable that Iran is now incentivized to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," she said. "And arguably as well, Iran is incentivized now to secretly develop nuclear weapons, because states who are outside of the Western fold but have developed nuclear weapons secretly have survived. Think Pakistan, North Korea, Israel." She said that even if Iran's facilities were damaged in U.S. and Israeli strikes, "it's not possible to destroy Iran's knowledge of the nuclear technology." Ultimately, Bell said, what's missing is a country that will act as a neutral arbitrator.
CTV News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Iranian diaspora concerned ceasefire could allow ongoing oppression
Iranian diaspora concerned ceasefire could allow ongoing oppression The Iranian diaspora in Canada have mixed feelings regarding the claimed ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel, says a B.C. social-political activist.
