SYDNEY—Australia’s Iranian community have taken to the streets in the country’s capital cities to celebrate the end of leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 36-year reign.
An overarching message from rallygoers was one of hope for lasting peace once the current war is over.
A joint U.S.-Israeli mission on Feb. 28 resulted in Khamenei’s death at his Tehran residence, with another 40 Iranian government officials also killed.
The military operation comes off the back of weeks of violent government response towards some of the largest pro-freedom protesters in the Iran Republic’s recent history.
In Sydney, Nazgol Yazdi couldn’t help but smile at the prospect of permanent change.
Born in Iran’s capital, Tehran, Yazdi said she was glad her country could be rid of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“I’m very glad that my country finally get rid of the regime that’s killing its own people,” the former teacher told The Epoch Times.
“In two days, these murderers killed about 50,000 innocent people, from two-month-old babies to seven-year-old women, and men.
“This regime, 50 years they’ve [been] ruling our country. They’re suppressing our country.”
Yazdi describes life under the IRGC and strict Sharia Law as stifling, with the population denied freedom and women denied rights, and hopes it can transition towards becoming a democracy with the heir to the Iranian Dynasty, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.
Yazdi dreams of returning to work in dog and cat rescue, as well as aiding the poor and teaching children.
Her message to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is one of thanks.
Like many Iranians, Yazdi sees a favour repaid in Israel’s involvement – for in antiquity, the Persian King Cyrus assisted in ending the exile of Jews to Babylonia, paving their way to return to Israel.
Poverty, Hardship Under the IRGC
Vahid moved to Australia in 2018 as the situation in Iran got “worse every day.”
“People couldn’t afford life” under the IRGC, he told The Epoch Times. “Like, everything was getting expensive … so they decided to immigrate to the other countries to have a better life.”
Global sanctions, he says, flooded in after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the government’s focusing of resources on nuclear weapons development.
“Like, after the revolution, the Islamic regime became an enemy of the U.S. and Israel and so many Western countries,” Vahid said.
“So they started to develop the nuclear bombs and weapons, and it caused different countries, mainly the United States [to place] so many sanctions against Iran, and it made Iranian people’s life harder every day.”
Vahid dreams of a future where freedom is everywhere in Iran.
“I think if we can have a regime change in Iran after Ali Khamenei, we can develop the country from the beginning,” he said.
“We can start from the zero, because they ruined everything in 47 years.
Yet the attack has been met with criticism largely from the political left.
California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom called the war “illegal” and “dangerous.”
“President Trump is putting Americans at risk abroad because he is unpopular at home,” he wrote on X.
While in Australia, Greens leader Larissa Waters said the “illegal attacks” had unleashed chaos on the Middle East.
“This war will not bring safety to the brave Iranian people who are fighting for liberation from the brutal regime,” she said in a statement.
“Australians do not want to be dragged into another U.S.-Israeli war.”
Yet the Labor government, Liberal-National Coalition, and One Nation all backed the move.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was one of the first world leaders to outline his stance, saying bluntly that Khamenei would “not be mourned.”
“We support the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security,” he told reporters.
In turn, Vahid, said the current regime had killed more than “50,000 people in two nights.”
“Iranian people needed the other countries to help them and support them, and I think it that’s why the U.S. and Israel started to support Iran.
Speaking to media on March 2, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said Iranian people had been paying with their lives in their search for basic freedoms.
“The Iranian community that’s based in Sydney, we acknowledge your call for human rights,” he said in a video posted to his social media.
“We acknowledge your calls for a semblance of decency within that regime and a better life for the Iranians that live there.
The U.S. Israel military offensive, Operation Epic Fury, struck hundreds of Iranian military, nuclear and leadership targets after months of rising tensions and failed diplomacy over Tehran’s missile and nuclear programs, in addition to claims tens of thousands of Iranian protesters had been killed by the regime.
After the strikes killed the Ayatollah and government officials, the IRGC returned fire hitting civilian buildings across the Middle East.
Numerous flights have been delayed or cancelled, including routes to Europe.
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