Reaction from Edmonton’s Iranian community after Khamenei’s death

0:00The early stages of the U.S. Israel strikes on Iran have been thoroughly dissected through the geopolitical lens on these airwaves, and that will continue in the weeks and months, and maybe years ahead. We hope it's not years ahead. But for many of us, let's be honest, the images on our television are almost like scenes from another planet that have no immediate impact on our day today. But that's not the case for the roughly 3,000 Iranians who call Edmonton home. A couple hundred of them gathering to cheer on the possibility of a regime change this weekend, this after 47 years of Iranian Republic government. So let's talk to someone in the local community that has been impacted their family, their life, by this military action. Join once again, welcome back to the show, Amir Ghari, president of the Royal Iranian Canadian Civic Legion. Welcome back to the show. Appreciate your time. Hi, thanks for having me. Yeah, so obviously, you know, we'd previously talked

1:00I believe in January in the midst of the enormous protests happening there, the uprising, and we talked at the time about, you know, the potential for U.S. involvement then, and the role you thought that they would have to play. Well, here we are, almost two months later, we're seeing some real action overseas. How are you feeling about what you've seen in the past few days? It's actually what Iranians were waiting for, as much as they may sound strange to the outside of Europe, after the massacre that this regime did to Iranians, its own people, essentially, on January 8th and 9th, by tens of thousands that got slaughtered, just for peacefully protesting, and, you know, coming out on the call of our Crown Prince Reza Ali, the leader, and basically denying this regime to be gone. They don't want this regime anymore,

2:00and then what they got in return was basically just flat out like everybody got slaughtered. So, at that point, it was very obvious that there's no way the front of people could overcome this regime without trying to get that humanitarian military aid. And when the aid came, everybody were poppy in the Iranian community. We should say clearly and loudly that we're thankful for the decisive action of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel for basically bringing some sort of support for the Iranian people. What they're doing is basically they're dismantling the regime's nuclear and missile capabilities that is a threat, actually,

3:02to even Canada. And they're basically, they have, first of all, this regime has Canadian blood on their hand. We all remember this on 5-2 flight, and then they increase the range of their missiles to a point that eventually, right now they can target a euro, and it's going to come to the United States and Canada at some point if it wasn't stopped by this military action. Yeah, and obviously the cutting off the head of the Hydra of the regime, Ayatollah Ali Kamini, obviously, has been part of this since 1979. It's been the second Supreme Leader of the country since 1989, until this past weekend. We know that he was ruling with an iron grip. How significant is that in terms of the regime change? Because it does sound like there are still, you know, a lot of members that are fighting back, a lot of members of the regime that, you know, are still doing their best to remain entrenched in leadership.

4:05But how significant is that in terms of, you know, maybe toppling in this? Well, first of all, like, I mean, his, you know, him being killed is a big blow to the regime, regime at least mentally. And obviously, you saw, and many across Canada and in the diaspora, I saw that Uranians were celebrating his death, because this man had so many blood on his head, so you were all happy. But essentially from, from the regime change perspective, that's the demand of the Uranians. And no matter what happens, even if tomorrow, the United States and Israel or the Raleigh decides to, okay, that's enough, we have our targets. And I quote our friends in Saudi Iran, some of them whom I know over 30 years, they basically after that massacre said, there is no way we can live beside these two people

5:08anymore. This is the end of this regime. They're gone for us as Uranians. So no matter what happens, one way or the other, Uranians are going to make it happen. This regime cannot exist anymore. And that's for the good of Uranians and for the international community, for the region. And for basically Canada as well. Yeah, I'm curious, obviously, because you have talked to folks back home about the need for this and how basically, you know what, that something's got to give, and you know, even if it means, obviously, what we've seen so far, some lots of life, then that's an unfortunate pill that you have to swallow. But there is concern, obviously, we've heard from President Trump today, initially he said it was going to be four weeks, now he's saying it's five weeks, now he's like, well, there's long as it takes, and we might even send people on the ground, how concerned are you about the potential further escalation of war in the country, or does that even matter, given what this government has done to the

6:12Uranian people? Great question, actually. So I like to basically bring up an example, a real life example, to show you why it doesn't matter anymore. Again, another old friend, his daughter, just about to turn one year old, one week shy of being one year old, after just before January 8th and 9th, and the call of conference was a halibut. He left his wife and daughter at home, went to the truth, knowing that he could be dead, mostly he said, he basically got shot by pocket bullets, he survived. But that's how desperate you are, created the future for your children. These people are determined, and I mean, rightfully, they want to basically live in a free Iran, in a secular democratic Iran, and no matter what the outside force is going to do,

7:16we're just basically at this point, doomed to be successful as a nation. Yeah, we did hear from Mark Carney on the weekend, and he lent his support in a statement, does not seem like Canada is going to be directly involved in things as things stand now. He does Canada have a role in this? Is it basically just lending moral support where we can, or is there something more you'd like to see from the federal government? Yeah, so I think I'd like to separate our lovely Canadian friends from the government, first of all. Personally, I can say numerous messages, heartwarming messages that I now receive from our Canadian friends. So that's just, I don't have any words to be grateful for it, other than seeing that friends that we will remember those on the day that Iran is liberated. From the official

8:20sample, like from the government of Canada's standpoint, unfortunately, we haven't seen real actions. They're word statements, et cetera, but maybe when we see in the midst of, you know, Iran's worst massacre in modern history on January 8th and 9th, we see that premise of Karni went to Qatar and met some strategic partnership with Qatar. This is the full satellite, or this is the full satellite. That in action sends a different message. So, I mean, if they're willing to change, you know, the actions and support, that's great. It's always welcome. But again, all we've seen in practice is from our great citizens and friends in Canada

9:23in terms of moral support. Yeah, certainly it's early days. We hope that this will not be an extended situation, but certainly good to get a sense of what it means to the people instead of talking about the politics and the economics of this. I mean, I appreciate you helping chat into us about this. My pleasure. Thanks for having me and thanks for the opportunity again. And you go, Amir Gahari, President of the Royal Iranian Canadian Civic Legion here in Edmonton, the community, rallying on the weekend to, you know, cautiously celebrate intervention by Israel and U.S. and trying to topple the regime day.