Iranian Canadian journalist reflects on war: ‘Monsters’ in our homeland

Canadians with ties to Iran feel both relief and worry as a ceasefire holds, fearing for loved ones amid the ongoing uncertainty. Adrian Ghobrial reports.

MARKHAM, Ont. -- With a fragile ceasefire hanging in the balance, Canadians with families in Iran are balancing feelings of anxiety and relief.

“I have been able to speak with friends on the ground (in Iran), and their immediate response was also relief. But they’re also thinking, ‘what now?’ They just don’t know what comes next,” says Iranian Canadian Samira Mohyeddin.

Mohyeddin, an outspoken Iranian journalist living in Canada, has written about the human rights horrors in Iran and the calls for regime change for years.

Speaking to CTV News, she shares the relief of her friends who live in Tehran. Many had feared the worst was coming following threats that the United States military would begin targeting civilian infrastructure.

• Iran war updates: Ceasefire staggers amid disagreements

Though, this break in the fighting brings other concerns to the surface.

“What is the response from the (Iranian) government at this point for those who are trying to effect change on the ground?” asks Mohyeddin, who adds that activists in Iran are still disappearing.

On April 1, prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested and taken from her home in Tehran. Her whereabouts remain unknown. Mohyeddin says that’s just one example of the danger many Iranians are navigating, even though U.S. President Donald Trump claims that Iran “has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change!”

She fears even more could vanish amid concerns the Iranian regime will clamp down even harder on dissidents.

“I have been in touch with civil rights activists and human rights activists on the ground in Iran and they are worried,” adds Mohyeddin.

These fears come as the two-week truce between the U.S. and Iran is already being put to the test. Israel continues to strike Lebanon. America and Israel have insisted Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire, though mediator Pakistan says it was.

There has been little sign that the Strait of Hormuz trade route had been meaningfully reopened at any point this week, despite American claims of increases in traffic. Iran suggested that it has placed sea mines in the waterway as shipments of oil destined for international markets remain blocked with limited safe passage offered.

‘In the hands’ of the people

For months, thousands of Iranians in Canada have taken to the streets calling for regime change in Iran, with many celebrating the foreign intervention in Iran by both the United States and Israel.

Though some Iranians who’ve supported the U.S.-led war effort now find themselves conflicted following reported bombing of civilian infrastructure, including a school.

“Regime change through a war is a fantasy. The only way the government of Iran will come down is at the hands of the Iranian people,” shares Mohyeddin.

Following Trump’s threat that a “civilization will die” if he didn’t get his way in Iran, Mohyeddin wrote, “This was never about the Iranian government. It is about a people and civilization. It’s about decimating the domestic capabilities of the 17th largest country in the world with the second largest oil reserves.

“Woe unto the people who welcomed these monsters onto our homeland.”

Asked if she thinks Iran is any closure to a regime change today than it was before the war began, she shakes her head no.

“It’s been a bitter pill to swallow for people in our (Iranian) diaspora who haven’t come to that realization or are only just coming to that realization after 38 days of watching their country be destroyed,” says Mohyeddin.

When thinking about her family who live in the Iranian city of Isfahan, she shares her fear that they, along with all innocent civilians in Iran, will be abandoned and forgotten as this conflict drags on.