Iranian Australians who initially welcomed the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei now face grave concerns for relatives as the conflict escalates and an internet blackout hampers communication.
Ehsan Hakimi, a Sydney-based IT worker originally from Tehran, has been unable to contact his father and brothers since the first airstrikes. He managed a brief call with his mother, who lives in the capital, shortly after the bombing began. “The scale of war is getting bigger and bigger,” he said, noting that strikes have hit residential areas near his former home.
Perth resident Reza Abriz has not heard from one of his five sisters in Tehran since the conflict started. “I’m really worried about what’s going to happen,” he said, expressing fears of civil war between regime supporters and opponents.
Despite the anxiety, some Iranian Australians report a sense of hope. Melbourne’s Saeid Zand said his mother in Shiraz was “over the moon” when she told him of Khamenei’s death. “They have been waiting for this to happen for decades,” he said.
Hakimi voiced a cautious optimism: “If with all these costs and people dying and the entire country being bombed, and it doesn’t cause them to go, that would be a disaster.” He added that many in the diaspora hope for freedom after years of repression.
