As protests against the ayatollah regime intensify across Iran, hope is growing among Iranian exiles for its overthrow and replacement with a democratic government. Before internet access was blocked over the weekend, their friends and relatives managed to share their fear of the regime's brutality and their hope for historic change.
"We couldn't contact our friends and family for two days," Dr. Goldie Ghamari, an Iranian exile and human rights activist, told Israel Hayom. She previously worked as a politician in Canada and now, with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, works to raise awareness in the West about the brutal oppression carried out by the ayatollah regime. At age one, she left Iran with her parents but has visited multiple times since. She describes a beautiful country and warm people suffering under the oppression of a terrorist and dictatorial regime.
"The regime has blocked the internet, but we're still receiving news and information from Iran because hundreds of Starlink devices were smuggled into the country. This was confirmed by Iranian opposition leader Reza Pahlavi. This is currently the only way for Iranians to communicate with the world, and few have access to Starlink, but they're still sharing messages."
Before the internet was cut off, she says Iranians in the country "expressed great hope that the regime would fall, but of course everyone is a bit scared, because this is a particularly evil regime. Every time Iranians rose to protest, the regime brought its terror groups to murder Iranians, similar to Hamas and Hezbollah. We've also seen signs of this massacre, where these terrorists murder Iranians. There were more than a thousand Iranians murdered by the regime."
According to her, "The situation has definitely escalated, the protests we're seeing now are something we haven't seen in 47 years, since the Islamic regime hijacked Iran. These are the largest protests on a national scale, with more than 120 cities and towns. Last night, there were tens of millions of Iranians across the country. In the footage we saw, Iranians are also burning mosques. The mosques in Iran are very similar to mosques in Gaza. The mosques serve terrorists as hiding places. Many of the regime's Basij forces go to mosques to receive military equipment. So Iranians are burning these mosques because they provide support to terrorists. This is very similar to how Hamas uses mosques in Gaza for terror."
Q: Is there any organized opposition, or are these still just citizens protesting?
"These are just citizens, but we hope that military and police personnel will defect to the protesters' side. We've seen some videos of police and military officers who crossed over to the people's side. But right now, it's mainly just citizens, the Iranian people."
Q: We've seen in several videos that people are chanting "Pahlavi is returning." How much support does the son of the Shah have, and does he really have the ability to form an alternative to the regime?
"Reza Pahlavi has support from 80 to 85% of Iranians. They're calling his name across the country. He also has a plan for Iran's transition from dictatorship to democracy that's available online. This is why Iranians are calling his name – because he's the only person they trust to lead the transition from dictatorship to democracy."
Q: Is there concern that the regime will fall and simply be replaced by another dictatorship of the military?
"There's always concern when a regime changes because there's always a certain level of uncertainty, but I don't think there's too much concern here. Pahlavi issued a message in which he told Iranians, 'continue to rise up, continue to mobilize.' He said, 'I'm preparing to return to Iran.' I know he's working with the military behind the scenes. Many people in the military have defected, so I think part of the military is already on Pahlavi's side."
Q: US President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iran if the assault on protesters continues. How much can this really affect the course of the demonstrations and the regime's stability?
"Since President Trump said this, the regime continues to murder Iranians, I can only hope that he will attack the regime. Many Iranians in Iran are now asking Trump to attack because it will weaken the regime. Right now, Iranians are being murdered by the regime because they're not armed. So this would be a big help."
Goldie adds that "one of the reasons this whole revolution is happening right now is actually because of Israel. Because Israel succeeded in weakening the regime, it gave the Iranian people an opportunity to fight back against this regime. Many people in Iran are grateful to Israel and the IDF in this situation. The IDF weakened their enemies, and now the Iranian people are able to fight back, and hopefully overthrow their enemies."
The Iranian exile is also certain that if the regime falls, Iran will renew its relations with Israel: "One hundred percent this will happen. In the current Shah's transition plan, he already specified that one of his main priorities after overthrowing the regime is that in the first week, we're going to normalize our relations with Israel."
About the feeling among Iranian exiles these days, she says there is some fear, but they have never been more hopeful. "We really think this is the end. We need to work as hard as possible now, those of us who are outside Iran, to raise awareness. We must be a voice for Iranians and make sure the world knows what they're fighting for."
Q: How do you think Western countries like Canada should act in light of the protests?
"They absolutely should support the Iranian people, but aside from Israel and the US, the other Western countries aren't saying much. I think one of the reasons is that politicians are afraid of immigrants and don't want to offend them. They brought in all kinds of jihadists and terrorists. Because what's happening in Iran is that the people are rejecting Islam and Sharia law. This makes many people feel uncomfortable. They don't want to talk about it."
