‘A chaotic but hopeful moment’: Iranians in Malta on conflict with Israel

The conflict between Iran and Israel is a "chaotic but hopeful moment", and could be an opportunity to topple the Islamic Republic’s regime, according to Iranians living in Malta.

Times of Malta spoke to two Iranian nationals before a ceasefire announced on Tuesday brought an end to 12 consecutive days of back-and-forth missile and drone barrages between the two countries. 

The recent conflict started earlier this month, when Israel launched surprise attacks on key military and nuclear facilities in Iran. On Sunday, the United States followed suit with airstrikes of its own on three Iranian nuclear facilities.  

Sanaz Manouchehrian, who has been living in Malta for the past 15 years, said she was shocked and frightened, but also hopeful.  

“What we are seeing now is scary, but we Iranians have had an enemy within for the past 46 years,” Manouchehrian said, referring to the regime that came to power following a revolution in 1979. 

“Israel is not our enemy. If you are not a member of the regime, you are in relatively little danger. Israel is being very precise,” she said of the strikes that killed several of Iran’s most prominent military leaders, nuclear scientists and politicians. 

Iranian health ministry figures put the number of dead at 974. It said 387 of those killed were civilians and 319 were unidentified. 

Manouchehrian, originally from Iran's second most populous city Mashhad, said her mother and sister had fled to the Turkish border, while her father’s side of the family had chosen to remain in the capital, Tehran. 

Manouchehrian said the thing she feared the most was that things would go back to normal. 

“This is the time for action. It’s a chaotic but hopeful moment. We’ve seen that the regime was bluffing and is not as strong as we thought it was. We feared a shadow.” 

Soroush Hosseini, who fled Iran for Malta in 2020, said he felt sad that his country was being attacked by a foreign military, but happy that the regime was being targeted. 

“It’s a bipolar feeling; we hope this will help us gain our freedom,” said Hosseini, a Kurd and an atheist – two groups that have regularly been in the crosshairs of the regime.  

His family is safe but concerned about reprisals, he said.

According to Iran’s Fars news agency, hundreds of people have been arrested on suspicion of being part of Israel’s “spy network” in the country. 

“If we cannot bring about change, there will be a wave of hangings,” he said.  

Hosseini is against Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon: “The regime has committed so many crimes without a nuclear weapon. If it gets one, we’ll be like North Korea."

While Israel and the United States have repeatedly threatened to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hosseini said he would prefer if he was not killed. 

“He should be put on trial and face justice,” he said.