Iranian-American communities across North America find themselves deeply divided as a temporary ceasefire continues between the United States, Israel, and Iran, with no clear resolution in sight.
At a Sunday demonstration in Toronto, Iranian expatriates expressed conflicting views about the path forward. Some participants voiced support for continued military action by President Trump, hoping it would lead to the overthrow of Tehran’s government. However, other Iranian-Americans, despite opposing the Islamic Republic, argued that warfare has only increased hardship for Iranian citizens without bringing democratic progress.
This disagreement reflects a persistent division within Iran’s diaspora community about whether external military force can effectively remove Iran’s religious leadership, or if such change must originate from within the country itself.
Government statistics indicate that between 5 and 10 million Iranians reside outside their homeland, with most concentrated in North America and Western Europe. Those who departed Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution generally oppose the current clerical government, though they disagree about foreign military involvement.
The current ceasefire has temporarily halted American and Israeli attacks that started February 28, but negotiators have not reached any permanent settlement. The fighting has resulted in thousands of Iranian casualties and driven up global oil costs, contributing to worldwide inflation concerns and economic uncertainty.
Toronto’s demonstration, which drew approximately 300 participants from one of North America’s largest Iranian populations, featured American and Israeli flags as protesters demanded an end to Tehran’s theocratic rule, which they hold responsible for decades of oppression.
Earlier this year, hundreds of thousands participated in anti-government demonstrations in the city. Many displayed the pre-revolution Lion and Sun banner, commonly used to show allegiance to opposition leader Reza Pahlavi, the exiled heir of Iran’s former monarchy.
“The Islamic regime is our main enemy. We want countries like the U.S. and Israel to help us bring this regime down,” stated Ali Daneshfar, who coordinates operations for Cyrus the Great, a Toronto-based Iranian organization. Daneshfar explained that repeated domestic protests had been brutally suppressed, leaving Iranians with limited alternatives.
Nasser Sharif, who leads the California Society for Democracy in Iran, offered a contrasting perspective, supporting the ceasefire and cautioning that bombing campaigns would only consolidate the government’s authority. Los Angeles hosts the world’s largest Iranian immigrant population.
“We believe that bombing the regime is not going to bring democratic change in Iran,” Sharif explained, noting his support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition alliance. “The regime is using the war to suppress more, execute more people and terrorize the population inside the country.”
Sharif suggested the ceasefire might provide opportunity for Iranians to reorganize following weeks of conflict, maintaining that lasting change must be driven by Iranians rather than imposed externally.
“That is the least costly option, without foreign troops and without prolonging the suffering,” he stated.
The death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the conflict’s opening day, and the subsequent rise of his injured son Mojtaba, have left the Islamic Republic intact but under different leadership dominated by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders.
Sharif observed that the IRGC continues to be integral to the governing system, with no significant structural changes despite the departure of certain officials.
According to Akaash Maharaj, a University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs fellow who researches diaspora politics and authoritarian governments, divisions among overseas Iranians run particularly deep.
“On the one hand, what they’re concerned about is the well-being of people in Iran, their friends and their relatives who are often collateral damage to politics and to conflict. On the other hand, they want to be seen and to be understood as being patriotic citizens of the new countries, which they now call home,” Maharaj observed.
Mohammad Solehi, a Toronto resident originally from Iran, reported that contacts inside Iran described feeling increasingly trapped by the ongoing situation.
According to Solehi, his Iranian contacts said everyday life had become progressively more unpredictable, with neither continued fighting nor peace providing any relief.
“People expect fighting to resume at any moment and have no idea what comes next.”
