British Iranians take to streets of Manchester hours after US-Israeli strikes

After Iran was hit by US-Israeli strikes, about 1,000 British Iranians held a rally in Manchester, supporting the military action against their homeland.

"It's not easy to talk about or even think about but the fact is that we've been under so much repression and pressure that we just want to break free," says Farid Vahidi, an Iranian human rights activist living in Manchester.

More than 200 people - including the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - have been killed in Iran, which has launched retaliatory attacks on neighbouring countries hosting American military bases.

Vahidi, who works with refugees in the UK, says "we don't want our country to be attacked", but at the same time he believes many have been "calling for a long time" for foreign intervention.

The current regime, which came to power after overthrowing the country's unpopular monarchy in 1979, has a poor reputation for human rights.

Since December, it is estimated to have killed between 6,000 and 30,000 protesters - exact figures are hard to verify as independent media are not allowed to operate freely in the country.

One woman, who wishes to remain anonymous as she fears repercussion for her parents in Iran, says she was able to make brief contact with them after the attacks started on Saturday, but has been unable to get through since the government implemented an internet outage.

"The last time they shut down the internet [in January], I couldn't talk to my parents for two weeks and I don't know what's going to happen this time," she says.

Her friend, who also wants to be anonymous, says she has "bittersweet feelings".

She adds: "In an ideal world, no citizen would like their country to be bombed, but [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] got us to the point that we actually supported Trump to attack our country.

"A lot of people tell us do you want to become like another Syria, another Iraq?

"But I feel like Iran has a different foundation.

"As a people, we are really standing by one other and we really support each other."

The current regime has gained notoriety for its hard line interpretation of Islamic sharia law, and the woman says she was arrested at the age of 16 by morality police for not wearing a hijab headscarf properly.

The 26-year-old adds: "A lot of Iranians now are distancing themselves from Islam and they don't want to be identified as Muslim, because they've been traumatised by that."

Having moved to the UK at the age of 18 to study, she says: "We're the privileged ones that could get out of Iran."

Soaring inflation has made life harder for many, she adds, which means the latest anti-government protests have "so many different layers".

"It is because of the economy, oppression, a lack of human rights, a lack of women's rights."

Dainel, who was also at the Manchester rally, reckons many compatriots at home and abroad support the attacks for the time being, adding those at the rally "want to be the voice of Iranians".

"We don't want this regime because it is doing everything very badly," he says.

Among the flags waved at the rally, there were some representing the US and Israel.

When asked if he had trust in US and Israeli leaders, he said: "We trust them more than the mullahs (religious clerics) in power in Iran because what they say, they do.

"And we see what the mullahs say, they never do."

Vahidi is more cautious, saying: "I don't want to fantasise and think they have our interest in mind - obviously any politician thinks about their own and their country's interests first and foremost.

"But at this moment in time, personally as an Iranian and any other person who I have spoken to, there is no other way in front of us."

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