The memories of all those murdered by the Iranian regime were at the forefront of Sahar Gholizadeh’s mind when she heard that the country’s supreme leader had been killed.
“I started shaking, and I started crying, remembering all of those beautiful lives that we lost, and all of those people that would be so happy to see this day,” she says on Sunday from Melbourne.
The Iranian Australian, who fled Iran’s theocratic regime almost 15 years ago, describes the news as a bittersweet but “big moment” for the country and its diaspora. “We’ve been waiting for this,” the 50-year-old says.
Those sentiments were echoed across Australia’s Iranian community following the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after Israel and the US launched strikes on the country.
In Sydney and Melbourne, planned anti-regime rallies on Sunday became celebrations of the leader’s death, with thousands attending.
In Canberra, a few hundred people celebrated outside the now-closed Iranian embassy to cheer the death of the Ayatollah and praise Israeli and US leaders.
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Champagne was sprayed over the dancing crowd, as people prayed for a liberated Iran and the safety of their families there.
In Melbourne, members of Australia’s Iranian diaspora gathered in Federation Square and on the steps of parliament to celebrate after years of violence, most recently culminating in the regime’s brutal crackdown on protests, with up to 30,000 people estimated to have been killed.
Suren Edgar, the vice president of the Australia Iranian Community Alliance (AICA), says hearing of Khamenei’s death was the “best morning of my life”.
“He destroyed our country, our culture, killed our people and pushed the ideology of terror to other countries,” he says.
Edgar, who migrated to Australia in 2014, says the community is hopeful after Israel and the US launched another attack on Iran after last year’s 12-day war.
“It’s not easy to watch your country under that attack,” he says.
“Missiles don’t understand who the enemy is and who are … ordinary people. So that’s why we are worried about our people. But on the other hand, we see them, they are happy, extremely happy.”
The US-based organisation Human Rights Activists News Agency on Sunday reported at least 133 civilians had been killed, with 200 injured, in the first hours of the Israeli-US attack.
Edgar says internet disruptions mean people in Australia are awaiting news from loved ones in Iran.
“I’m still waiting to hear from some … the psychological impact of silence can be as distressing as the crisis itself,” he says. “Being unable to connect with loved ones online creates a unique kind of stress and helplessness.”
Edgar says the diaspora community is celebrating Khamenei’s death, but remains unsure if there will be desired regime change.
“As long as the Islamic Republic is in power, it’s not done,” he says on Sunday.
Kambiz Razmara, the vice-president of the Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria, says there’s “quiet anticipation” in the Iranian Australian community.
“Years of oppression are coming to a head, and so people see what’s likely to come about, or what could possibly happen after, and they’re choosing to celebrate that,” he says.
Some in Australia fear retaliatory attacks by the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran.
Razmara says there is support for Reza Pahlavi – the exiled son of Iran’s former pro-western monarch.
But he says some community members would only accept him as a transitional leader. Others hope Pahlavi will eventually head a constitutional monarchy.
“During ‘woman, life, freedom’ [protests], there was no identifiable leadership. Now there is, and there seems to be a much greater motivation for … change to come,” Razmara says.
“People have, in Reza Pahlavi, someone who can propose and offer some kind of transitional arrangement to democratic rule.”
Iranian Australian Mohammad Hashemi accepts there’s uncertainty about what will happen in the coming weeks – but for now he is celebrating the death of the supreme leader.
“We just feel happy,” the Sydney-based activist says. “This is one of the best [pieces of] news we’ve ever been waiting for.”
Hashemi’s cousin, Majid Kazemi, was executed in May 2023 after participating in a “woman, life, freedom” protest in which three members of the security forces died.
It was one of many demonstrations in response to the death in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini in police custody after being detained for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.
Hashemi says an Iranian solider present at his cousin’s execution told his family that Kazemi’s last words before his execution were “death to Khamenei”.
“I know he would be dancing and celebrating this news. This is why he fought until his last minute.”
- Additional reporting Australian Associated Press
