Commuters drive along a bridge near a building bearing a landmark anti-US mural in Tehran, on 22 June 2025. Photo: AFP
An Iranian New Zealander says any civilian deaths as a result of the conflict between Israel and Iran is "too much", but maintains that Iran's military regime remains the biggest enemy of its people.
President Donald Trump announced that the United States had completed a "very successful attack" on nuclear sites in Iran - including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan - on Sunday.
The Human Rights Activists news agency said at least 657 people have been killed in Iran.
Iran's retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people in Israel.
Dr Forough Amin - a women's right advocate who moved to New Zealand in 2015 and still has family in Iran - said she was worried that with Iran's regime "at its weakest point", the US might sign a deal with them and keep them in power.
She said it was heartbreaking to see protesters killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022.
Amin said while it was humiliating and difficult to see her country attacked, the bigger threat was Iran's own ruling power.
"The fact is we have been in a situation for 46 years, that we can't see any enemy more hostile to us than this regime," she said.
On Sunday, Reuters reported that Iran executed a man accused of spying for Israel.
Amin said she feared that Iran will use this "opportunity" to further prosecute activists.
"Now they have a very good excuse, they call it collaboration with enemy - to execute people, so the situation is going to be really horrifying , if this regime stay in power," she said.
"Because they cannot deal with the enemy that they have - the foreign enemy - so they go after people, in order to make them scared, and to suppress them as much as they can," she added.
She said she felt Iranians want to see the regime gone, but added: "We'd like to do it ourselves, we are absolutely against any foreign interference - in the form of them deciding who is going to come after this regime, or if they decide to keep this regime in power."
Amin said she was worried for her family who had escaped Tehran to a nearby town, and also for the Iranian people.
"Even one life is [too] much, even one human being being killed is a lot," she said.
She said any increases in the number of civilian casualties will be difficult for Iranians to face.
Amin said she was "cautiously hopeful" that Israel will not "cross the line" in its attacks, and avoid attacking Iran's infrastructure and natural resources.
Iranian woman living in New Zealand Elham Salari told Morning Report news of the bombings sent a wave of shock and fear through her community.
"It's been extremely difficult to even call directly to their phone numbers, so I barely hear from my family if they are safe - however most of my family left Iran after there was an announcement to evacuate."
Salari said she had not heard from her father and brother who were still in Iran.
"The fear is that this war is going to escalate.
"We will see more lives lost and we were hoping through negotiations we would see the end of this war very soon, but after what America did yesterday it has all gone.
"We are feeling extremely stressed and scared for what is going to happen next," she said.
She said her local Iranian community group were helping each other "through the feeling of pain".
"All Iranians around the world, regardless of their perspective on this war, they are all feeling the same.
"Their minds are there and their bodies are here. They are feeling safe here but their minds are not feeling safe," she said.
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