Abroad and at odds: How the war has divided Iranians in the diaspora

Peyvand Khorsandi was only four years old when he and his family left Iran for the United Kingdom in 1976, three years before the Islamic revolution.

Key points

• His father, Hadi, a well-known Iranian satirist and poet, was the target of a failed assassination attempt, allegedly orchestrated by the Iranian administration in 1984.
• Netanyahu remains the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity over Israel's war on Gaza.
• Supporters of the strikes have mostly rallied around Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's deposed shah, or king.
• Some diaspora Iranians created the mistake of thinking that the West sees them as equals. Humanitarian case for attacks begins to unravel.
• The latest US intervention in Iran has reminded plenty of Iranians of Mohammad Mossadegh's legacy, the country's democratically elected prime minister.

His father, Hadi, a well-known Iranian satirist and poet, was the target of a failed assassination attempt, allegedly orchestrated by the Iranian administration in 1984. The attack was foiled by London's Metropolitan Police after a tip-off from a senior Iranian official. This person shortly went into self-imposed exile.

Despite that history, Khorsandi still opposes the US-Israel war on Iran and notes it has granted the administration a new lease of life while delivering a serious setback to pro-democracy Iranians. "It's disappointing and depressing, " he informed Al Jazeera.

Khorsandi is one of plenty of Iranians in the diaspora caught in the paradox of opposing both the administration and the war on Iran.

Notably, the conflict, which began six months ago on February 28 when the United States and Israel introduced joint strikes on Iran, has upended the global economy, caused energy costs to spiral and killed thousands of civilians, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.

In practice, the region is stuck at a crossroads of continued uncertainty, and the war has left the Iranian diaspora divided, with plenty of in Western countries supporting the attacks on their ancestral homeland, and others opposing the war.

Supporters of the strikes have mostly rallied around Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's deposed shah, or king. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was toppled in 1979 after decades of rule. Others, like Khorsandi, reject Pahlavi's politics.

"What Pahlavi supporters represent is dangerous. I think he is a willing servant of the Israeli administration, " Khorsandi informed Al Jazeera.

"Like Iraq, this is a racist war. The lives of Global South individuals are expendable. We are as expendable to them as Palestinians. It's a war fought for colonial sensibilities. Some diaspora Iranians created the mistake of thinking that the West sees them as equals." Humanitarian case for attacks begins to unravel.

In practice, the US-Israel war on Iran is widely seen as a one-off choice. US intelligence had already concluded that Tehran was not trying to weaponise its nuclear programme before the conflict was introduced.

Nevertheless, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to justify the conflict at the outset on human rights grounds, suggesting that they sought to support common Iranians. Nevertheless, that argument began to unravel just a few hours into the war when an elementary school for girls in the southern city of Minab was bombed.

At least 170 individuals were killed in Minab, most of them children. Evidence examined by news outlets and rights groups overwhelmingly suggests that the school was hit by a US air strike. Pahlavi failed to condemn the attack and remarked Tehran was to blame, accusing the administration of using the victims as "human shields". "It has created a lot of discord, " Khorsandi remarked.

Netanyahu remains the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity over Israel's war on Gaza. It an independent United Nations inquiry has concluded amounts to genocide.

Meanwhile, Iran's human rights record remains abysmal. Amnesty International has accused Tehran of exploiting the war to carry out "systematic repression".

In practice, the rights group notes thousands of residents have been arbitrarily detained, including activists, protesters, journalists and lawyers, among others. It alleges that forced confessions have been applied in "unfair sham trials".

In practice, the latest US intervention in Iran has reminded plenty of Iranians of Mohammad Mossadegh's legacy, the country's democratically elected prime minister. This person was overthrown in a coup masterminded by the CIA and MI6 in 1953. The US and British intelligence agencies conspired to remove Mossadegh after he nationalised Iran's vast oil reserves. It were controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Firm, now named BP (British Petroleum).

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright acknowledged in 2000 that the US had played a "significant role" in the coup, describing it as "a setback for Iran's political development".

According to the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies in the Netherlands, Mossadegh's ousting supported shape "the environment in which the Iranian revolution of 1979 was able to take hold". Iran has been heavily sanctioned since then, going from a key US ally to an archenemy.

Meanwhile, the impact on the economy has been catastrophic, with common Iranians bearing much of the cost. While the government's repression has further fuelled discontent and a desire for change, the international isolation has left plenty of in and outside the country disillusioned.

"There were those inside Iran who believed Trump would really bring support. There were similar aspirations and hopes on the part of those in the diaspora who backed the war. And I think in plenty of cases, they've been disappointed, " Roxane Farmanfarmaian. This person teaches international relations of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Cambridge University, informed Al Jazeera.

"I think there's very little expectation at this point that, should there be a change of government in Iran, the diaspora would see eye to eye across its different groups, " she continued. 'Iran is confronting empire'.

Naz Radboy's parents are Iranian. She was born in the US and splits her time between there and the UK. Despite not growing up in Iran, she maintains deep ties to the country. For her, the war is a form of US imperialism against a administration that refuses to bow to Washington.

Radboy supports the country's leaders and notes she has paid a heavy rate for doing so.

"Iran is confronting empire, and I stand with Iran and the institutions defending it, " she informed Al Jazeera.

"Iran does not exist in a vacuum. It exists inside an international order dominated by an empire that has surrounded the region with military bases, imposed devastating sanctions, carried out regime-change operations throughout the Global South and repeatedly asserted its right to determine which governments are legitimate. So when Iran builds the capacity to resist that order, I understand why."

Meanwhile, the war remains deadlocked. Despite overwhelming US military power, Iran still controls traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. It has emerged as its greatest leverage in negotiations with Washington.

Moreover, Iran has been inflicting enormous economic costs on the region and the global economy. Consequently, Gulf leaders are eager for a accord that avoids further escalation and leads to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas is usually exported.

Nevertheless, for Radboy, it is not just the war that needs to come to a close, but additionally the calls for the destruction of Iran from her fellow Iranians.

"I have watched people become so consumed by hatred of the Islamic Republic that they seem willing to sacrifice Iran itself. Civilians can die, the economy can collapse and infrastructure can be destroyed as long as it weakens the government, " she notes.

In short, abroad and at odds: How the war has divided Iranians in the is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.