US-Israel strikes on Iran deepen rift among expatriate Iranians
The joint US-Israel offensive against Iran has fractured the Iranian diaspora, with some backing the attacks and others, like Peyvand Khorsandi, condemning them as damaging to reformist hopes.
Six months after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, the war has caused thousands of civilian deaths, unsettled global energy markets and deepened divisions within the Iranian diaspora. Some expatriates, rallying behind Reza Pahlavi, see the attacks as leverage against Tehran, whereas figures like comedian Peyvand Khorsandi and activist Naz Radboy argue the conflict strengthens the regime and reflects a colonial-style assault on the Global South.
A bombing of a girls' school in Minab that killed at least 170 people, likely caused by a US air strike, has undermined the humanitarian rationale offered by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu remains subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, while Amnesty International reports widespread arbitrary detentions and sham trials in Iran. Scholars draw parallels to the 1953 US-British coup that ousted Mohammad Mossadegh, warning that Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz keeps regional economies and global oil supplies vulnerable.
Why it matters
The war’s fallout reshapes global energy, legal accountability and the political stance of Iranians worldwide.
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