Iranians living in the UK have described deep divisions in the community since the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
The deadly attack by Hamas in Israel on 7 October and the subsequent bombardment of Gaza have led to tense conversations among British Iranians, they say.
“On the face of it, really clearly you can find two camps,” said Negin Shiraghaei, an activist and founder of the Azadi Network.
“One is the pro-Israel camp … but then on the other side there are lots of Iranians who’ve been part of the women, life, freedom [movement] and feel much closer to the cause of the Palestinians, so it’s completely divided.”
Shiraghaei added: “Talking about these issues [is] quite difficult with a divided society. That divide we see in the general public in the UK, it exists in the Iranian community as well, maybe 10 times [more].”
Recent developments in the Middle East, where increasing attacks by Iranian-backed militia have been met with retaliatory strikes from the US, have led to growing fears the war will spread.
British Iranians, some of whom have fled the Islamic republic and were united in anti-government protests in 2022, find themselves at a significant intersection.
Anahita, an artist whose work addresses human rights abuses in Iran, said that after what happened in Gaza, “a bunch of people started supporting … Israel just because Iran is such a big and obvious supporter of Hamas, so just to be anti-Islamic republic”.
When asked if the atmosphere felt polarised, she said: “Yes, ridiculously, it feels like a football team you need to choose. You can be just quiet about it or you have to be very clear on which side you stand.”
Shiraghaei, who has facilitated conversations with small groups of British Iranians, said the reality on the ground was more complex and diverse. She said there was a “third narrative” emerging “that we should be able to talk about human rights abuse, no matter where it happens”.
“I can be against the Islamic Republic [in Iran]. I can be against Hamas, and what they’re doing to the Palestinian people and I can be against what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people as well and that [view] needs to find space,” she said.
“If they cannot find a place to voice their narrative, they will be lost.”
She said this position “is much closer to people’s hearts”.
Like Shiraghaei, Saeed Khalilirad said many British Iranians were concerned about the potential spread of war.
Khalilirad, a psychotherapist and political activist who runs workshops with Iranians, said people were living with “daily trauma”.
“Iranians are quite distressed because they don’t know what the [Iranian] regime is going to do next and whether it wants to attract any military action against the regime or not … everyone has families in Iran,” he said.
Khalilirad, who fled Iran and moved to the UK in 2007, said there were concerns the developments in the Middle East could put the lives of people in Iran in “jeopardy”.
For the Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti, it is important the UK government stops “ignoring [the] big elephant in the room”.
“This is how I see it, we have to identify the root of the problem otherwise we are going to lock ourselves in this vicious circle … So the root of the problem is the Iranian regime – end of story,” he said.
Beheshti, who spoke at the Israeli parliament earlier this year, has called on the UK government to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. He has been participating in a sit-in protest outside the UK Foreign Office.
He said: “[I’ve] been here 344 days now in the street living in a tent. Why? Because we know what’s happened. We know the danger of this regime, not just for Iran but for us here as well.”
Another British Iranian, Fariba Nazemi, a foster parent, said discussions about the developments in the Middle East were happening “every day, every hour, every minute when we are together … it does affect us”.
Nazemi added: “I think it’s unfair, very unfair. In this century, to see this amount of killing and injustice going on in the world, it’s horrible.”
