Iranians living in Melbourne call for Israel, US to continue attacks on IRGC as regime rebuilds

Frustrated Iranian-Melburnians are urging the US and Israel to continue their attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, fearing the ceasefire had given the regime a “lifeline”.

Devastated Melbourne-based Iranians are urging the US and Israel to end the ceasefire and “finish the job”, fearing a window to topple the oppressive Islamic regime has closed.

Desperate to see the end to the Supreme Leader’s barbaric rule, frustrated Iranian-Melburnians say they are deeply concerned America has thrown the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Iran’s powerful armed forces – a “lifeline”.

It comes after US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran this week following precision strikes on IRGC figure heads and nuclear facilities.

Fears are circulating among Melbourne’s Iranian diaspora – many who have friends and family back home – that the brutal IRGC will carry out mass executions as they regroup amid a pause in fighting.

Australian-Iranian and Melbourne lawyer Ek Taghdir said he was concerned that the IRGC had been given a “lifeline”.

Iranian-Australian Ek Taghdir says he was supportive of Israel’s attacks on the IRGC’s nuclear facilities. Picture: David Crosling

He said many people in Iran felt Israel and America had thrown them “under the bus” by halting their targeted attacks.

“People in Iran are largely reporting that Israel has been striking IRGC military installations and figure heads,” he said.

“There are civilian deaths and we do grieve over that but the fear against the regime is so intense that people are more scared of a ceasefire.”

Many in the diaspora, including Mr Taghdir, feel that the 12-day war was an opening for western powers to help bring down the Supreme Leader, still hopeful of a return to a free Iran.

“We have been fighting oppression, murder and cultural erasure for 46 years and the Islamic Republic regime in Iran is on the verge of wiping the true Iran out,” he said.

“If we don’t do this right now, the word Iranian will be eradicated because their fundamental goal is establishing an Islamic Civilisation, not an Iranian country.”

It is Mr Taghdir’s hope that the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi – the son of the last Shah – is able to lead a transition back to a secular and democratic Iran.

Thousands of Iranians attend the funeral ceremony for approximately 60 people killed in Israeli strikes. Photo: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Business owner James Gevergizian, who resettled in Australia as a teenager before the 1979 revolution, however, supports the ceasefire.

He believes a change in regime can only come from the people, not external forces.

“I have Christian and Muslim friends back in Iran and they are both equally fearful of the bombs and the regime,” he said.

“Bombing one another will do nothing and the regime change must come from within.

“Right now, there is no happy ending.”

Unlike the televised devastation in Gaza, which has flooded the internet for months, the people of Iran have largely been silent on social media.

This is mostly due to nationwide blackouts, enforced by the regime itself.

It has left Melbourne University students who rely on their families sending money from Iran in a panic.

The Iranian Students Society has made the urgent request to the university, student union and the graduate association for “emergency financial assistance” and temporary tuition relief.

“As this situation unfolds into open warfare, it has become nearly impossible for many of us to receive financial support from our families back home,” it reads.

“We are overwhelmed, isolated, and forced to navigate both crisis and coursework alone, while financial liabilities mount and the future feels increasingly out of reach.”

University student Jasmine migrated to Australia with her family for a better life, but the brutality of life back home is never far from her mind.

Some local Iranians want to see President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue their attacks on the IRGC. AP Photo:Mark Schiefelbein.

The 24-year-old, who has been pressuring the federal government to declare the IRGC a terrorist organisation, said she felt the ceasefire was giving the regime cover to carry out executions and harass the population, hunting down suspected traitors.

“I don’t believe in the ceasefire,” she said.

“We have been waiting for Israel to target the leadership for such a long time.”

Another Iranian living and working in Melbourne’s east also defended Israel’s targeted bombardment, saying she was “thrilled” they had wiped out key members of the revolutionary guard.

“Israel did not attack Iran, they attacked the IRGC,” she said.

“They could have created another Gaza, but they didn’t.”

With family back home, she feared that if she shared her name publicly the IRGC would arrest, “torture” and kill them.

“If the western countries think for a second that Radical Idiot Islamists are not going to go back and build what was ruined in this war, then they are very naive,” she said.

“You do not stop midway and leave your opponent wounded and more angry, thirsty for revenge — you finish the job!”

Originally published as Iranians living in Melbourne call for Israel, US to continue attacks on IRGC as regime rebuilds