Dozens of Iranian Canadians danced in the streets and cheered following the news that terrorist Qasem Soleimani has been eliminated in a U.S. drone attack in Iraq on Friday.
The Canadian Press reported that Iran vowed “harsh retaliation,” but that every day Iranians are happy about the development:
But for those who showed up to dance in a square in north Toronto Friday afternoon, Soleimani’s death marked what they hoped would be a re-birth for Iran. Chants of “regime change in Iran by the people of Iran” and “we support uprising in Iran” rang out at the rally.
“We are in a great world now after Soleimani’s elimination,” said Hamid Gharajeh, a spokesman for the Iran Democratic Association of Canada. “I feel wonderful because we really think this is long overdue.”
Over the last two decades, Soleimani had assembled a network of heavily armed allies stretching all the way to southern Lebanon on Israel’s doorstep. While Iran’s conventional military has been constrained by 40 years of American sanctions, Iran can strike asymmetrically in the region through its allied forces like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraqi militias and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Trump said Friday he acted to stop a war rather than start one, although many observers saw the airstrike as a major escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran. American officials said they had intelligence Soleimani was planning a significant campaign of violence against the U.S.
Officials also said Soleimani was behind violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
“We are in a great world now after Soleimani’s elimination,” Hamid Gharajeh, a spokesman for the Iran Democratic Association of Canada, said in the Canadian Press report. “I feel wonderful because we really think this is long overdue.”
Gharajeh left Iran in 1977 to go to university in the U.S., then moved to Canada about 10 years later and never returned to Iran, “but still has family in Iran and hopes to return one day,” the Canadian Press reported.
“My father and mother passed away in Iran, but I’ve never been to their graves,” Gharajeh said. “The dream is going back to a free Iran.”
“We want peace in the region, not terrorism,” Sara Fallah, the director of the International Coalition of Women Against Fundamentalism, said in the Canadian Press report.
“Anyone who cares about human rights should be against terrorism and celebrating the death of Soleimani,” said Fallah, who said she left Iran to attend school in Canada and never returned.
Behza Matin was one of those inspired to dance when he heard the news of Soleimani’s death.
“I was so happy to see this man killed,” Matin said. “I have to tell you, I had the greatest sleep last night.”
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