‘Evident’ that Iranians want to get away from the ‘dictatorship’ leading the nation

Joining me now is award-winning global affairs journalist and author of The Heartbeat of Iran, Tara Kangalu. Tara, thank you for joining me tonight. You speak regularly with people inside Iran. What are they telling you about how the public is reacting to the war right now? >> Jamie, thank you for having me. And indeed at the heart of every conflict as I've reported over the years uh and now in Iran are people or ordinary civilians. And we have to remember that multiple things can be true at the same time. On one hand the majority of the Iranian public is extremely angry and resentful toward the Islamic regime. What they call a theocracy and a dictatorship that as we saw in January, they very much wanted to move beyond. And that sentiment in Iran is wide and is evident. Um at the same time uh the Iranians right now have another feeling and that is uh more anger toward the policies of the west because they have no idea what those policies are. They have no idea what the method is and uh to what end. What is the objective uh here uh that the president of the United States and Israel want to reach? I know we're going to talk about that and add that and and to that add the daily reality of life right now in Thran. Last night I mean every night I I try to connect with people despite awful internet and phone lines Jamie and every day I'm hearing people say last night was hell. Last night was the worst night. But this continues and we know that last night uh Thrron's oil depots were uh hit and there are images coming in with plumes of fire all over uh the streets because uh little waterways um that that run through streets and boulevards were set on fire. freeways that I've been uh you know I've I've driven on and and neighborhoods that I've lived in I I see them up in blaze uh and and it's dangerous because at its core um you have ordinary civilians who are paying the price at the time that the economy in in Iran is essentially in freefall. People have no purchasing power. And top that with the fact that there's some people, Jamie, who have to go to work. Shopkeepers, taxi drivers, medics, doctors. Life is moving forward in the middle of fire and perpetual bombardment. Um, and so the sentiment in Iran is that uh we're somehow caught between the lunacy of a repressive dictatorship and a foreign aggression that is extremely unclear as to what it has in in in store for us. And Tara, what would be the worst case scenarios for the people of Iran? >> In some ways, Jamie, we are seeing the worst case scenario unfold. Daybyday uh destruction intensifies and the death toll rises. Over 1300 people have been uh killed in Iran. is of course in the region we have I believe around uh over 100 in Lebanon uh nine people in Israel and of course um in the Gulf. Um the worst case scenario though for the Iranian people uh are multiffold. one that of course this death and destruction continues and um they are somehow uh introduced by dangerous opposition groups and I think we should be very well well aware of this for instance the mek the mujahed is a uh militia uh semi-ilitant group a cultlike that fought against Iran and the Iranian people with Saddam during the Iran Iraq war um and Then uh the other uh worst case scenario would be the break up of Iran, which again is another thing we have to pay close attention to given that Donald Trump just last night um Saturday night said when asked if Iran's map would look the same the day after the war to which he said, "Don't know. I don't think so." So Iran's uh fracture and and break up the territorial the territorial integrity of this country is of stark important for uh the Iranian people and that is right now at risk. And the third is uh whether or not the Iranian people are going to be left with the crumbles and remnants of uh the Islamic regime that has choked them for years. And they've been proven that after any conflict and any uprising and protest um they will introduce a harsher version of this regime. So uh I'm worried of an Islamic regime 2.0 that might be even more aggressive than what it was in the past. So, a lot on the table, a lot at stake. Uh, but again, at the receiving end are ordinary Iranians who, Jamie, are so similar in their hopes, dreams, aspirations with millions of others around the world. D did not want this

Journalist and Author Tara Kangarlou says the Iranian people viewed the Islamic regime as a “dictatorship”. Ms Kangarlou told Sky News host Jaimee Rogers that Iranians wanted to move “beyond” the regime. “And that sentiment in Iran is wide and is evident.”