Iranians in Sask. unable to contact family, but say those living in residential areas likely safe

As conflict continues across the Middle East, Iranians living in Saskatchewan are worried for their families and friends back home.

At least 1,097 civilians have been killed in Iran since Saturday, according to data from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, a non-governmental organization.

People with loved ones in Tehran say they cannot contact them because the internet and other means of communication have been shut down.

Zahra Hosseini, who lives in Regina, told CBC she has not heard from her family since Iran was hit with strikes by the U.S. and Israel. She is, however, receiving some updates from friends who managed to connect to a virtual private network and communicate using WhatsApp.

"We feel devastated for sure, and we are worried too much about our families, our loved ones back home," Hosseini said.

"And we pray that the war would end and eventually, hopefully, the regime will end, too. But being unsure is just killing us."

Peiman Pourmomen, an Iranian living in Saskatoon, said people who live in residential areas of Tehran, where he is from, are less concerned they will be hurt or killed in the conflict.

"People still think that as long as they are not close to any military building, any military facility, they're pretty much safe," he said.

Pourmomen said news of civilians killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes is heartbreaking, but people have come to expect casualties. 

"No one wants to see innocent people being killed. But what else can we do? We have already lost at least 35,000 people," he said, referring to a crackdown on protests across Iran in January.

Pourmomen said Iranian people believed war was inevitable. Many prepared themselves by stocking up on water, dry foods and other essentials, he said.

"They knew that there might be some blackouts, there might be some internet crackdowns, there might be some, you know, lack of some facilities, like gasoline," he said.

Iranians around the world, including in Saskatchewan, have protested the regime for years. Pourmomen said they now feel change is finally coming, and war is a means to an end.

"Let's imagine a person has an aggressive cancer in its body and it has to go through a deep, deep surgery. This surgery requires opening the body," he said.