Members of Iranian, Jewish communities in Manitoba react to escalating conflict after U.S. attacks on Iran

A day after the U.S. bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, one Iranian Canadian group came out in condemnation of the attacks as an escalation of hostilities, while a community organizer viewed the strikes as a pathway to regime change in Iran.

Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz were struck by the U.S. on Saturday in what officials hailed as an overwhelming success that obliterated Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The operation comes more than a week after Israel targeted Iran's Defence Ministry headquarters, igniting an exchange of missile attacks between the two countries. 

Washington's involvement in the Israel-Iran war pushes the Middle East to the brink of a major new conflict, in a region already aflame for more than 20 months with wars in Gaza and Lebanon and a toppled dictator in Syria.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. had "betrayed diplomacy" with the military strikes in support of Israel.

Arian Arianpour, a community organizer and former president of the Iranian Community of Manitoba, said he doesn't view the U.S. airstrikes on the nuclear facilities as an attack on Iran and its citizens, but on the rulers of the Islamic Republic — and said the strikes may be a pathway to break away from them. 

Arianpour said elections, protests and reform efforts haven't resulted in political changes, even as they have put Iranian citizens that speak out at risk of retaliation from the regime's leaders.

"This war, as painful as it might be, might present an opportunity to finish the job that ... people have started decades ago," Arianpour said.

"They [Iranians] have been suffering under a regime that they did not want, and now they are suffering from a war they did not choose."

Iran's only viable path forward is to ensure a dismantling of its ruling regime, Arianpour said. 

External attacks to Iran might weaken the government's capacity to also crack down on internal dissent, he added.

"Iranians, whether inside or outside the country, do want to see this regime end," Arianpour said.

On Sunday, a national Iranian-Canadian advocacy group condemned the U.S. attacks on Iran. 

In a statement, the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC) said the strikes "recklessly ran the risk of untold harm to Iran's population with nuclear fallout by bombing civilian nuclear infrastructure sites."