
‘So terrifying’: Iranian student on fleeing back to safety in Canada amid conflict
Global News
Earlier this week, Tehran said 606 people in Iran had been killed in the conflict, with 5,332 people wounded.
Arash Ghaderi can’t forget the moment his wife tearfully woke him up to tell him a war had just started.
Ghaderi, a 35-year-old PhD student at the University of Alberta, and his wife travelled last month to Iran to visit their family members. The couple was still there when the conflict between Israel and Iran broke out on June 13.
“(On) the very first day of the war, we heard some bombings and we heard the jets flying low to the ground. It was so terrifying,” he said in an interview.
“My wife’s family members, her nieces and nephews, were there and they were crying …The noise was so horrifying,” he said of their experience in Zanjan, a city located about 300 kilometres northwest of Tehran.
“I just tried my best to control myself and try to calm my wife down, but in my heart I was so shocked and I was feeling so bad. I wanted to vomit actually.”
Ghaderi is one of many Iranians living in Canada who have been affected by the war that broke out when Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and senior military leaders, and Iran responded with its own strikes. A ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, after the United States launched strikes on key nuclear facilities in Iran.
Earlier this week, Tehran said 606 people in Iran had been killed in the conflict, with 5,332 people wounded. At least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 were wounded, according to officials in that country.
Ottawa has urged Canadians in Iran to leave if they can do so safely, noting that its ability to provide consular services in the country is “extremely limited.”













