For Iranians in the Netherlands, those who flee for the repressive regime of Tehran, the United States and Israel were self -evident allies in recent decades. If only from the thought: the enemy of your enemy is your friend. But after the attack that Israel carried out on Iran this summer, those friends also feel like enemies for many Iranians in the Netherlands.
Some family members of David (23), a Dutch-Iranian master’s student International Studies of Public Administration and Governance, hoped to be liberated by the US and Israel. Since David ever wants to travel to Iran, he does not want to be in the newspaper with the surname. His family, he says, was more than fed up with the Iranian regime: random arrests, strict religious laws and even the ever -present risk of being executed. Something has to change, if necessary with outside help, he says. “Only my uncles or nieces never expected them to be targeted themselves.”
The regime has completely milked the situation
The twelve -day war – which started on June 13, 2025 and where Israel, among others, tried to eliminate the Iranian core program with air strikes – has left deep marks. Not only in Iran, but also in the Iranian community in the Netherlands. NRC spoke with about twenty Dutch Iranians. More than three months after the conflict, opinions are divided. Although a majority still wants to get rid of the current regime, the question now is: at what price?
And can America and Israel, in view of the civilian deaths and destroyed residential areas in Iran, still be considered allies?
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“Shout”
According to the Iranian-Dutch historian Peyman Jafari, those questions do not easily be answered. He sees three movements within the Dutch-Iranian community. The first current consists of those “who are persistently standing behind the Ayatollah.” It involves a small minority within the Iranian diaspora that supports the regime.
On the other is a two group that wants to see change anyway – even with the help of Israel and the US. According to Maryam Barjesteh (22), an American-Iranian student who lives in the Netherlands, this minority consists of those who “shout the most” on social media. “They have not been to Iran for decades and speak out loudly about what needs to be done. To be ashamed of you,” says Barjesteh.
The group that argues so fiercely for regime change contains many supporters of the former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah of Iran. Similarly the family of the Iranian-Dutch Aryan Ghanizadeh (30), a writer and poet from Amsterdam. According to him, his family was shocked by the attacks, but also hoped that the US and Israel would continue the offensive. Certainly in view of the weak position in which the regime would be. “Why wouldn’t you finish an wounded lion?” They wondered according to Ghanizadeh.
According to Jafari there is a third group between these two extremes, which turns away from the regime in Tehran, but who does not want to be on the side of Israel and speaks out against the bombing. Israel and America are seen as unreliable by this group. Barjesteh, who counts itself as this middle group, criticizes their ‘double standards’.
And, like most other interviewees, Barjesteh also points to the genocide in Gaza. “I think the 12 -day war has further confirmed that Israel is acting impunity and that the United States constantly defend and protect Israel.”
Target
The 12 -day war has shaken the relationships within the Iranian community in the Netherlands. Those who supported the regime whether Israel and America saw as possible Savassers moved more to the middle after the bombing. Especially, says Jafari, when it became visible that entire neighborhoods and ordinary citizens had become targeted. “It was thought: our buildings are hit. ”
The war also seems to have brought mutual rapprochement. “I noticed that my father had more intensive contact with Iranian friends in the Netherlands during and after the war,” says Master’s student David. “They suddenly had Common Ground: It was less about what Iranian you are, but rather that you are Iranian. ”
Iranian leaders have tried to take advantage of the war. “The regime has completely milked the situation,” said writer-poet Ghanizadeh on the basis of Iranian and Western news channels. Soon after the attacks, for example, official communication was adjusted. “The first reporting no longer spoke of the Islamic Republic, but simply from ‘Iran’,” says ofran Badakhshani (42), owner of a wine bar in The Hague. Even the revolutionary guard was suddenly referred to as the ‘revolutionary guard of Iran’, without the usual label ‘Islamic’. With this, the regime consciously appealed to a wider audience.
Some were last decades ago in Iran and speak out loudly about what should be done
According to Badakhshani, the regime tried to stimulate nationalist sentiments, also among Iranians who are critical of their motherland. “You can be against the Islamic Republic, but hard against Iran itself. That difference was used strategically.”
Or opinions differ on or this led to a patriotic reflex. David thinks so: “During the war on Instagram I suddenly saw all my relatives make posts with nationalist texts and poetry about how much they love Iran. […] And those are the same people who so much want to leave Iran and hate the regime. “
Yet, according to theater maker Sahand Sahebdivani (45), the question is whether this is the whole story. “The Dutch quickly have their opinion. At Iranians you always have to put a little bit, a little search. It takes a long time before they tell what they really think.”
Water crisis
After the 12 -day war, the regime also came under pressure last summer due to a shortage of water and electricity. There was a lot of demonstration in Iran. Ghanizadeh therefore suspects that Iranian nationalism was only short -lived. “Now dissatisfaction with the regime and the shortages is increasing. Young and old, farmer and city dweller: everyone wants to change.” Ghanizadeh thinks that on a certain day there will actually be no more water from the cranes. “That could work as a catalyst for real national protests.”
Iran expert Jafari considers the chance of a revolution less. He thinks the current situation is “paralyzing” for the population. By the electricity and water crises Although the Iranian state can no longer take care of the citizens. “But the fear of a war, the fear of an Iran that falls apart with incidental ethnic conflicts, hangs like a sword of Damocles above the country.”
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