The couple, Behnam Bakhtiari and Khatoon Fardoost, have the same issue facing many Iranians outside the country: fears of reprisals against their families and friends.

Behnam is a film director who had been imprisoned by the regime. Seven years ago, he and Khatoon moved to Estonia with their small child, who was two at the time. They now live in Tartu.

"We don't want war, not at all. But a short pain is better than eternal suffering. That's how it is. If it topples the Islamic regime and helps the people become free, then we agree to it," Bakhtiari told "Ringvaade," speaking in Estonian.

Behnam said he heard about the start of the attacks while at work, when Khatoon called him. "We are celebrating, but differently. This is a different kind of celebration, because we had friends and relatives who died three weeks ago," he said, referring to the anti-government unrest in Iran at the start of the year.

"When I lived in Iran, as a film director I wanted to make documentaries and feature films. I made a short film about child rape and child marriage. The government asked why I made that film. I said it is a fact, I saw it everywhere. They didn't believe me and I went to prison," he explained about his backstory.

Khatoon said the last time she slept peacefully was before the start of last Saturday, when the U.S.-Israeli strikes began. The fact that one of the high-profile casualties of the strikes was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed, was bittersweet for her, she said. "On Saturday I saw in the news that Ayatollah Khamenei had died in Iran. A little sad, a little happy. Happy because it is very good that Khamenei is dead. He was a major terrorist in Iran and in the world."

Khatoon said her father, mother and brother were also out on the streets during the unrest. She was able to contact her family only three weeks after the protests started, since the government had cut off internet connections linking ordinary people to the outside world. Khatoon said her relatives fear that their calls are being monitored, and officials have in any case threatened her family members in order to find out where their daughter lives.

"My father didn't answer them, he said he didn't know, that they left a long time ago, that he can't speak with his daughter. They threatened my brother as well. He is now blind in one eye."

Fardoost and Bakhtiari have not been able to contact their relatives again in the aftermath of the strikes and the Iranian regime's counterstrikes.

"The internet is down. The government has shut it off. We have no information or any news from our family. This is our life," Bakhtiari said.

He said he instead keeps himself constantly updated with the news, but this brings little cause for comfort either. "Unfortunately the situation is very difficult. For 45 years the Islamic Republic regime has kept people hostage. We have no life. You cannot live like this," Behnam added.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!