Niyak Ghorbani, an anti-regime Iranian journalist and advocate living in the UK, told The Jerusalem Post that he feels "both joy and sorrow" at the current war between Israel and Iran.
"I’m incredibly relieved that Israel’s military operations are targeting only the armed forces of the Islamic Republic — those whose hands are stained with the blood of millions of Iranians," he said, while expressing that he is simultaneously "heartbroken for the anxiety people inside Iran are living through right now."
Ghorbani - who left his home country in 2014 - praised Israel's strikes against the Islamic Republic, saying they "are everything the Iranian people have dreamed of for the past 46 years."
"Israel has, for the first time, acted as an ally of the Iranian people — and taken vengeance on our behalf in a way no other government in the world ever has."
For Ghorbani, the path to stability and peace lies in other world leaders "openly supporting regime change in Iran and backing our exiled Crown Prince."
"He is the one person who can preserve Iran’s territorial integrity and guarantee a peaceful, secular future — not just for Iran, but for the entire Middle East."
Such a declaration of support, Ghorbani continued, would provide the Iranian people with the opportunity to rise up. "I am confident that the Iranian people are simply waiting for the moment when global powers declare their support for the hope of the nation: Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi," he added.
When asked what it would take for the Iranian people to overthrow the regime, Ghorbani said "Iranians are brave — and intelligent. They know the Islamic Republic is waiting for them to rise up, only to slaughter them again and use the bloodshed as a distraction from its humiliating defeat."
"The people don’t want to give the regime that excuse. We’ve seen executions for simply supporting Israel, or even speaking of peace."
Therefore, he said the public is waiting "not passively, but strategically — for a clear signal from the West.Once that happens, defections from regime forces will accelerate, and Iran will collapse with minimal bloodshed. The people have protested repeatedly for 46 years.
Ghorbani - who lives in London - was critical of the UK government and its response.
"The British public are far wiser than the British government," he told the Post. "People here understand that post-Islamic Republic, Iran can again be a true ally to Britain — just as it was in the past."
"Unfortunately, the UK government has yet to accept that reality. It continues to place its trust in the terrorists of the Islamic Republic rather than in the people of Iran, whose message to the world is clear: peace and friendship."
Because of the potential fall of the regime, Ghorbani said there is a real sense of hope among Iranian patriots and supporters of the Crown Prince.
However he stressed that many of the Islamic Republic’s former allies — those who helped destroy Iran in 1979 and later fled to the West after falling out with the regime — "still oppose the very existence of Israel."
"Their only problem with the Islamic Republic is that they’re not in power themselves. Ideologically, they still share much of its DNA."
As a final note, Ghorbani expressed to the Post that, "there is a deep and growing affection among Iranians for the people of Israel — and genuine trust in the Israeli Defence Forces."
"People inside Iran understand clearly: the IDF has never targeted civilians, and never will. That distinction is not only recognized — it’s remembered, and it matters deeply."
Multiple Iranian dissidents speak out
Iranian attorney and activist Elica Le Bon posted on X that she is "praying for the safety of the people of Iran and Israel."
She emphasized that "there has never been a war between our people, only a failed attempt to divide an ancient bond between old friends."
"Iranians and Jews/Israelis will remain united as ever, and our 2,500-year friendship will only be strengthened as we stand shoulder to shoulder through this. On the other side, there will be no daylight between us."
Dissident Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, who previously survived an Islamic Republic of Iran's Intelligence Ministry's kidnapping plot in 2021, wrote that it is a "strange feeling watching the same IRGC commanders who sent assassins to kill me in the US reportedly killed themselves."
"If the FBI hadn’t arrested their agents outside my home in New York, I might not be here to write this."
She added in another post: "For many people around the world, Islamic Republic’s senior military leaders who were killed by Israel will just be foreign names. For me & millions of Iranians, they are the monsters who have impoverished & tyrannized our families."
Similar sentiments were echoed by Gazelle Sharmahd, whose father, Jamshid, was kidnapped by the regime in 2020, held hostage, and then executed in 2024.
"We ask you not to call them the “leaders of Iran," she wrote on X, "They are the enemies of Iran — leaders of yet another Arab-Islamist regime that kills the indigenous peoples of the Middle East, Jews and Iranians."
In a separate message, she thanked former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennnett for his support, saying "We have no doubt that Israelis stand with us—just as we have stood with them."
She went on to condemn the "so-called “free world,”" adding that "Time and time again, they have betrayed not only the Jewish people—but the Iranian people."
"While Jews were persecuted, demonized, and massacred, Iranians were tortured, mass executed, and left to die in the streets—sacrificed for billion-dollar deals with their Islamist oppressors."
"We just need moral clarity," she said. "The same clarity Israelis have shown us."
German-Iranian activist Maral Salmassi posted a video of Iranians chanting: “Death to Khamenei!” “Death to the dictator!”
"Israel is doing what the world never dared, helping us Iranians decolonize our homeland," she wrote.