As war breaks out in Iran and across the Middle East, many in Montreal diaspora communities are fearing for loved ones abroad.
“We don’t have news” about family in Iran, said Sarah, who left Iran for France in 1984 before moving to Montreal in 2008. The Gazette agreed not to publish Sarah’s full name, which she said would risk her safety should she travel to Iran in the future.
Most of her family is in Iran, Sarah said, but “we don’t know what state they’re in.” She said she couldn’t reach her family members. “Everything is cut off.”
Tuesday marked the fourth day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which has now spread into a regional war. On the first day of the war, U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel and the U.S, continued to fire on Iran Tuesday, while Israel sent soldiers into southern Lebanon, where the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia is based, and carried out a wave of strikes in Beirut. Iran has fired missiles at countries including Qatar, Bahrain and Oman that host U.S. bases.
Iran’s Red Crescent has reported 787 dead since the war began last Saturday. Lebanon’s health ministry says more than 50 people have died as a result of the Israeli offensive. Around a dozen people have died in Israel. The U.S. said six of its soldiers have been killed.
“I’m worried not just for my family, but for everyone,” Sarah said.
Last Saturday, a jubilant gathering of Iranian Montrealers had celebrated the start of the war, saying that they hoped it would result in regime change.
Sarah, who is a member of the Association des femmes iraniennes de Montréal, said she was upset to see Iranians supporting the war.
“Of course, like everyone, I’m happy that a dictator (Khamenei) is gone from the world,” she said. “But I’m very worried about the bombardment of Iran.”
“Crowds aren’t always right,” Sarah said. “I’m against war everywhere in the world.”
Before leaving Iran, Sarah said she was held as a political prisoner — not just by the current Islamic Republic regime, but also under the Shah regime. Now, many of those who support the war favour Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s son, Reza Pahlavi, to head a new Iranian government. Having left Iran during the revolution, Pahlavi lives outside of Washington, D.C.
Montrealers protesting in favour of regime change in Iran on Saturday Jan. 31, 2026, hold up images of Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah, as their hope for the new leader of the country.
“We don’t need a leader who lived all his life in comfort,” Sarah said. “Power (should be) in the hands of people who suffered” in Iran.
Among Jewish Montrealers, “there’s a sense of anxiety and tension,” said Yair Szlak, president of Federation CJA. “Our concern is of course, as usual, the security situation in and around the Jewish community,” he said.
“You have people throughout the Middle East sitting in bomb shelters,” Szlak said. “I think that is sad and I think the world needs to take note.”
When war spread to Lebanon, Caroline Codsi said she experienced “déjà vu.” She had previously spoken to The Gazette in 2024, following Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon that killed hundreds.
Codsi, a Lebanese Montrealer who founded an organization certifying workplaces that achieve equity, diversity and inclusion goals, lived between Lebanon, France and Montreal in her youth, fleeing and returning to Lebanon throughout years of civil war.
“We moved out of Lebanon and back into Lebanon eight times in 15 years,” she said. Now living outside of Lebanon, “you almost feel guilty that your loved ones are going through this,” she said.
Codsi said she recently spoke to her cousin in Lebanon, who called the civil war a “picnic in the park” compared to the threats faced today. When facing airstrikes as a kid, “we were able to run into the basement and hide,” Codsi said. Now, “the arms are so heavy that one missile will collapse a 20-storey building in a nanosecond.”
With relatives living around the globe, Codsi’s family had been planning a reunion in Beirut this summer. The reunion now appears out of the question, she said.
“I keep thinking, OK, this summer will be the right time to go back,” she said. “And then something happens.”
With files from Bloomberg.
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