The Iranians see the strikes as a liberation, in the same way that France was liberated from the Nazis in WWII

[Endoflight]

So please do not be against the war in the name of any Iranian.

The Islamic regime purposefully shot girls in the face, chests and vaginas to destroy their beauty. This was a regime of terrorists.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/feb/17/x-rays-injuries-iran-protesters-hospital-birdshot-bullets

This is a regime that has massacred 30000 of its OWN people since January.

Body bags have lined the streets for months.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/iran-protests-death-toll-disappeared-bodies-mass-burials-30000-dead

The strikes are targeted and destroying the regimes military bases. Iranians are celebrating and feeling support for the first time in years.

We might not want to get involved in War in the U.K., but to not understand how this is a liberation is jarring to all Iranians who do not have sympathy for the terrorist regime, so please do not speak for them

It's been a bit of a reality check for some because it is INCREDIBLY difficult to find an Iranian that opposes the war.

That was not the case with Iraq in 2003, or in any other conflict I can think of in my lifetime. In Ukraine, for example, it's pretty much the exact opposite - close to 100% against the invasion.

It tells us how despised the Iranian regime is by its own people. I hope they rise up and destroy it.

Thank you so much @TheFilliesWillRiseAgain
This is enlightening

Two things can be true at once.

The Iranian regime can be brutal, killing tens of thousands of Iranians. Iranians can be happy that the regime has been overthrown. That there might be a better future waiting for them.

The rest of the world can also be highly suspicious of Trump’s motives in starting the war. They can choose to opt of this war because they don’t believe it is about the Iranian people and actually all about oil and ally support for Israel. That it’s actually about power and ego. That it isn’t just military bases being hit. That schools should not be the target of warfare, no matter how liberating for the people in that country.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg548lyjnyo

It will be all good if it ends well. But where is the Iranian opposition in Iran? Do they have followers and leaders within the army? Because someone will have to lead a take over, from within. Otherwise, this could be a long war.

I think in a Western country it is hard to fathom the atrocities the Islamic regime have committed.

For those that think the strikes are the difficult part of this journey…women have been terrorised for decades under the regime. As women who have grown up in the West we are extremely lucky to never have known such terror by our government.

Please can I ask all women on here who consider themselves feminists, this is Mumsnet after all, to stand with the Iranian women.

The Islamic regime is the equivalent of an abuser. Women have had acid thrown in their faces, their eyes shot, they have been bottled and shot in their genitals for wanting to be able to walk down the street without a head covering.

Can I ask you to please put your views on Trump and politics to the side (indeed if it means holding your nose) and stand with the women of Iran who have had NO voice and for the first time have a chance for freedom

But what you have written doesn’t line up with op’s post.
They said don’t be against the war in the name of anyone from Iran.
Everything else you have written besides the first paragraph is not relevant to the horrors that they have lived through for decades.
Whatever the motive they are grateful to Trump for trying where no one has before.

I think most British people are just focused on the detail that we don’t want to be involved in it.

Trump, Israel, other European states, the Middle Eastern Countries - fine. There is no appetite to join a war here though.

We don’t need to be the worlds liberators. Also see how that went in Afghanistan etc.

I agree.
I hope the other Middle Eastern countries that are getting attacked will go in and help bring down the regime.

America should stop being the world’s policeman and focus on itself for once. Iran is a country of 92 million. I’m sure they don’t need us to solve all their problems. They can do it on their own.

OP, it is not about opposing the war for most of the West. It is whether we join in or not. And we have the bloodiest ongoing war on our doorstep.
The matter, for those living in Iran and the ME is what happens next. What is going to take over the vaccuum left behind by a fallen regime. And so far, there is not much clarity on that. At all.

Trump will leave the ordinary Iranians high and dry

If you think trump is going to do anything to support Iran after this, you are incredibly naive.

I do stand with Iranian women.

But Trump’s motivation for bombing Iran is nothing to do with the liberation of people living under oppression.

I’m sure they want the current regime gone. I would too! I’m sure many or even most Iranians are at the point of welcoming anything that brings that about.

But there’s so much more to it than that. Off the top of my head -

• there are all the deaths being brought about by these strikes and the retaliatory strikes, including on neighbouring countries that aren’t involved, by Iran
• there’s the fact it isn’t legal to just invade a country and depose the govt, however awful
• there’s the fact that the US is doing it in concert with a war criminal govt in Israel, and is probably now a war criminal govt itself
• perhaps most importantly, there’s what comes after - I can’t see Trump and co helping to facilitate a peaceful transition to a democratic govt ensuring equality and human rights for all
• there’s the fact that there are alot of equally awful or worse regimes about - what gives the US the right to pick and choose which regimes to depose and which to leave in peace? And can any and all countries now decide to depose any govts they don’t agree with, if they have the might?
• And I’m pretty sure it’s down to western interference in the past that Iran got this awful regime in the first place!

From Britain’s point of view, however, I think the main point is we don’t want to be involved!

Well said OP. I’m not an academic, but was at an academic-y discussion event in a pub the other day, with a painfully right-on, middle-class bunch, discussing misogyny (and trans-misogyny🙄 so you get the gist). A young Iranian woman said basically what you’ve just written and of course, there was a stunned silence -apart from a round of an applause and show of support from me and my friend.

I am disgusted at the lib-fems completely ignoring the plight of the women in Iran and cheering on Islamic regimes.

I too stand with Iranian women. I hope so much that you get your liberation.

I'm not confident in it, but I earnestly wish it for you.

Nobody is going to initiate a boots-on-the-ground invasion of Iran, which is what it would take to actually bring down the current regime.

So far there has been a concerted effort to destroy Iranian military assets, plenty of destruction of infrastructure, they even managed to kill a fair proportion of the regime's leading figures, but as of yet, there is precious little sign the regime is anywhere close to throwing the towel in.

Trump's attention is already wandering toward Cuba, so I expect before much longer there will be some return of US naval groups to the Caribbean and this entire thing will fizzle out. The regime will remain in place, and all that will have been achieved is Trump and his cronies will have enriched themselves again due to market manipulation, and the US military/Industrial complex will benefit from this latest depletion of inventory.

As already mentioned, anyone who thinks Trump is doing any of this for the benefit of Iranians, or indeed, actually gives a single shiny shite about Iran, it's people, or removing the regime, is delusional. It's entirely about money, his ego, and deflection from his calamitous failures and domestic unpopularity.

I wouldn't be booking a holiday to Cuba any time soon.

This thread isn’t about Trump, it's about the people of Iran who are happy about the situation in light of the decades they have suffered.

Me too x

There is nothing much to celebrate yet, is it? The Islamic Republic is still in control of Iran. Civilians are in and around the areas that are being bombed. Nothing has been won, lost or liberated yet.
It has just started.

I stand with the women of Iran and hope against hope that liberation & stability come soon.

Well I just really hope those decades of suffering do actually end for them. Genuinely, I really hope that is the outcome.

I’m not celebrating that outcome until it happens though.

I do not believe Trump is starting this war for selfless reasons, ofcourse not, but it does not matter; the Iranians have fought with their blood, against a regime who patrols the streets with guns ready to shoot civilians in the back; ready to aim at their eyes. The Iranians are unarmed. This is the largest massacre in recent history and there has been barely a whisper about it on Mumsnet or social media. 30000 have died fighting the regime. Yet when war was announced by the US, suddenly it seems people are interested and speaking of the ‘thousands that will die’ due to America.

The fact is that Iranians see the US and Israel as liberating them. If the U.K. does not want to get involved then I respect that, but please do not speak for the Iranian people and talk only of ‘massacres’ by the US but nothing about the Islamic regime killing 30000 of their OWN people.

Iran needed the help of the US and Israel to kill the mullahs and to destroy their military bases. The US and Israel’s strikes are debilitating the regime and for the first time in 47 years millions of Iranians have hope.

There is a leader who is ready and has the backing of Iranians both inside and outside Iran, his name is Reza Pahlavi, he will create a secular government, one far removed from the Islamic regime. Iran has the chance of being a democratic country, one that Iranians have fought for for decades.

I have been on Mumsnet a long time, I have been on threads with women lying next to their abuser trying to get out in the middle of the night and the support women have offered sent shivers down my spine, I’ve seen women help women get out of a situation when they have absolutely nooone to turn to and have been beaten and burned. This is what the women of Iran are going through so can we change the narrative from fixating on ‘an illegal war’ to focussing on their liberation from a totalitarian regime.

I also stand with the women of Iran.

They have suffered decades of oppression, control and sexual violence at the hands of the Islamic regime. They want freedom in a secular society. We need to listen to them.

Yes, a terrible terrible regime. But I have seen Iranians opposed to this campaign by Trump and Netanyahu. Not because they support this regime, who could? Because they don't think this is the way to freedom.