Swedish Iranians carrying Israeli flags and traditional Iranian lion-and-sun flags were among those who gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm earlier this month for a memorial rally marking the third anniversary of Oct. 7.
Iranian activists who organized and attended the event told JNS that Swedish Jews and Israelis living in Stockholm also joined, despite growing anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments in Sweden today.
“We came together with the Jewish and Israeli communities in Sweden to break a longstanding taboo of public support for Israel, because we Iranians have experienced the same horrific slaughter and terrorism from the Islamic regime in Iran which they have faced by the regime’s proxy Hamas,” Fred Saberi, an Iranian activist in Sweden who attended the event, told JNS.
“We Iranians have no better friends in this world than the Jewish people and will always unapologetically stand with them,” he said.
Iranian activists told JNS that Iranian expats in Berlin, London and Paris and in Australia, Canada and the United States have attended events like the one in Sweden.
Amir Hamidi, an Iranian-American activist and board member of the Institute for Voices of Liberty, told JNS that many non-Jewish Iranians feel a bond with Jews and Israelis due to ancient ties between Jews and their liberator, Iranian king Cyrus the Great from Babylon. They also think of the contemporary alliance between Israel and Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to Hamidi.
“The Iranian people and the Jewish people are not natural enemies,” he told JNS. “The Islamic Republic manufactured that hostility for political and ideological purposes and many Iranians reject this ideology.”
When Iranians “proudly carry Israeli flags, they are expressing solidarity with the Jewish people, condemning the Oct. 7 terrorist atrocities and rejecting the Islamic Republic’s policies,” he said.
Potkin Azarmehr, an Iranian-British writer in London, told JNS that after Oct. 7, Iranians living in the United Kingdom have been marching side-by-side with British Jews and Israelis despite facing attacks and threats from local anti-Israel protestors and violent Islamic thugs.
“We Iranians were not fooled by the Hamas propaganda after Oct. 7, because we have firsthand experienced the same horrific terrorism and sheer brutality from the Islamic regime in Iran,” he said. “We sympathize with our Israeli and Jewish friends.”
Iranians in London have had windows to their storefronts broken after they displayed the traditional Iranian lion-and-sun flag and Israeli flag, according to Azarmehr. They have also been physically assaulted by Islamists during pro-Israel rallies, and sometimes British police have arrested Iranians for defending themselves from such attacks during public demonstrations, he said.
“We have all paid the price but continue to stand with Israel and Israelis, because if they lose this fight against the Islamic regime and its terrorist proxies, we Iranians also lose,” he told JNS. “We share the same enemies.”
The leading Iranian opposition leader, exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, released a statement on social media platforms on the third anniversary of Oct. 7 expressing solidarity with Israelis and calling for members of the Islamic regime in Iran, who supported the Hamas-led massacre, to be brought to justice.
“The Islamic Republic that armed and supported Hamas is the same regime that keeps Iranians in chains,” he stated. “When Iran is free, we will hold all those involved in these crimes accountable.”
Tina Ghazimorad, the crown prince’s spokeswoman, told JNS that many Iranians living in European and other Western cities have supported Jewish communities in the fight against antisemitism, because they have witnessed the devastating effects of such hate in Iran in past decades.
“This solidarity is deeply rooted in the recognition that the very same leftist-Islamist alliance that devastated Iran is now the flagship driver of global antisemitism,” Ghazimorad told JNS.
Iranian activists in the diaspora have participated in several large events with Jews and Israelis this past year, including an “extinguish antisemitism” event in London in May and a large “walk with Israel” march in Toronto in June, she said.
Saberi, the activist in Sweden, and other Iranian diaspora activists told JNS that a large part of widespread Iranian support for Israel online and offline stems from the Israeli army eliminating the Islamic regime’s military and political leaders and paramilitary forces during attacks in June 2025 and in late February of this year.
“The people of Iran have no weapons to fight back against this brutal regime that slaughtered 50,000 plus innocents, who protested them in January,” Saberi told JNS. “Who in the world helped us? Who removed our oppressors and the killers of our loved ones when the world stayed silent? It was Israel alone.”
“So it’s no surprise that we stand with Israel,” he said.
An Iranian man in his mid-30, who lives outside of Tehran, spoke to JNS recently about Iranian support for Israel. He spoke anonymously for fear that the regime would arrest and imprison him for talking to a Western and Jewish publication.
He cited a now viral video, in which thousands of Iranians at a soccer match chanted a crude message about the Islamic Republic regime.
“Behind their chanted slogan of ‘shove the Palestinian flag up your butt’ lies a significant philosophy that the nations of Iran and Israel are the only natural allies in the Middle East, but the only two who are not ideologically aligned or in agreement with the other Islamic nations of the Middle East,” the Iranian man told JNS.
“To ensure their own survival, the bond between these two nations must be continuously strengthened,” the man in his 30s said.
Hormoz Shariat, an Iranian American pastor, told JNS that 25 years ago, he started Iran Alive Ministries in Dallas not only to evangelize Christianity to his Muslim countrymen in Iran via a 24-hour satellite television network, but also to combat hate propagated by the Islamic regime in Iran.
“I believe our television program played a role, small or large, to counter the Islamic Republic’s evil propaganda of hate,” Shariat told JNS. “Over the years, we have brought Jews on our program with a message of love to millions inside Iran, and we’ve brought awareness about the long history of friendship between Iranians and the Jewish people.”
Matt Forouzandy, an Iranian artist and LGBT human rights advocate now living in Los Angeles, told JNS that Iranians in Iran and in the diaspora have expressed special affection on social media for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom they call “Bibi joon,” which means “Bibi dear” in Persian.
That Iranian affection for Netanyahu “is undoubtedly connected to his government’s policies and his determination to confront the Islamic Republic and its network of regional proxies,” Forouzandy said.
Some European Jewish activists told JNS that they were grateful for the support they have received from Iranians in their cities where antisemitism and anti-Israel activities have increased with impunity.
“The Jewish community in Sweden is ghettoized, passive and very assimilated, so they prefer to keep a low profile,” Aron Flam, a Swedish Jewish writer and satirist told JNS.
“The Iranian community here have been amazing friends and steadfast to those of us here who are speaking out against the constant hate for Israel and Jews,” he said.
Beni Sabti, an Iranian-Israeli expert on Iran at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, told JNS that he and other Israelis have been pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of support from Iranians worldwide.
“The fact that so many Iranians today are just like us and want to be finally rid of these terrorist groups like Hezbollah and the Islamic regime in Iran is very heartwarming,” he said. “Israelis are very appreciative of this support from Iranians over the years, before and after Oct. 7.”
In recent years, the Israeli-American Council has actively built bridges between Israelis and Iranians.
In 2024, the council invited Pahlavi, the crown prince, to speak at its 2024 national conference in Washington, D.C.
“In March 2026, we invited Iranian-American leaders and activists to participate in our IAC Magen taskforce session, where we helped direct them on how to develop allies and alliance with different groups,” Noa Peri-Jensch, chief communities officer at the council, told JNS.
“When we saw our Iranian friends supporting us and Israel at our different rallies, we also wanted to help them out with getting their sound systems and helping to get the word out by encouraging Israelis and Jews to attend their demonstrations,” she said.
Leaders of some U.S. Jewish organizations told JNS they too have been appreciative of the public support from Iranian Americans of various faiths, who have shown support for Israelis and Jews when antisemitism has been on the rise in the country.
Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, told JNS that many activists in the American Jewish community are openly supporting the freedom movement for the people in Iran.
“Our message to the Iranian people is clear. You are not alone. We stand with you,” she said. “This is a time to strengthen our alliances. The Jewish people and the Iranian people have much to gain by standing together against a regime that threatens both of our communities.”
JNS sought comment from several American Jewish organizations, including those who work with the Iranian diaspora, about the support that Jews and Israel are receiving from Iranians.
Individual Iranian-American Jewish activists said that in recent years, they have been trying to educate Iranians worldwide through Persian news media and social media platforms about the false antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda regularly spread by the Islamic regime in Iran.
“Iranian Jews serve as the vital bridge between the Iranian people and Israel,” George Haroonian, a long-time Iranian Jewish activist in Los Angeles, told JNS.
“Because of our shared history, culture, and direct experience with the regime’s policies, we are uniquely positioned to foster cooperation and mutual understanding between both peoples,” he said.
