Irishman's wife speaks out as family in Iran struggles during conflict
Regan Kelly
As the situation in the Middle East continues, and like most conflicts, one may be forgiven for overlooking the human cost to all of this.
Like many around the world, in Ireland, there has been serious concern for our citizens caught up in the war, with huge numbers of Irish people living in the UAE alone, according to ireland.ie.
To ensure the safety of some Irish people, the government chartered flights from Oman to Dublin. Other flights were provided by Emirates, going from Dubai to Dublin.
For those people and their families, they can know that they are safe, at least, but for others, it isn't that simple.
We spoke to Violet Tabrizi, an Iranian woman who is married to Irishman Padraig Carr, originally from Mullingar.
Both Violet and Padraig live in London, but lived together in Dubai for many years, so they are well-versed in the Middle East.
Although raised in Canada, Violet remains a proud Iranian, regularly vocal against the regime and supportive of recent protests.
She tells us all about the war from her perspective, and how her grandma is still living there and doing her best to get through it.
“Ive got a lot of family in Iran, as well as some friends that I went to school with and friends from Canada who went back to Iran.
“My grandmother is still there, and just thinking back to the communication blackouts, these were really hard because we didn’t know what was going on.
“Obviously, my grandmother wasn't in the protests, but at one point I was just hoping that she wasn't arrested.”
Violet looked back on her thoughts at the time, worrying about the safety of her grandmother.
“At one point, I was just hoping that she hadn't been arrested, because if she got killed, that's one thing, but if she got arrested, that is almost a fate worse over there with what they do to protesters.
“She did eventually come back online and was able to send me a message after two weeks, so she is safe. But again, I haven't heard from them again, and it's been a roller coaster of emotions, really.”
The reality of life in Iran is often lost while it's being reported on, as most forms of media in the country are controlled by the regime.
Violet's friends and family have been trying to keep her informed on what is happening on the ground, but this often comes with risks.
She said: “From what I've gathered from my friends and family, state TV is all propaganda-driven, where they even show snipers shooting protesters in the back, celebrating the fact that they are defeating enemies of the state.
“For example, around a month ago, my friend put up a story on her Instagram, and it wasn’t that bad. She received threatening text messages from the government, demanding she take this down, or they will take legal action against her.
“I just thought, this is what they are spending their money on instead of actually fixing the economy.”
There have been many reports of the war affecting resources in Iran, with things like meat becoming very expensive.
Violet gave an insight into how this affects the average person, using her grandmother as an example.
“My grandmother lives quite comfortably in general, but she said to me some weeks back, if I can't buy meat, like chicken, beef or lamb, imagine what's happening to all the other people not as well off as me.
“I got a phone call at 7am on Saturday morning, from my grandmother, and she never calls me that early, simply to call me because she knew that communications were going to get cut off again.
“My grandma is staying with a friend at the moment because her flat is in a really bad spot, which has taken a lot of beatings from bombs.”
Violet is a strong critic of the regime and has been vocal online about her home country since the late 2000s.
She would love to go home, but she argues that they would never allow her in.
“It's not a case that we can go to Iran at any time because of our friends and associations, we have friends that are journalists, and I have been very vocal.
“In 2009, during the green movement on the internet, I was very vocal for the last few months. I think I am ripe for someone that they would arrest for being a foreign spy at this point.
“It’s not like I can go back and say to my grandma, let's go to Turkey together and get you out of here. Sadly, I just can't do that.”
For Iranians, this is not a very hopeful time, but we asked Violet what she would like to see happen to her home country in the near future.
She said: “The hope is the regime goes, because it's going to get worse if they stay. There are various scenarios that could play out, but none of us knows right now.
“It could play out to be like an Iraq situation, where it ends up being quite unstable, but it's less tribal than Iraq; it could be easier, as so many people want regime change.”
Violet envisions a vibrant future for Iran if there is a regime change, praising the country's potential and how friendly it’s people are.
“Its potential is vast, Iranians are a very educated population. There are a huge number of engineers, doctors and scientists. They have been held back.
“Another thing that would help is tourism, because despite what they show on the news, that's only like 10% of the population; people are really hospitable.
“They will just invite random Westerners into their home just for dinner. If it goes under the right leadership, Iran has so much potential.”
Violet concluded by speaking about her and Padraig’s hopes to one day get to visit Iran, and how they feel deflated at times, just wanting to visit.
“Padraig has never been. The closest he got to was Dubai. We’ve been wanting to go back for a few years now, but it’s always been a bit risky. Just with things that I post on the internet, so we just decided to hang on.
“When the protests started to happen, we felt different this time compared to previous protests. My friends and I all got together on that Saturday, and Padraig was there, and we were so excited at the prospect of going back, thinking it was going to be great.
“But then it was like a crushing defeat, and I think that we were all grieving; we all wanted to go visit.
“Would we ever live there? Depends on the country it becomes, but I think we would all go back and help rebuild it because it would be up to us; no one else is going to help us.”
For Iranians like Violet, this is a difficult time. Living so far away from home and trying to keep on top of what is happening there is hard. Communication blackouts and propaganda make it hard to form a concrete picture, but Violet remains hopeful that her country can recover.