'A slap in our face': NZ-Iranian disappointed at peace deal without regime change

19 minutes ago

A woman walks past a billboard displaying Iran’s national flag at Enghelab Square in Tehran on 14 June 2026.

Photo: AFP

An organiser for the Iranian-New Zealand community says any peace deal with the Islamic Republic is unacceptable.

Mehrdad Soltanifar had been hopeful the conflict between the US and Iran would lead to a regime change, but a peace deal has signalled an apparent end to the three-month war.

"Any agreement, any agreement, with the Islamic Republic feels like a slap in our face to all of us and the Iranian people," Soltanifar said.

"Especially to the families who have lost their loved ones during the protests in January ... Any type of agreement with this monstrous regime is not acceptable to any Iranian."

US President Donald Trump said on Monday (NZT) a memorandum of understanding aiming to end the war had been signed by the United States and Iran, drawing calls from his opponents to publish the text.

An official signing ceremony for the agreement is due to be held on Friday in Geneva.

The agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and extend a ceasefire for 60 days allowing negotiations on the future of Iran's nuclear programme.

Soltanifar said work to overthrow the Iranian regime would continue, and he hoped democratic countries like the United States would continue to support the efforts.

"Our journey to freedom and democracy didn't start with this war, and this agreement won't stop it. We will continue to get our country back," he said.

"What we hope to see from the democratic nations is targeted actions to weaken the regime so when the next uprising occurs, it can happen with the least possible casualties."

Soltanifar said many Iranians were grateful that the United States had eliminated Ali Khamenei and several senior generals, but noted the political state in Iran hadn't changed much.

"Iran's political situation remains fundamentally unchanged from before the war," he said.

"[But] the economy is on the verge of collapse, and there is a big fracture among the forces as well, so we are hoping we can get back our country soon."

Iranian-born New Zealander Bahram Kargar escaped Iran in 1984, and was accepted as a refugee by Australia. He now calls Wellington home after living in New Zealand for more than two decades.

He told Morning Report two of his cousins had been injured in the war and his family were in constant fear of air strikes.

"My cousin was telling that each time the phone rings, they'll get news that someone is dead. Imagine living there and every time the bomb comes." he said.

He hopes the deal Iran will hold, but said the military action had failed to result in regime change.

"You've got the US killing on one side, and on the other side you've got the regime starting to expand their executions," he said.

In May, Amnesty International published a report saying the Iranian regime was using "wartime conditions" to intensify repression through mass arbitrary arrests, politically motivated executions and harsh prison sentences. It said Iranian authorities had arbitrarily arrested more than 6000 people.

Kargar said the Iranian regime was still very much in control.

"The reality is they thought by killing one person, the regime will change... they are more sophisticated than that. They've actually become worse as there are more fanatic people in power now," Kargar said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed by a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound in February. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed as his successor.

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