Members of Iranian student group at Stony Brook hope for regime change even after ceasefire

Stony Brook University graduate student Sadra Hosseini is deeply troubled by the death and devastation caused so far by the U.S. and Israeli war in his native Iran.

But the war is necessary, added Hosseini, who, like other members of the university's Iranian Graduate Student Association interviewed Wednesday by Newsday, remained perplexed and uncertain about what comes next after  President Donald Trump's announcement of a ceasefire.

Hosseini, 25, a doctoral student in chemistry, described Iran's government — an autocratic regime since 197 9, with a single religious and military leader at the helm — as a malignant presence in the lives of the country's citizens.

"Right now, the Islamic Republic is exactly like a cancer, and this is the chemotherapy," he said. "It hurts. It’s very expensive. But we have to do it."

The ceasefire came hours after Trump had warned that unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial oil tankers by 8 p.m. Tuesday, a "whole civilization will die tonight."

Until Trump's ceasefire declaration, the graduate students interviewed by Newsday said it was their impression the United States and Israel were going to definitively take out the Iranian regime.

"I think a lot of my friends are confused, some of them are angry, some of them are disappointed," said Vahid Danesh, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering who is president of the student association.

The ceasefire followed seven weeks of relentless airstrikes on Iran by the United States and Israel that have decimated Iran's military capabilities and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking government and military leaders.

Danesh noted to hear about a ceasefire, but "the regime is still there, that’s kind of disappointing."

It was not clear Wednesday whether there was in fact a ceasefire, as Iran continued to fire missiles at other Persian Gulf nations and closed the Strait of Hormuz again, while Israel carried out extensive bombings in Lebanon.

A fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait, which has been closed by Iran for weeks amid  U.S and Israeli airstrikes.

The Stony Brook campus is home to between 100 and 150 students and faculty members of Iranian descent, with many of them born in Iran, Danesh said.

Like others in the association, a halt to hostilities surprised Mahdi Rezaei, 37, a doctoral student in chemistry, and also like others in the association, he's hopeful it's temporary.

"This war may give us the chance by removing the government to move to the democracy," Rezaei said, "to the freedom."

 The ceasefire "is a kind of game," anyway, Hosseini said. "The reason is obvious" — the price of oil.

"What we are asking from Israel and the United States is to just please wipe out this regime," Hosseini said. "That’s our first request."

Danesh agreed the ceasefire may be a ploy by Trump.

"Maybe this is a trick to" to delay, and then attack again later, he said.

Many Iranians thought the war "was going to end the regime, but the regime is still there," Danesh added.

He is able to occasionally communicate with friends in Iran for two or three minutes at a time, Danesh told Newsday, and all want the regime out.

Were that regime to survive, Hosseini said, he feared it could grow into more of a rogue government than ever.

"If the United States leaves Iran this way, it is going to turn into a second North Korea, maybe even worse," Hosseini said.

With The Associated Press