Members of Calgary’s Iranian community are looking to the future as a military campaign unfolds against the Islamic Republic.

Israel and the United States launched an attack against Iran Saturday morning. According to state media, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among the Iranian leadership killed in the strikes.

The military action against Iran came as “good news” to Calgary activist Armin Zarringhalam.

‘Within two minutes of the explosions happening, every Iranian around the world was awakened, everyone was excited, everyone was like ‘oh my God, they finally did it,'” he said.

Zarringhalam is among the organizers of a series of weekly protests against the Islamic Republic in Calgary over the last two months, which he says have attracted thousands of supporters.

“Our goal was to keep doing this until Iran is free,” said the Iranian-Canadian. “And right now, we’re stepping closer and closer.”

That freedom refers to the toppling of the Islamic Republic, which took control following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Khamenei, who played a key role in that movement, served as Iran’s supreme leader for 37 years.

Zarringhalam said the latest military action “gave hope” to Iranians in and outside of the country that “people are ready to finally topple this dictatorship, this oppressive regime and finally have a beautiful, free Iran, like they’ve always deserved.”

But not everyone has a positive outlook on the latest developments.

Safaneh Mohaghegh Neyshabouri, an associate professor of Muslim cultures at the University of Calgary, says she worries for her friends and family back in Iran.

“Honestly, I’m just in fear,” she said. “The last message I got from my family was one of my cousins saying, ‘oh, we haven’t even bought water yet.'”

Neyshabouri spoke to CBC News before substantive reports of Khamenei’s death came in.

A near-total internet blackout across Iran presents communications challenges amid the uncertainty of the military action.

Neyshabouri, who left Iran after political unrest swept the country in 2009, criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for calling on Iranians to overthrow the Islamic Regime in light of the U.S. and Israeli military campaign.

“What do you mean ‘rise up’ when the streets are being bombed?” Neyshabouri said.

“People who are in this situation, and people who are fearing for their lives, and you’re bombing also asking them to take over,” she said. “I don’t see how that’s going to happen.”

According to Iranian state media, more than 200 people were killed in Iran Saturday morning.

“I worry about, not just my [family, but] for people to be reduced into numbers and statistics, knowing that what they want was freedom. What they want was to live,” Neyshabouri said.

As of Saturday, the Canadian government is warning Canadians to avoid all travel to Iran, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Iraq, and to avoid non-essential travel to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Rallies happening in Calgary, Edmonton

The weekly rally Zarringhalam co-organizes will take place Sunday afternoon at Calgary city hall. He says it will be “an important day.”

“Iranians will be coming out, rejoicing, hand-to-hand together and possibly even having a little bit of a celebration,” said Zarringhalam.

Another rally is being held at city hall at 11:30 a.m. to call for an end to military aggression against Iran. That gathering is being organized by Voice of the Oppressed Calgary, a group protesting international acts of violence.

In Edmonton, a rally is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday at Sir Winston Churchill Square.