Vahid Ayan is an Iranian-Canadian engineer based in Redcliff, Alberta. He lived in Iran for 30 years before going abroad for his studies and later immigrating to Canada.At protests in cities across Canada, the United States, and Europe, a striking image has captured public attention. Iranian demonstrators often carry two flags side by side: Iran’s historical Lion and Sun flag and the flag of their host country. Canadians see the maple leaf raised with care. Americans see the stars and stripes. Europeans see their national colours treated with respect.For many Western observers, this has been both surprising and deeply positive. Online reactions frequently express admiration: Iranian protesters are not burning flags or rejecting their adopted countries, exposing the false image the Islamic regime has spent 47 years projecting to the world. They are honouring them.This is no coincidence. For Iranians, raising a flag is not a casual or political gesture. It is a moral statement — about dignity, justice, and the nature of legitimate authority. Understanding that cultural instinct explains not only why Iranians reject the regime’s flag at home, but also why they respectfully raise the flags of the countries that have given them freedom abroad..AYAN: The Shah's forgotten warning — and why it matters today.What a flag means in Iranian cultureIn Iranian tradition, a flag is not simply a marker of territory or power. It represents the relationship between a people and authority — whether the state protects its citizens or dominates them.That understanding runs deep. Long before modern nationalism, Iranians associated banners with justice and rightful rule. A flag was expected to stand above ideology, faction, and force. When it failed to do so, it lost legitimacy.This is why symbols matter so much in today’s uprising. They communicate, without slogans or speeches, what kind of country Iranians want — and what kind they refuse to accept..Kaveh the Blacksmith and the first Iranian bannerOne of the oldest stories in Iranian cultural memory is that of Kaveh the Blacksmith, preserved in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. Kaveh rises against a tyrant who has ruled through fear and bloodshed. Instead of a royal standard, he raises his leather blacksmith’s apron as a banner and calls the people to stand for justice.That banner, later known as the Derafsh Kaviani, became Iran’s first national emblem. It was eventually adorned with jewels and precious metals, but its meaning never changed: legitimate authority flows from the people, not from tyranny.This story still resonates because it defines the Iranian understanding of symbols. A banner is not sacred because of who holds power—it is sacred when it represents justice, dignity, and collective identity..WATCH: Thousands in Vancouver show solidarity with people of Iran against Islamic Republic regime.The Lion and Sun: A flag above ideologyFrom this tradition emerged Iran’s most enduring national emblem: the Lion and Sun. For centuries, it appeared on Iran’s flag under different dynasties and governments. Crucially, it was never tied to a single ideology, religion, or political movement.The lion symbolized strength and guardianship; the sun represented continuity and renewal. Together, they expressed Iran as a civilizational state rather than an ideological project. The emblem stood above rulers and regimes, representing the nation as a whole.This is why Iranians today deliberately carry the Lion and Sun flag. For Iranians, it represents a return to the dignity, national continuity, and sense of legitimate statehood they associate with the Pahlavi era. More broadly, it affirms that Iran’s identity predates the current Islamic regime—and that legitimacy belongs to the nation itself, not to an imposed ideology..The Islamic Republic flag: Stripped of national meaning from the moment it was imposedIn 1979, as the Islamic Republic consolidated power, Ayatollah Khomeini and the new regime declared the Lion and Sun emblem — long a part of Iran’s national flag — accursed and ordered its removal. It was replaced with a new Islamic symbol designed to align explicitly with the theocratic state they were constructing. Unlike earlier national symbols, the new emblem was inseparable from revolutionary and religious ideology.Today, Iranians view the revival of the Lion and Sun as both a symbol of the dignity and prosperity they associate with the Pahlavi era and a rejection of the imposed revolutionary identity, reaffirming a broader, inclusive national heritage that predates the Islamic Republic.For Iranians, this Islamic flag never became a unifying national symbol. It represented a regime rather than a people. Instead of standing above politics, it demanded allegiance to a specific ideology.As a result, it failed to carry the moral weight that Iranians expect from a national banner. This explains why protesters today overwhelmingly reject it. They are rejecting a religious symbol that no longer represents justice, dignity, or collective belonging..'HELP END THE REGIME': Thousands in Vancouver rally to support Iranian people's fight for freedom.Why Iranians raise the flags of other nationsThis cultural understanding also explains something many Western audiences have noticed with appreciation: Iranians abroad frequently raise the flags of their host countries during protests.This is not performative. It is instinctive.Many Iranians in the diaspora are dual citizens. Countries such as Canada, the United States, and those in Europe gave them refuge, legal protection, and the freedom to speak and protest peacefully — freedoms they do not enjoy in Iran occupied by Ayatollahs. They surely wept as they pledged allegiance to a new homeland, embracing its flag with gratitude, knowing they were denied the right to raise the true flag of their own country with pride in Iran.To Iranians, honouring a flag means honouring the values it represents. When they raise the Canadian flag, they are expressing gratitude for justice under law, freedom of expression, and civic dignity. They are saying: this flag protects people.In Iranian culture, respect for one’s own symbols naturally extends to respect for the symbols of other legitimate states. A society that treats its own flag as sacred because it represents justice will instinctively honour the flags of countries that live up to those ideals..Two flags, one messageTo some observers, two flags might suggest divided loyalty. To Iranians, they convey clarity.One flag represents memory, identity, and the country they seek to reclaim. The other represents lived experience — what justice, freedom, and lawful statehood look like in practice.They are not rivals. They speak the same language.A movement that honours flags understands states. It understands legitimacy, responsibility, and the rule of law. This is not a movement seeking chaos or ideological domination. It is one seeking restoration of dignity..'CLOSE TO COLLAPSE': Pahlavi calls on int'l community to help people of Iran topple Islamic regime.What Iranians Are really sayingMovements that aim to destroy states often begin by tearing down symbols. Movements that aim to rebuild states restore them.Iran’s current uprising belongs firmly to the latter. It is civic, national, and corrective. Through flags — not slogans — it communicates its intent: rejection of imposed ideology, affirmation of national continuity, and respect for democratic societies that protect their people.When Iranians raise your flag, they are not borrowing your identity. They are thanking your system — and asking for the same dignity at home.That message, carried quietly in cloth and colour, may be the clearest signal of what this uprising truly represents.Vahid Ayan is an Iranian-Canadian engineer based in Redcliff, Alberta. He lived in Iran for 30 years before going abroad for his studies and later immigrating to Canada.
