Iranian Diaspora Reacts to U.S. and Israeli Attacks in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California – As the largest Iranian community outside of Iran, Los Angeles has become a focal point for the Iranian diaspora amidst escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets following the U.S. and Israeli assaults in Iran, which reportedly resulted in the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader. For many in the area, particularly those who remember life in Iran prior to the 1979 revolution, this news felt monumental, something they had been anticipating for decades.
Rouzbeh Farahanipour, an Iranian-American who was just seven years old when the cleric took power, expressed disbelief. “I picked up a bottle of champagne, opened it and drank it,” he stated. “It was a moment we had been waiting for for years.”
Farahanipour was active in the student movement in Iran back in 1999 and was faced with arrest by authorities. He recalled the chilling moment when he discovered his execution had been announced in a newspaper prior to his trial, prompting him to flee the country.
“The night before my trial, they published my death sentence in the newspaper,” he recounted. “That was the last day I was in Iran,” he added, clearly still affected by the memory.
While he initially supported the military actions targeting Iranian officials, Farahanipour has grown uneasy about the prolongation of the situation. “In the first minute of the war, they killed the head of state. In the second minute, they should announce victory,” he said. “Why stay there and complicate things further?”
Mohammad Ghaffarian, who left Iran for studies in 1972, now runs a grocery store in Los Angeles. He hasn’t heard from his brother since the civil conflict intensified and is worried for his family. “I want the American and Israeli governments to overthrow the regime,” he said. “But when they bomb our country—our infrastructure, our homes—it’s hard to divide people into good and bad.”
Despite the ongoing violence, there are some in the Iranian-American community who believe that the strikes might inspire those back in Iran to challenge the current regime.
