Share and Follow
LOS ANGELES, California – Los Angeles, known for hosting the largest Iranian community outside Iran, has become a significant gathering place for the Iranian diaspora as the Middle East conflict heats up.
In the aftermath of U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran, which allegedly resulted in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, thousands took to the streets of Los Angeles. For those who have memories of Iran prior to the 1979 revolution, this development marked a long-awaited moment.
Roozbeh Farahanipour, an Iranian American who was only 7 years old when religious leaders took over in Iran, expressed his disbelief at the news.
“I popped open a bottle of champagne and drank it all,” Farahanipour shared. “This was the moment we had been waiting for, for so many years.”
Farahanipour had previously engaged in opposition activities against the Iranian regime before making his escape from the country.
Farahanipour participated in student protests in Iran in 1999, events that eventually forced him to flee the country after authorities arrested him. He recalled learning that his execution had been announced in a newspaper before his trial, prompting him to escape Iran.
“[The] night before my trial, they published my execution judgment in the newspaper, day before back to trial. That’s the last day I was in Iran,” Farahanipour recounted.
Roozbeh Farahanipour said he fled Iran after reading his execution judgment in the local newspaper. (Amalia Roy)
While he initially supported the U.S. and Israeli strikes that targeted senior leaders of Iran’s government, he now worries the military operation has continued longer than necessary.
“Minute one, after starting the war, they killed the head of state. They should announce the victory at minute two,” he said. “Why should we stay there and make it more complicated?”
Mohammad Ghafarian left Iran in 1972 to study, before the revolution. He doesn’t plan on returning, but Ghafarian has siblings in the country he has not heard from since the conflict began. (Amalia Roy)
Mohammad Ghafarian, who left Iran years before the revolution to study abroad, now runs a grocery store in Los Angeles. He said he has not heard from his family in Iran for nearly a month and fears for civilians caught in the violence.
“I would love for the governments of America and Israel to overthrow the regime,” Ghafarian said. “But when they are bombing our country — facilities, power plants, water reservoirs, houses — they can’t divide the people from bad to good.”
Despite concerns about the ongoing conflict, some Iranian Americans believe the strikes could open the door for Iranians inside the country to challenge the regime.