Kyana Moghadam: [00:00:05] Do you want me to get a mic? I could set up a mic if you want it to sound better.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:10] This is Kyana Moghadam. She’s a journalist based in Oakland and a friend of ours here on The Bay. And she’s one of the thousands of Iranian Americans who’ve been watching the news of the U.S.’s war with Iran with shock.
Kyana Moghadam: [00:00:26] I immediately messaged my cousin, Sara, because they live in Tehran. She said everyone was safe, but that she could hear the explosions and that her brother, my other cousin, was on his way home from work. And then I haven’t heard from her since.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:43] Kyana says, this is what communicating with family back in Iran has been like under the current regime. Internet blackouts during protests or political uprisings are common. But over the weekend, the U.S. And Israel launched coordinated strikes all over Iran. On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Who ruled as Iran’s supreme leader for decades.
Kyana Moghadam: [00:01:16] Some people are really, really celebrating. And I think there is cause for celebration in some of that. But it also comes at such a cost. And no one wants to see their homeland or people be bombed.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:33] Some Iranian Americans say they’ve been waiting for this moment. Others condemn the U.S. And Israel’s involvement in yet another war in the Middle East. Kyana says these divisions are understandable and painful.
Kyana Moghadam: [00:01:52] Like it’s even hard to post online right now because the reactions are so varied and anyone who’s had to live under the regime for a long time is gonna have a very different experience than someone over here, like me, who is like kind of connecting through different ways. So I think there’s a lot of really understandable differences in how people are approaching this and thinking about it. But I feel like at the center of it all is like the cost of human life.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:02:20] Today, we’re going to hear a tapestry of reactions from Iranian Americans at opposing protests in San Jose and San Francisco, as well as callers from KQED’s Forum, in their own words.
Protest chanting: [00:02:42] USA! USA! Good morning everyone! It’s a beautiful day!
Reporter: [00:02:52] It would be great to use your name.
Amir Rezvani: [00:02:56] Amir. I moved out of Iran like 17 years ago but like you know I still have families over there living under this tyranny.
Reporter: [00:03:05] Is your family still there right now?
Amir Rezvani: [00:03:07] Yeah
Amir Rezvani: [00:03:10] Just before the war started, we had a call with them, and then right after that, complete digital blackout, and yeah. You know, we hope that this military action, military intervention, continues and like, you know, after 47 years of tyranny, like brutality, atrocity, we can overthrow this regime once for good. I don’t have the crystal ball, crystal globe, and no one knows what happens, but this is our best chance. If we were not given this chance, this opportunity, there would have been guaranteed another, again, continuation of this regime for unknown amount of time. So, this is our best bet.
Speaker at protest: [00:04:00] We are not just celebrating the death of a man, we are celebrating the troubling of a regime that has cached their own lives.
Alexis Madrigal: [00:04:18] David in Menlo Park, welcome.
David: [00:04:20] Yes, so I’m actually Iranian-American and I’ve been here for many years. This is 50 years being under Sharia law. They arrested over 40,000 people. They tortured my cousin three months ago and they killed him. People have been celebrating now and we are all supporting the President Trump. This is a bin Laden moment for us.
Sepideh Aghamiri: [00:04:48] My name is Sepideh Aghamiri. I’m 36, and I’m local San Jose. So we are here today to support President Trump in his decision against Islamic Republic of Iran and also to show our support for our country, for USA.
Reporter: [00:05:10] Tell me about the flag you’re wearing around your body right now, and about your own personal connection.
Sepideh Aghamiri: [00:05:14] So this flag is the international flag of Iran so this is a true flag and that’s why you see all over our protests we’re having a real Iranian flag plus American flag, USA flag, and Israeli flags because these are the only two countries who’ve been supporting Iranian people and what actually they wanted. So I live locally in San Jose, I’ve been living here for the past six years now and I love this city for me to see that. People here do not value their freedom. What we don’t have in many countries outside the USA, it’s just beyond me. I can’t. That’s why we are here today.
Alexis Madrigal: [00:06:11] Welcome back to Forum, Alexis Madrigal here. We’re of course talking about the war in Iran. Let’s bring in Sara in Walnut Creek.
Sarah: [00:06:21] Yeah, hi, I just think that we attacked Iran exactly for the same reason that we attacked Iraq in 2003. This was unprovoked and illegal. And we did it exactly because Israel wanted us to attack Iran. I care a lot about my family, people of Iran, I don’t like Iranian regime. That’s why I’m here. But I do not approve any illegal and bombing attack on any country, specifically on Iran, that hasn’t done anything wrong. All other stories that we hear in the news is just these are lies, these are the things that Israeli media wanted us to say and wanted us believe, and we do, because if anybody doesn’t follow that, they will lose their jobs.
Protest chanting: [00:07:16] Liberation!
Yasmine Mortazabi: [00:07:26] Bombing kids is a crime!
Yasmine Mortazabi: [00:07:30] Hi everybody, my name is Yasmin. I’m a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and I’m also a proud Iranian-American. They want you to believe that every Iranian, both within Iran and in the diaspora, is cheering on the United States and Israel as they’ve dropped bombs on schools and homes, as they destroy infrastructure, and as they destabilize the entire region. And I am here to say that despite what the mass media may say, this is unequivocally false. My name is Yasmin Mordazavi. I am Iranian. I grew up going there every summer. My immediate family was just in Iran and I do have extended family in Iran as well. I think that the Iranian people in Iran can decide the future of their country. They’ve done it before and they can do it however many times they want. The sanctions that have been placed upon the Iranian people for almost 50 years have really hurt the people there. War, I don’t think, is going to help, like I said. People, there’s claims that this is about women’s rights, but we see girls’ schools being bombed. So, yeah, I, I dont’ share that opinion at all. I mean, my hopes is that the American imperialist forces can be lifted, that this war can end, that the sanctions can be lift, and that they can live in peace and that they can live in peace.
Alexis Madrigal: [00:09:10] We also have Sahar Razavi, who’s an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and the director of the Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center at Cal State Sacramento. Thanks for joining us.
Sahar Razavi: [00:09:22] Thanks for having me on.
Alexis Madrigal: [00:09:24] Sahar, what are you hearing from folks that you know in Iran? If you’ve been able to get in contact with them, what’s the reaction been?
