LOS ANGELES, California – Los Angeles, boasting the largest Iranian community outside of Iran, has emerged as a pivotal hub for Iranians abroad as tensions in the Middle East reach a boiling point.

In the wake of U.S. and Israeli military actions in Iran, which reportedly resulted in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, thousands took to the streets of Los Angeles. For many who cherish memories of pre-revolution Iran, this news marked a moment they had long anticipated.

Roozbeh Farahanipour, an Iranian American who was only seven during Iran’s 1979 revolution, expressed his disbelief at the news.

“I grabbed a bottle of champagne, opened it, and drank it up,” Farahanipour remarked. “This was the moment we had been waiting for, for so many years.”

Farahanipour has a history of opposing Iran’s regime and was deeply involved in the resistance movements before his eventual escape from Iran.

He recounted his involvement in the 1999 student protests in Iran, which led to his arrest and a subsequent announcement of his execution in a newspaper before any trial could occur. This harrowing experience drove him to flee the country.

“[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.