Iran diaspora in Los Angeles dream of ‘regime change'

Straits Times

25-06-2025

Filled with Middle Eastern grocery stores, carpet merchants and bookstores selling books in Farsi, the neighborhood is also known as 'Little Persia'. PHOTO REUTERS
LOS ANGELES - At his grocery store in an Iranian neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mr Mohammad Ghafari is worried sick about his brothers and sisters since the United States bombed the Islamic republic's nuclear sites.
But as he stands among his dates, dried plums and pistachios, he also cherishes the hope of change in his native country.
Iran 'is not capable of providing food to the Persian people,' said Mr Ghafari, who left to study abroad before the 1979 revolution and never returned.
'If the people (there) were happy about a change of regime, I would be too.'
'Everyone would be happy,' agreed Ms Fereshteh, one of his customers and a fellow resident of so-called 'Tehrangeles' – a mash-up of Tehran and Los Angeles.
For Ms Fereshteh, who gave only her first name to protect her identity, 'Donald Trump is a hero'.
The American president ordered strikes against three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, providing unprecedented support to Israel in its offensive against Iran.
He even raised the possibility of 'regime change', before backing away and saying it would sow chaos.
Any talk of ousting Iran's clerical leadership resonates strongly in the Los Angeles area, where nearly 200,000 Iranian-Americans live, making the Californian metropolis the diaspora's global hub.
Many of its members live in the west end of the city, near the University of California, Los Angeles campus.
Filled with Middle Eastern grocery stores, carpet merchants and bookstores selling books in Farsi, the neighborhood is also known as 'Little Persia'.
The immigrants who have made it their home include minorities often seen as discriminated against in Iran, such as Jews, Christians and Assyrians.
'Rise up'
'It's time for the Iranian people to rise up, because right now, the regime is very weak,' said Ms Fereshteh, herself Jewish, who fled Iran in the 1980s during the war between her country and Iraq.
Mr Trump was elected on a promise to focus on America and stay out of foreign wars.
But among the grocery store's customers, some would like him to push his intervention in Iran to the limit.
'We should send troops there,' says Ms Mehrnoosh, a 45-year-old woman who arrived in the United States in 2010.
'The people there have their hands tied,' she said, adding that 'the regime killed so many Iranians three years ago during the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini,' a student arrested for allegedly flouting dress rules for women.
But on the patio of the Taste of Tehran restaurant, one man hopes the United States will pull back to avoid its fate in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'Change by force never pays off...Change must come from within, by the people, for the people, and we're not there yet,' said the 68-year-old engineer, who wished to remain anonymous.
The conflict has so far claimed more than 600 lives in Iran and 28 in Israel, according to authorities in both countries.
A fragile ceasefire in the war between Iran and Israel war appeared to be holding on June 24 – a relief for the engineer, who had recently spoken to his aunt on the phone.
For several days, she fled Tehran for the north-west of the country to escape Israeli bombardments.
'Is it worth it? Absolutely not,' he said, recalling he lost his grandparents to bombs during the Iran-Iraq War. 'My hope is for all this to end soon.' AFP
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