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San Francisco Chronicle​

How S.F. residents helped their families — and strangers — out of Iran amid conflict

On her last night in Tehran on June 12, Mahsa stayed up late with her family, passing around plates of kabob, joking and exchanging gifts until 2:30 a.m. She hadn't been back to Iran in more than a decade, and the next day she was supposed to fly home to San Francisco. But within 30 minutes of her goodbye party ending, Israel launched airstrikes targeting military personnel in Tehran. The move resulted in a 12-day war between the two countries that killed at least 600 people in Iran and 28 people in Israel, and ultimately led to the U.S. launching its own attacks on several of Iran's nuclear sites. Within hours of the first strike, Iran's airports were closed. Commercial flights were grounded. What began as a joyful visit for Mahsa, who asked to be identified by her first name only due to safety concerns, to visit family she hadn't seen in nearly 11 years quickly turned into an emergency. Like many other people caught in the middle of a fast-escalating conflict, Mahsa suddenly had no way to leave. This week, President Trump announced that Iran and Israel had agreed to a cease-fire. Despite some initial violations of the cease-fire from both sides, the agreement appeared to be holding. Still, flights in and out of Iran have been limited, and most travelers remain stuck, waiting or trying to find a way across the border. It's not known how many U.S. citizens are in Iran, but past estimates have put the number at thousands. The U.S. State Department issued an advisory Thursday urging U.S. citizens to leave Iran immediately either through the border in Azerbaijan, Turkey or Armenia. While the airspace in Iran has partially reopened, most commercial flights are still avoiding the country and some airports remain shuttered. Since the shutdown, people have scrambled to leave by car, shuttle, bus and sometimes on foot in hopes of reaching airports in Turkey or Armenia. Some of those journeys have taken more than 20 hours — and for people scrambling to find a way out, including Mahsa, are fraught with concerns over border crossings, travel accommodations and safety. Gas shortages across Iran have only made it harder. 'I got to experience firsthand just how much confusion there was around what are the routes to take, just different people were saying different things,' said Shirin Oreizy, a San Francisco resident who helped find a way out for one of her family members visiting from the U.S. who was stuck in Iran. 'There was a lack of Internet connectivity. It was just really burdensome and confusing and you layer that in with the amount of fear we had at the time.' Oreizy said her family member was eventually able to find a route out through Turkey, but her frantic experience is shared among many Iranian Americans. So Oreizy created a document detailing multiple travel routes from Iran to cities in Turkey and Armenia. She documented people's successful journeys so that others finding a way out could model their own escape — which has since been shared with hundreds of people. 'I ended up talking to friends of friends and really documenting how they were departing Iran, what borders were open, what tips they had for people, who were the taxi services they were using,' Oreizy said. Ali S., a San Francisco resident who works in film production and asked that their last name be withheld due to safety concerns, also created a resource document with the names and numbers of private drivers, travel agencies in Iran and other resources for people. 'I'm responding to messages all day now — people think I'm the person who can get them out so I get messages like, 'My family is stuck there, can you get them out?' Hopefully (this) can help out,' Ali said. In the initial aftermath of the first strike, Oreizy, like many others, said she was paralyzed with fear watching the news to see whether her loved one could get out and what would happen with the rest of her family who live in Iran. It wasn't until a few days later that she created the document — a resource that Mahsa didn't have access to when she planned her departure, but now includes the details of her journey for others looking for a way out. Mahsa, who has lived in San Francisco for over 20 years and works as a dentist, said she began to panic as the missiles kept coming. One landed just a block from her parents' apartment. 'I really wanted to get my parents out,' she said. Mahsa considered driving nearly 16 hours to Yerevan, Armenia, but heard from friends that the route could be closed. Her sister in the U.S. was able to get Mahsa and her parents, who are 73 and 82, tickets from Istanbul. Mahsa said she had three days to figure out how to get to Turkey. Mahsa eventually found a private driver who could take her and her parents the 10-hour journey to the border. The family would then cross the border by foot into Turkey, where another private driver would be waiting for them to drive them six hours from the border to a city in Turkey before boarding a flight to Istanbul. 'We just had to pack necessities. We had one carry-on each,' Mahsa said. 'I had a lot of gifts from my family like Iranian antique stuff, wine glasses and tea glasses, and I had to leave them all behind.' Despite the stressful and fearful ending to her trip, Mahsa said it was amazing to return to Iran after such a long time away. Her parents, who are dual citizens, have a home there and much of her extended family still live in Iran. She spent most of her visit with family and walking around Tehran's historic neighborhoods. 'It was heaven. It was wonderful,' Mahsa said. 'People are so loving and so caring. There is a lot of connection and a lot of art.'