‘I am so sad, I’m crying’: Iranian community in California’s ‘Tehrangeles’ reacts to US strikes

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00:00It's an emblematic place for the Iranian community in the United States.

00:04The Persian square in the Westwood neighborhood, affectionately known as Tehranjeles, where

00:10Tehran meets Los Angeles with its Iranian restaurants, shops, and bookstores.

00:17Here is the gallery of Geet-e-Zihag.

00:20In the paintings of this Iranian-American artist who left her homeland over two decades

00:25ago, a reflection of today's world.

00:28She holds her country of origin responsible for the current situation.

00:33Why is this war?

00:37Is for what?

00:40Getting our land?

00:42No.

00:43Just is for nuclear bomb.

00:46Who wants to have nuclear bomb?

00:49The people have right in their country?

00:53No.

00:55The government wants.

00:56What the people doesn't want.

00:59Nearby is this grocery store with its products that bring joy to the Iranian community of

01:05Los Angeles.

01:06Its owner, Mohamed Ghaffari, left Iran in 1974.

01:10The situation in his native country saddens him enormously.

01:14I am so unhappy, so sad, and I'm crying because of people, they don't know what to do in Iran

01:28and in Israel.

01:29Yeah.

01:30We had the best country before the revolution.

01:35Everybody lives well, but right now, they are poor, they are running everywhere, and they

01:42have nothing.

01:44constitute me.

01:46Among Mohamed Ghaffari's neighbors is Ruzbe Farahanipur.

01:49Manipur. He's one of the leaders of the 1999 student demonstrations who sought asylum in the

01:55United States after being sentenced to death. But despite his hatred of the Mullah regime,

02:01he disapproves of foreign intervention to bring it down. I was against the war always. I continue

02:08to be against the war and also continue to fight against the Islamic Republic. We are not conflict.

02:14I don't believe enemy of my enemy necessarily going to be my friend. Sometimes at the end,

02:21they become a bigger enemy. Israel should have a right to defend themselves against the Islamic

02:27Republic. But defending, that's something different than attacking. The Iranian diaspora here in Los

02:34Angeles watches the developments in the Middle East with great concern. They face a difficult

02:39contradiction, wanting the downfall of the oppressive regime they fought against while fearing their

02:46homeland could turn into chaos.

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