Iranian Minnesotans have mixed emotions as conflict continues
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The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday evening after Trump had threatened on social media that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”
Trump set a deadline of 7 p.m. Central for Iranian leaders to agree to a deal that included reopening the Strait of Hormuz or else the military will target bridges and power plants.
In response, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iranians are willing to “sacrifice their lives” for this conflict. Trump said Tuesday that Iran offered a “workable” plan that could end the war.
It marked the end of a chaotic day in which many wondered what an escalation would entail.
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When Shaherzad Ahmadi, a University of St. Thomas professor specializing in Iranian history, heard the initial threats, she was horrified.
“This is genocidal,” she said. “It's bad for this to become part of the norm of what a president could say. But it's also bad, because it makes the United States seem to have very poor standing internationally. If another power were to say something like this, I mean, imagine if Russia said an entire civilization will die in Ukraine. It's just completely madness.”
Ahmadi’s parents are from Iran and her father was arrested by the Islamic Republic before they moved to America. Ahmadi said she hates the Islamic Republic, but she said the U.S. threat to Iran could put the entire Arab world in jeopardy.
“Should something happen in Iran, the number one thing they're going to want to do is attack, not just oil infrastructure, but infrastructure that makes water — drinking water — for people,” Ahmadi said. “And so then we're talking about like a mass catastrophe in the entire Middle East. So it would not be limited to Iran. Is that something the United States is willing to gamble? All of their Arab allies not having access to water?”
Ahmadi said she believes Iranians across the diaspora are anti-war. But she said the current conflict is not a debate of anti- or pro-Islamic Republic. It’s a debate of being anti- or pro-nuclear bomb. Ahmadi is against the use of a nuclear bomb.
But the Iranian American community in Minnesota is torn.
“President Trump talks crazy. But then I'm pretty sure they're going to be like, ‘Thank God someone like Trump existed in planet earth to confront this crazy regime.’ I'm happy. I'm very happy,” said Shiva Mix, an Iranian who moved to Minnesota in 2000.
Mix said she supports a plan to bomb Iran. She’s praying for the Islamic Republic regime to end no matter what. She compared Trump’s actions to treating cancer: treatment is often painful, but necessary.
”No one want to get diagnosed with cancer. They don't want that. But [the] Islamic Republic— we got diagnosed with cancer, and it just gradually, it's killing us,” Mix said.
Mix said she felt helpless growing up in Iran. She’s the only person in her family who lives in America, but she said her family in Iran feel the same way she does—-that the war and violence is a necessary evil.
“We pray for these people to put their missiles down and say, ‘We surrender,’” Mix said. “I feel bad for even trees and birds when bomb gets dropped. Forget about my family. It's sad what we're going through. No country should go through it, but when it gets to this point, what do you want to do?”
As co-founder of the Minnesota Committee in Support of a Democratic Iran, Parham Alaei hopes for democracy amidst Trumps threats.
“It is a tough place for us,” Alaei said. “We never wanted a war. We wanted people to be able to change the regime themselves. And this doesn't happen in the war. You cannot bomb your way into bringing democracy, of course, so the people have to be supported to bring it about themselves.”
Cheri Shakiban has been in the United States for over 50 years. She is a member of the Baha’i Faith—a minority religion that been persecuted by the Islamic Republic for 47 years.
”The Baha’is, we are not for war. We don't want the infrastructure to be attacked and destroyed. What point is that? To destroy all the universities, all the power plants, and put the people, innocent people who live in Iran, in dark? They have already suffered enough from the regime, and now they are going to lose everything by being attacked.”
Shakiban said it’s crazy to hear the U.S. president speak about her homeland like this.
”That's my homeland, no matter how many years I've been away. But still, I love that land. It's the regime that they have to get rid of, not the buildings and not destroy the other people,”
Shakiban said she worries that the war will further divide Iranians across the world.
