Latest news with #IranianAngelenos

Los Angeles Times

‘Tehrangeles' author: ‘We don't want Iran bombed. We don't want the regime to be there'

Even before President Trump thrust the U.S. into Israel's campaign to destroy Iran's nuclear enrichment program over the weekend, news outlets descended on Westwood Boulevard to take the temperature of so-called Tehrangeles. California is home to hundreds of thousands of Iranian refugees, their descendants and others whose roots and relatives remain there. As my colleague Lauren Ng saw at Azizam this weekend, plenty of Iranian Angelenos are seeking comfort and community right now. But the local diaspora is split by class, ethnicity, religion, politics and even what they call themselves. About half of Iranian Americans backed Trump in the 2024 election. Some still support the family of the shah, the U.S.-backed leader deposed during the 1979 revolution that brought the current ruling clergy to power. Meanwhile, L.A.'s tens of thousands of Persian Jews are more likely to have cousins hiding from bombs in Tel Aviv than Tehran. About the only thing everybody agrees on is that Raffi's Place is amazing. I asked Iranian American novelist and 'Tehrangeles' author Porochista Khakpour her thoughts about the war right now. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. This is the first time in my life that I actually started dodging a lot of reporters who contacted me. I was so frustrated — not with the media but mostly with the Iranians who I knew were going to take up a lot of space in these discussions. They've been pro-bombing Iran for several decades. I can't imagine being so morally decrepit that you're willing to have your loved ones die for a fantasy of regime change. We have these really horrific divides. Part of it is that Iran's a huge country. It's like the U.S. Another big issue that reporters have really missed is that Iran is made up of many ethnic minorities. These divides exist in Iran, and they play out in really strange ways here. It's very uncomfortable. We're in this position where it looks like we're fighting ourselves nonstop. It's like walking into a dysfunctional family fight. We're at a high point of dysfunction, because so much after 'Women, Life, Freedom' was unresolved. People have started to get uncomfortable supporting [Iranians] because they don't know who the 'good guys' are. And you have a general phobia of Iran that's been ingrained in Americans since the [1979] hostage crisis. A lot of Iranians' view of the U.S. [bombing] depends on exactly when they came to this country and what their circumstances were. Lots of people with different traumas are all clashing. It really tests your patience sometimes. Try to talk to people who are really connected to ordinary people. These 1% Iranians that I wrote about in my book, they don't represent the diaspora, and they certainly don't represent Iran. The vast majority of us do believe in the same things. We don't want Iran bombed. We don't want the regime to be there. We might not know how to get rid of it. But it's all the other stuff that's divided us to such a point that we can barely trust each other. The one I wrote about is Westwood, Brentwood, Beverly Hills. But I feel Tehrangeles shouldn't be seen like that. If I could redraw and reimagine Tehrangeles, it shouldn't be for the 1%, it should be for all of us. Read more: L.A.'s Iranian community has 'mixed and complicated' feelings about U.S. attack After the weeks-long Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and protests, a peaceful show of unity was led by people on horseback riding from Paramount to Compton in support of immigrants. L.A. Times photographer Carlin Stiehl captured the ride. Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on