US-Iran Tensions Raise Fear Among San Diego's Iranian-American Community

Speaker 1: 00:00 Tensions between the United States and Iran seemed to have reached a tipping point following the assassination of a top Iranian general who was killed last week in a drone attack ordered by president Trump this morning. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo defended the administration's actions against major general costumes, Amani, but did not provide details to support his assertion about looming attacks. Meanwhile, local U S bases remain under heightened alert due to rising tensions in the middle East. San Diego is home to around 60,000 Iranian Americans. Joining us is [inaudible] Armani, a member of San Diego's Iranian American community. She's also the author of sky of red poppies, a 2012 one book, one San Diego selection. So Ryan, welcome. Thank you very much. Iran's foreign minister was on NPR this morning and called the U S strike on general costumes. [inaudible] an act of terrorism and war. How do you see it Speaker 2: 00:56 when you hear the news? As much as I have heard and uh, when you have been among the immigrants whose nation of origin has been demonized for four decades, uh, you take everything with a grain of salt. And so I think this question of terrorism has been brought up many times. I would like you as a reporter to name one terrorist act that directly was executive by Iranians. Not only, you can't find that you cannot find any place in the world in the past 300 years that Iran has attacked this. I'm saying as someone who does not necessarily support what's going on in Iran, somebody who has lived outside of Iran since two decades before all of this happened, and I have been an American citizen for four decades, so I can't be supportive of a government that has separated me from my original culture, but at the same time, whenever the word terrorist comes up, I ask myself, where is the proof? Speaker 1: 02:21 Do you think the U S has strike on? Iran was an act of terrorism at war. Speaker 2: 02:26 I don't know enough about what is the correct time and place to call something terrorist, but what I can see whether or not it was a terrorist act, it has spread seeds of further terrorism. I can just see somebody becoming so emotional that they will be the first one to commit that act of terrorism that I'm so proud we have not committed. To me it looks like somebody gave those people the green light. I dare you to do something. Speaker 1: 03:05 You're involved with the Iranian American community in San Diego through the Persian cultural center. What can you tell us about the local community and how they're reacting to the U S killing general Solemani? Speaker 2: 03:17 I think many of those people, I'm afraid, myself included, did not know him. I did. I had never heard his name and I'm not political and I don't watch the Iranian news as closely as some people do. So I would say that many of the people who are Iranian American may not even have known him before. Wow. How they react. The primary reaction, the human reaction is fear and concern because until now there hasn't been any division for, for these people, but now traveling is going to be difficult. People are being questioned at the border. People holding American passports are being harassed and in general public may believe everything they hear in the news and all of a sudden we become the scary people. Speaker 1: 04:21 Yeah. Your sister still lives in Iran. Um, have you been able to speak with her? What, what was her reaction? Speaker 2: 04:27 I actually did speak to one of the two sisters who lives in Iran. Funny enough, like myself, she did not know anything about this general, but she too is not political. Her concern was that this will provide stronger support within Iran for the present government. People used to be divided. Um, some were pro government and some were anti government, but when it comes to national safety, everybody supports whoever defends them. So this in fact is, um, in support of the Islamic government, they're going to use it to their benefit and gain more popularity. Speaker 1: 05:16 You know, there, there are different perspectives, um, in the Iranian American community, some are celebrating Solomanis death because they blame him for a lot of the suffering they endured back home. Uh, one Iranian American from Los Angeles said Soleimani was worse than Osama bin Laden. But what do you say to people who share that sentiment? Speaker 2: 05:35 I think he was not even in the category of [inaudible]. He was public. He was an official, he was not hiding from anybody. And I'm learning all of this from KPBS and BBC. I didn't know as I said anything about him, but I think that he was very powerful. He is going to steer the nation against the U S something that travelers to Iran from us had not experienced before. Just go to Rick Steve's program and see his experience. I don't think he'd be welcome today in Tehran and he'd be in grave danger if, uh, he walked as an American along the streets. So that is what worries me that okay, he, he has done wrong. Whatever they say. I believe it, that he was involved in the Wars and he was supporting Iraq and, and so on and so forth. Which first of all, I can't see anybody supporting Iraq from Iran because of the millions that they killed in the war of Iran, Iraq. Speaker 2: 06:49 But let's say that he was supporting them. Let's say that he was, there are ways to deal with the enemy. There are ways to proceed. I think the way he was killed. To me, it sounds out of line. Do you think that the killing of general Soleimani can result in a full out war between Iran and the United States? I hope not, but I'm the optimist. I think Iran is in such a strong strategic point in that part of the world that if United States attacked it, a bigger war may break, especially if they attacked any of the religious cities because then the Islamic world would be outraged. But also I think that a war like that may be more damaging to the U S than Iran. They have seen the worst. They been through another war. They have seen sanctions, they have seen being cut off from the world. How much more can they lose? Whereas we send our young soldiers to a place they know nothing about, to a place where they have no insights, support and I feel worried, not just for the Iranians. I feel worried for both sides. I've been speaking with Zariah Yamani, a member of San Diego's Iranian American community and author of the book sky of red poppies. Sir, I thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure.