Iranians in North Texas say they're waiting anxiously to reach family and friends amid the major military campaign that launched in Iran early Saturday.
The last time Bahar Momeni spoke to her brother, it was Friday afternoon in Dallas. For him, it was evening in Tehran, and just hours before the U.S. and Israel launched operation 'Epic Fury' in the capital city.
Momeni has lived in North Texas since 2013 and is one of tens of thousands of Iranian Americans who call Texas home. On Friday, she said her brother told her he was worried about losing electricity and being able to afford medication.
"My brother is suffering from Parkinson's disease and diabetes and he has been struggling to find even the basic medication like insulin and those things — for not just for today or yesterday, but for the last year," said Momeni, a professor at The University of Texas at Dallas.
Following an uprising in the country last month, Momeni said the economy has tanked, with inflation rising drastically each week. Thousands of Iranians have died at the hands of the Islamic regime of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is now reported among those killed in the strike.
"It's like a dystopian situation before the attack," Momeni told KERA. "That's why people were mentally ready for that because their logic was like, we are already in war."
Iranian-Americans rally in downtown Dallas
More than two dozen Iranian-Americans and their supporters gathered at John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in downtown Dallas on Saturday afternoon advocating for a democratic transition in Iran.
Homeira Hesami, a community organizer with the Iranian-American Community of North Texas (IACNT), said she had just heard the news of Ayatollah Khamenei’s death.
“If this is true, that is great news for all the people of Iran, for all of the people who have been killed by this regime, which are thousands and thousands from 1981 until now,” Hesami said.
She said Iranians both living in the country and in the diaspora have wanted a regime change for decades.
"We think that we are getting to a different phase of the regime to be overturned by the Iranian peoples and their organized resistance," Hesami said. "The regime is getting weaker and weaker, and the Iranian people are more courageous than ever."
Hesami told KERA she supports the provisional government announced this morning by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The council aims to establish a democratic republic based on dissident Maryam Rajavi's 10-point plan, which calls for gender equality, freedom of religion and "peaceful coexistence" with neighbors.
IACNT member Hannah Jam, who was at the rally in Dallas, said a regime change can only happen for Iranians, by Iranians.
“All of the people mentioned in Iran that they don't want the Shah… they don’t want to go back to the, you know, king era,” said Jam. “They do not want this theocracy, all they want is a free and democratic Iran without nuclear [weapons].”
Others, like Momeni, said they're hopeful that Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, will be able to assemble a secular, democratic government.
"He is not claiming power right now and we are trying to trust him," Momeni said. "He seems like a very democratic person, but we will see in the future."
For now, Momeni and other Iranians in North Texas are watching the news closely as they wait to hear back from their family and friends.
“I really pray that all of them [will] be safe,” said Jam, adding that “the only way that Iran's regime would be changed is by having boots on the ground, but not from outside.”
“We have resistance units inside,” she said. “They are capable of doing regime change in Iran.”
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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