For Chicago-area Iranians, war stirs complex mix of emotions

The war in Iran and the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has aroused complex and often conflicting emotions for members of the Chicago area’s Iranian community.

“It’s a very strange moment to be an Iranian American,” said Nariman Safavi, who came to the Chicago area in 1976 at age 13, attended Maine South High School and now lives in Skokie.

“You have this affinity for the place where you were born, but you’re also an American and you have enjoyed the fruits of being an American,” he added. “The fact that these two countries that you love are in conflict with each other is a bit of a mental weight to carry.”

Ali Mirkiani, a Westmont resident whose father was a diplomat for Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, condemned the joint action by U.S. and Israel.

“You cannot perpetrate a war of aggression and violate international law,” he said. “They are waging war against the people. Among the terrible crimes they have committed already is bombing a girls’ school, and slaughtering over 100 young girls.”

Mirkiani said he hopes the military fighting ends and the United Nations steps in to resolve the conflict.

On the other hand, Ahmad DJangi, a retired city of Chicago employee who has family in Iran, said the military action against Iran is overdue after “47 years of tyranny and genocide” under the ruling regime.

However, he’s skeptical about chances of lasting change in Iran.

“Honestly, nothing is going to happen” DJangi said. “The reason I'm saying this, there is still about 40 million, if not more, of the Iranian population who have been brainwashed in the last 47 years.

“There are more than 200,000 mullahs in Iran,” he added. “As long as the Revolutionary Guard is in power, Iran is going to stay the same.”

Still, he yearns for his homeland and hinted at hope for the future.

“I just told my oldest daughter, hopefully by next year, things will settle. We could go home and I could finally show you where I was born,” said the father of four adult children. “They’re just waiting to go home and see my birthplace and connect with their ancestors.”

Safavi said he feels sadness, even though the Iranian regime is despised by many. And he questioned the motives of U.S. and Israeli leaders.

“I don't think they have my liberation in mind, and I don't think they really give a damn about the Iranian people,” he said.

But he hopes to see Iran transition into a secular democracy.

“I think that the regime right now is in a desperate situation, and it may be possible to actually have a transition game, as opposed to a violent overthrow to the regime,” Safavi said. “The Iranian women's movement was brilliant a few years ago in terms of exacting concessions from the regime over there. So there are a lot of leaders on the grass-roots level who are not yet known to the outside world.”