Minnesota’s leaders are reacting to the news about the United States and Israel attacking Iran. A Minnesotan, who grew up in Iran, spoke with WCCO.
“It was only a matter of when, not what if,” said Hamid Kashani.
Kashani woke up to the news about Iran on Saturday.
“You catch your breath and go, ‘here we go. It started. Now what?'” he said.
But for him, it’s his homeland, and there are people he loves on the ground there.
“The internet has been cut off. There’s no way of communicating with Iran right now,” added Kashani.
He’s a part of a group called the Minnesota Committee in Support of a Democratic Iran, which posted a statement on Saturday saying the country’s people are: “united against fascism that rules their country and are striving to establish a democratic government.”
Kashani says it’s a long, tragic story starting decades ago.
“It started about 47 years ago in 1979 with the takeover of the current government by the Islamic Republic.”
A Hamline University professor says he thinks most democrats will be against the matter, whereas republicans will be split. Adding that President Trump not consulting with congress could cause that divide.
“There’s going to be some in congress that say hey, the President lacks the authority to do what he did. We’re going to see this mostly along a partisan divide but I’m curious to see whether it divides his base,” said Professor David Schultz.
Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer a part of that base, posting his support for the President’s act online. For Governor Walz, simply posting “no new wars.”
“The government of Iran doesn’t represent Iranian people,” said Kashani. “One hand we’re cautiously hopeful the end could bring freedom for our people and on the other hand we know there will be a lot of blood shed.”
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