{"id":133322,"date":"2026-01-14T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133322\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:18:09","slug":"iranian-americans-in-socal-watch-iran-protests-with-a-mix-of-hope-and-visceral-dread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133322\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Americans in SoCal watch Iran protests with a mix of hope and ‘visceral dread’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tabby Refael\u2019s messages to Iran are going unanswered.<\/p>\n

For weeks, she has called, texted and sent voice memos to loved ones in Tehran, where massive crowds have demanded the overthrow of the country\u2019s authoritarian government. <\/p>\n

Are you OK? Refael \u2014 a West Los Angeles-based writer and Iranian refugee \u2014 has texted, over and over. Do you have enough food? Do you have enough water? Are you safe?<\/p>\n

No response. <\/p>\n

When the protests, initially spurred by economic woes, began in late December, Refael consistently got answers. But those stopped last week, when Iranian authorities imposed a near-total internet blackout, at the same time that calls to telephone landlines were also failing to connect. Videos circulating online<\/a> show rows and rows of body bags. And human rights groups say the government is waging a deadly crackdown on protesters in Tehran and other cities, with more than 2,000<\/a> killed.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A woman shops at Shater Abbass Bakery and Market in Westwood in June 2025 after U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n

(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Like many in Southern California\u2019s large Iranian diaspora, Refael, 43, has been glued to her phone, constantly refreshing the news trickling out from Iran, where, she fears, there is \u201ca wholesale massacre occurring in the literal dark.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the regime completely blacked out the internet, and in many places, electricity, there was an electrifying sense of hope,\u201d said Refael, a prominent voice in Los Angeles\u2019 Persian Jewish community. But now, as the death toll rises, \u201cthat hope has been devastatingly tempered with a sense of visceral dread.\u201d <\/p>\n

Refael\u2019s family fled Iran when she was 7 because of religious persecution. Born a few years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, she was raised in an era when hijabs were mandatory and people had to adhere, she said, to the \u201canti-American and antisemitic policies of the state.\u201d <\/p>\n

Refael has never been able to return. Like other Iranian Americans, she said she feels \u201ca sense of guilt\u201d being physically far from the crisis in her homeland \u2014 watching with bountiful internet and electricity, living among Americans who pay little attention to what is happening on the streets of Iran. <\/p>\n

The demonstrations, which began Dec. 28, were sparked by a catastrophic crash of Iran\u2019s currency, the rial. They have since spread to all of the country\u2019s 31 provinces, with protesters challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

People pass by the damaged Tax Affairs building on Jan. 10, 2026, in Tehran. Some parts of the capital have sustained heavy damage during ongoing protests.<\/p>\n

(Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In a post on his social media website<\/a> on Tuesday morning, President Trump wrote that he had canceled planned meetings with Iranian officials, who he previously said were willing to negotiate<\/a> with Washington. <\/p>\n

\u201cIranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!\u201d he wrote. \u201cSave the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly vowed<\/a> to strike Iran\u2019s leadership if it kills demonstrators. On Monday, he announced<\/a> that countries doing business with Iran will face 25% tariffs from the U.S., \u201ceffective immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

This frame grab from video taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners on the outskirts of Iran\u2019s capital, in Kahrizak. <\/p>\n

(Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In the U.S., few, if any, places have been following the crisis as closely as Southern California, home to the largest population of Iranians outside Iran. An estimated 141,000 Iranian Americans live in L.A. County, according to the Iranian Diaspora Dashboard<\/a>, which is hosted by the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. <\/p>\n

In Westwood \u2014 the epicenter of the community, where the eponymous boulevard is lined by storefronts covered in Persian script \u2014 the widespread opposition to Iran\u2019s hard-line theocracy is hard to miss.<\/p>\n

This week, the window display of one clothing store featured ballcaps that read, \u201cMIGA \/ Make Iran Great Again\u201d alongside a lion and sun, emblems of the country\u2019s flag before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. At a nearby ice cream shop, a hand-painted sign behind the cash register read: \u201cStop oppressing our people in the name of Islam.\u201d In the window of a bookstore across the street, a sign demanded \u201cRegime change in Iran.\u201d <\/p>\n

On Sunday, thousands of people were marching through Westwood in solidarity with the anti-government protesters in Iran when, to their horror, a man plowed into the crowd in a U-Haul truck bearing a sign that read: \u201cNo Shah. No Regime. USA: Don\u2019t Repeat 1953. No Mullah.\u201d The signage appeared to be in reference to a U.S.-backed 1953 coup<\/a> that toppled Iran\u2019s prime minister, cemented the power of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and lighted the fuse for the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

Police on Monday announced that the driver, Calor Madanescht, 48, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving. He was released Monday afternoon, according to L.A. County sheriff\u2019s inmate records. <\/p>\n

Video shared with The Times by attendees showed protesters trying to pull him from the vehicle and continuing to punch and lash out at him as police took him into custody. <\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> posted to X on Sunday, First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said the FBI was \u201cworking with LAPD to determine the motive of the driver\u201d and that \u201cthis is an active investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting Tuesday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said he does not expect federal charges and that there is no apparent \u201cnexus to terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Westwood this week, the mood was tense after the U-Haul incident, which, police said, caused no serious injuries. Few store owners wanted to talk as journalists went from shop to shop. Although many Iranian immigrants hope the theocratic regime in Iran will be toppled, they fear for loved ones left behind, and said they preferred to not be in the public eye. <\/p>\n

Among those willing to speak was Roozbeh Farahanipour, chief executive of the West L.A. Chamber of Commerce and owner of three Westwood Boulevard eateries. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Roozbeh Farahanipour and his young son wave the pre-1979 Islamic Revolution flag of Iran outside his restaurant Delphi Greek in Westwood, in this June 2025 image.<\/p>\n

(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

At his Mary & Robb\u2019s Westwood Cafe \u2014 where the walls are adorned with decorative plates featuring American movie icons such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe \u2014 he conducted interviews all morning about the Sunday protest in Westwood, where he was in the crowd, just feet from the path of the U-Haul.<\/p>\n

Farahanipour said Iranian Americans have mixed opinions about what should come next in Iran \u2014 including whether Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince and son of the late shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, should have a leading role<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, I believe everybody needs to focus on overthrowing this regime. That\u2019s why I participated. Many other people with different backgrounds participated,\u201d he said, adding that he is \u201cnot a monarchist\u201d but that \u201cthe opposition is unified against the regime.\u201d <\/p>\n

Farahanipour was 7 when the Islamic Revolution took place. He remembers riding with his mom to school, listening to a radio reading of \u201cpeople who were executed by the regime.\u201d One day, his mom\u2019s cousin\u2019s name was read over the airwaves. <\/p>\n

Although his family was not Catholic, Farahanipour, 54, attended a Catholic school. He has fond memories of soccer games between the children and priests, who played in their long religious garments. After the revolution, he said, the government attacked the school and executed the principal. <\/p>\n

Before seeking asylum in the U.S., Farahanipour was jailed and beaten<\/a> in Iran for his role as a leader of the 1999 student protests against the government. He has been repeatedly threatened, including with death, by the government over the years, he said.<\/p>\n

In 2022, his Persian Gulf Cafe in Westwood was vandalized<\/a>, its glass front door shattered, after he shared images on Instagram<\/a> of a memorial at the cafe honoring Iranian women in anti-government protests<\/a> that year. He said he was unfazed. <\/p>\n

Now a U.S. citizen, \u201cofficially retired from my role as Iranian opposition,\u201d he said he dreams of returning to Iran for a trial against Khamenei and helping to \u201cask for the maximum sentence for him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sam Yebri \u2014 a 44-year-old Iranian Jewish refugee whose family fled the country when he was 1 \u2014 said he has spent the last two weeks constantly getting social media updates about what\u2019s happening in Iran and reaching out to elected officials, pleading with them to speak up for protesters. <\/p>\n

Yebri, an attorney and former L.A. City Council candidate<\/a>, grew up in Westwood. He is a longtime Democrat and said it has been \u201cso maddening to see so many friends and activists who don\u2019t shy away from discussing other issues just absolutely silent and absent in this fight.\u201d He said he views it as \u201cthe biggest moment in world history since the fall of the Berlin Wall.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe regime must go,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes Trump will \u201cdo whatever is prudent to enable the Iranian people to overthrow the brutal mullahs who have their boots on their throats.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yebri said he has not returned to Iran since his family fled while he was an infant. He hopes to do so someday, to visit the beautiful places his parents describe \u2014 where they honeymooned on the beaches of southern Iran and skied on its snowy mountains. <\/p>\n

Alex Mohajer, the 40-year-old vice president of the Iranian American Democrats of California, was born in Orange County, where he was raised by a single mom who emigrated from Iran. He visited family there when he was 14 and \u201cfelt a great deal of pride\u201d in seeing that \u201cWestern depictions of the country are far afield from reality, that it\u2019s a very warm and loving country where the people are very hospitable and it\u2019s very clear that they\u2019ve lived under oppressive rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mohajer, who was unsuccessful in a 2024 bid for the California State Senate<\/a>, wants a future in which he can travel back and forth freely to visit loved ones in Iran. But more immediately, he just wants to know they\u2019re OK. His text messages are also going unanswered. <\/p>\n

Times staff writer Libor Jany contributed to this report. <\/p>\n