{"id":199550,"date":"2026-03-01T18:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/199550\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T18:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:15:11","slug":"photos-l-a-s-iranian-american-community-celebrates-in-westwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/199550\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: L.A.&#8217;s Iranian American community celebrates in Westwood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As bombs fell 7,500 miles away in Tehran, members of West L.A.\u2019s Iranian American community spent Saturday celebrating a day some had been awaiting for nearly half a century. <\/p>\n<p>The Greater Los Angeles area is home to the largest concentration of people of Iranian descent outside Iran. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, it has served as a capital for exiles. By 2019, more than half of Iranian immigrants to the U.S. lived in California, with 29% \u2014 nearly 140,000 people \u2014 living in Los Angeles County alone, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Many settled in and around Westwood, earning the area the nickname \u201cTehrangeles.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>As word spread on social media of a large demonstration  in support of the strikes, people gathered  to celebrate the news.<\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A young man sits on his friend's shoulders at a rally with Iranian flags.\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772388909_247_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Sajad Ragibi rides on the shoulders of a friend as hundreds rally in the Westwood neighborhood Saturday. The rally was organized after word spread that U.S. and Israeli strikes had killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n<p>(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<p>                   <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A man walks under a giant Iranian flag.\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772388910_112_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Kevin Beit walks under the colors of Iran while joining hundreds in a rally in Westwood.<\/p>\n<p>(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<p>                   <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A person brandishes a poster with Khamenei's photo and the word &quot;Eliminated.&quot;\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772388910_194_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>A protester holds a poster with a photo of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a rally Saturday in Westwood.<\/p>\n<p>(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<p>                   <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Hundreds of people march with U.S. and Iranian flags.\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772388910_116_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of people march through the streets of Westwood on Saturday after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n<p>(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<p>                   <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A woman in sunglasses smiles and holds an Iranian flag.\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772388911_129_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Sophie Kiani celebrates with hundreds of others at Saturday\u2019s rally in Westwood.<\/p>\n<p>(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<p>                   <img class=\"image\" alt=\"A person holds a poster with a photo of Trump and the message &quot;Thank You President Trump.&quot;\"   width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772388911_974_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of people rally in Westwood after the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n<p>(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As bombs fell 7,500 miles away in Tehran, members of West L.A.\u2019s Iranian American community spent Saturday celebrating&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[79689,1073,92807,92808,2303,48,52,51,92809,39340,47,50,49,63,2324,92810,592,2824,34127,63971,36192],"class_list":{"0":"post-199550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-greater-los-angeles-area","9":"tag-home","10":"tag-iranian-american-community","11":"tag-iranian-descent","12":"tag-l-a","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-headlines","15":"tag-la-news","16":"tag-large-concentration","17":"tag-large-demonstration","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-los-angeles-times","22":"tag-member","23":"tag-nickname","24":"tag-people","25":"tag-photo","26":"tag-tehran","27":"tag-west-l-a","28":"tag-westwood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}