TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Months of fighting, followed by weeks of an uneasy ceasefire.
And now, pen to paper between the U.S. and Iran to chart a path for a potential peace agreement.
It’s all been a lot to follow for Iranian transplants in America, including those living in Tallahassee, many of whom came to the capital city to study at Florida State University.
Behrouz Esfahani was formerly a postdoctoral researcher at FSU. The Tallahassee resident first spoke to WCTV in January as explosive protests in his home country led to the deaths and arrests of thousands.
Esfahani, like most transplants in the U.S., is eager to see meaningful regime change in Iran.
When war broke out, he knew it could lead to heartbreak and disaster. But he said there was also hope that it could lead to change.
Today, he said his guess is as good as anyone’s.
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“Nobody knows if it is, you know, for sure ended or if it is going to be, you know, renewed in some case,” he said Friday.
Esfahani wants to see peace in his home nation. But he wants to see a real change at the top, too.
In the little communication he has had with friends and family back home, he hears the same concerns.
“How are you going to have a peace deal with the people who were, you know, behaving like this for many years,” he said.
The kind of peace deal they want to see?
“A peace deal that is a real peace deal and can change the government’s behavior and actually, you know, a long-term thing, which is good for people as well,” he said.
Esfahnai is out of work, hoping his application with U.S. customs officials goes through in the near future.
In the meantime, he sits and waits stateside, as the 60-day clock for the two countries to reach a lasting peace begins to tick.
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