TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 On Sunday, a rally will be held in downtown Tampa for a \u201cFree Iran.”<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
A “Rally for a Free Iran” will be held on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. in downtown Tampa
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Damineh Oveisi organized the rally to bring awareness to the protests and reported mass killings in Iran
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Oveisi is hoping for international support to take down Iran’s authoritarian regime
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Experts say while a friendlier regime in Iran would benefit the U.S., the president has to be careful about intervening<\/p>\n
Damineh Oveisi organized the rally. She owns ARCpoint Labs of Clearwater. Lately, she has been thinking about her family back home in Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t talk to them,\u201d Oveisi said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t see their face. It\u2019s been a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n
After widespread protests, authorities in Iran cut off internet service to the country. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reports nearly 2,800 people have been killed. For six days, Oveisi wondered whether her family was alive. Tuesday, she got the call she was waiting for. They were okay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just crying,\u201d Oveisi said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t say anything. Once I heard my sister\u2019s voice, I just couldn\u2019t say anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Oveisi continues to be scared for their safety. She said the only answer is for international support to take down Iran\u2019s authoritarian regime. It\u2019s why she organized the rally.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump actually gave the Iranian people hope,\u201d Oveisi said. \u201cHe told them to continue fighting and help is on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
University of Tampa Economic Professor Abby Hall said that while a friendlier regime in Iran would benefit the U.S., the president should be careful about intervening.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potential pitfalls of intervening in Iran are many,\u201d said Hall. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a particularly good history of regime change and exporting democracy abroad. We also have to remember the geopolitical allies, including China and Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arman Mamoudien is a research fellow at the USF Global and National Security Institute. He is also from Iran. Mamoudien said it\u2019s been tough not hearing from his family. Still, he believes in a calculated approach from the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of sending aircrafts, instead of sending bombers, send Starlinks and satellites,\u201d Mamoudien said. \u201cBecause if you send them, you raise the profile of what\u2019s happening inside Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oveisi said she wants action now and she hopes the rally brings more people out in support.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to be their voice and ask the world not to stay silent,\u201d Oveisi said.<\/p>\n
The rally will be held 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18\u00a0at 600 North Ashley Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 On Sunday, a rally will be held in downtown Tampa for a \u201cFree Iran.” What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[274,4252,276,2287,115,99,135,137,136,278,835],"class_list":["post-121387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-top-stories","tag-dalia-dangerfield","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}