The protests and government crackdown in Iran have left more than 2,500 people dead, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
NY1 spoke to Iranian Americans who are concerned for family members back home but hopeful something good will come out of the movement.
What You Need To Know
The protests and government crackdown in Iran have left more than 2500 people dead, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency
Iranian-born-and-raised Reza Parhizkaran, who owns a Persian restaurant in Chelsea, says he’s worried about his mother, who still lives in Tehran amid ongoing nationwide protests in Iran and an internet blackout
Most of Parhizkaran’s customers have roots in Iran, including a New Yorker who would only speak to NY1 anonymously and without showing his face on-camera
Reza Parhizkaran has been welcoming customers into his Persian restaurant for five years.
Parhizkaran, who was born and raised in Tehran, tries to spread his culture as the owner of Shiraz Kitchen and Wine Bar in Chelsea.
“The hospitality, the welcoming, and how nice people in Tehran especially are,” he said when NY1 asked him about what he misses most about Iran.
Parhizkaran says he’s worried about his mother, who still lives in Tehran amid ongoing nationwide protests in Iran, sparked by the Islamic Republic’s weakened economy.
The government is responding with a deadly crackdown.
“Everybody is in danger now,” Parhizkaran said. “They shut down the cell phones and internet, so it’s not you cannot call from here. Even in Tehran, they cannot communicate with each other.”
According to the 2020 Census, more than 14,000 New York residents identify as Iranian. Nearly 29,000 in the state identify as Iranian, according to 2023 data from the World Population Review.com.
Most of Parhizkaran’s customers have roots in Iran, including a New Yorker who would only speak to NY1 anonymously and without showing his face on-camera. He fears the Iranian government will kill his many family members living in Iran, including his brother, cousins and wife’s family.
The man says the last few days have been particularly difficult.
“We don’t know are they dead, are they on the streets, or what’s going on. So we cannot communicate at all. We all are so upset, devastated,” he said. “A lot of youth, a lot of young people in Tehran when I watch them, they have nothing to lose, there is basically no hope for the future, there is no job, currency lost their value, they live with their parents, everything is extremely expensive. So they are on the street. What else [are] they gonna lose? There is no hope.”
But he told NY1 he has hope that the protests will result in regime change and possibly freedom and prosperity for his family.
Parhizkaran says he feels the same way.
“Freedom of Iran, everybody can just live there freely like before, everybody was a nation of cultures, and differences, and everybody used to get along with each other,” Parhizkaran said when asked about what he wants to see for the Iranian people.