Iranian Americans Want IRGC Regime Gone
The Trump administration has been cracking down on a handful of Iranian residents who have ties to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and have even allegedly been involved in gun-running while living lavish lifestyles in LA. That may leave the impression that this community might not support attempts to overthrow the Islamic Republic.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality, California’s Persian community is overwhelmingly opposed to the regime.
A survey done recently by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans found that barely 3% of Iranian-Americans favor the current regime, while an additional 8% would welcome a reformed Islamic Republic.
Among regime opponents, 11% would like to see a constitutional monarchy, while 55% would like a parliamentary democracy.
That suggests that any attempt from the outside to put Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah, on the throne would likely be opposed by many Iranian-Americans.
“A lot of people who support the Shah have never lived under him,” suggests 81-year-old Kamron Jabbari, a prominent publisher of books about Iranian culture, who came to the US at age 19.
To be sure, some pro-regime Iranian “nepo babies” live here, and have done so with an abandon that would get them whipped or worse back in the home country.
This includes Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, the niece of the late Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, a man with American blood, and other blood, on his hands. Afshar and her own daughter backed the oppressive regime even as they lived the high life. The great-niece even showed herself off in skimpy outfits forbidden in Iran on social media while extolling the puritanical regime back home.
But these revelations do not cancel out the fact that most Iranian-Americans despise the regime. After all, the bulk of Iranians here, notes a new Chapman report from geographer Ali Modarres, came either shortly before or after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. They have no more reason to back the mullahs than Cuban Americans in Miami favor the communist regime in Havana.
This is very true of the Iranians here California, many of whom are active opponents of the regime. Our state, notes Modarres, is home to the largest Persian community in America, accounting for over 45% of the estimated 500,000 Iranians in the country.
Iranian-Americans have become extraordinarily successful by any standard. Professor Modarres explains this reflects that most came as students or as skilled immigrants. Overall, more than 50% of those aged over 25 hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree, while another 20% have a doctorate or professional degree — figures well above the national average.
Among this gifted population, there are few apologists for the regime. But others, worried about family in Iran — as many as 88% still have close relatives there — stay quiet out of fear. Some of the most prominent dissenters also have even been targeted for assassination by the regime’s agents.
Read the rest of this piece at California Post.
Joel Kotkin is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and and directs the Center for Demographics and Policy there. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas in Austin. Learn more at joelkotkin.com, follow him on Substack and Twitter @joelkotkin.
Photo: Christopher Rose / Flickr, under CC 3.0 License.
