Why some Iranian Americans back the war on their country of origin

0:00Adrian Ma:It was a weekend of protests and military escalation. In the Middle East, an Iranian attack on an airbase in Saudi Arabia hit several aircraft and wounded more than a dozen U.S. troops. Yemeni Houthis, backed by Iran, entered the war. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that his country would widen its invasion of southern Lebanon. All of this as President Trump weighs ending the war he started, or extending it by ordering newly arrived Marines and paratroopers onto Iranian shores. Our daughter's in the Army, currently stationed in South Korea. And right now, the military boots on the ground possibility is the biggest thing in my head right now.

0:44Adrian Ma:That's Karina Kagan speaking to member station KCUR in Kansas City on Saturday. She was one of many protesters who turned out across the country at the third No Kings demonstration against President Trump. The idea of a ground invasion of Iran is also divisive for members of the Iranian diaspora.

1:02Ramtin Arablouei:Ground troops is very scary. American troops could lose support from U.S. side. You could get a lot of casualties on the American front. And that can make the public here completely against the Iranians.

1:15Adrian Ma:That's Sahand Kodakhian at an anti-regime protest on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. Consider this. At the heart of the war in the Gulf is a question about the fate of the Iranian government. What do some Iranians in the United States want that government to look like, and why?

1:43Adrian Ma:From NPR, I'm Adrian Ma.

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3:09Adrian Ma:It's Consider This from NPR. Here in the U.S., the war with Iran has prompted many Iranian-Americans to take to the streets to express their opposition to the Iranian regime. The past month has seen demonstrations in L.A., New York, and on Sunday in D.C. Ramtin Arablui, co-host of NPR's history podcast, ThruLine, was at that rally.

3:34Ramtin Arablouei:We are here at the National Mall where there is a demonstration taking place in support of Reza Pahlavi, who many Iranian-Americans support as a potential future leader of Iran if the Islamic Republic were to fall. The crowd is about a couple of thousand people, it appears. Organizers have told me they expect upwards of 100 ,000, but we're nowhere near that number right now. The crowd is chanting, this is the final battle. Pahlavi will return.

4:10Adrian Ma:This rally did not come out of nowhere. It's tied to a longstanding debate among Iranians in the country and the diaspora over who should govern Iran. For more context, we're joined now by Ramtin in the studio. Ramtin, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, Adrian. And can you start by telling us more about what you saw at this D.C. demonstration?

4:30Ramtin Arablouei:Yes. So when we arrived, there was a very large crowd of diverse set of Iranians, mostly Iranian-Americans, flying flags, holding up the picture of Reza Pahlavi. And we saw a bunch of different flags. There was the Lion and Son flag, which is the flag of Iran that was there before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. We saw people holding American flags and even Israeli flags, which I know for a lot of listeners, that's confusing, right? Like, why are they holding up the flag of a country that's attacking them? But I think it's a pretty simple explanation. For many of these protesters who we talk to, it's basically an enemy of my enemy is my friend's situation.

5:10Ramtin Arablouei:And that's exactly what one of the protesters told me named Leila Raq. They are bringing peace in the whole world. Israel. Israel, of course, with the help of United States, which we are very grateful. because Israel, they know what we are going through. You have to have been living under this fascist regime so that you understand what is this.

5:37Adrian Ma:Interesting. Ramtin, earlier this year, you did an episode of ThruLine on the anti-government protests that swept Iran at the end of 2025 and earlier this year. How do you see today's actions fitting into that history?

5:51Ramtin Arablouei:So I think a lot of what we're seeing today and what we saw at the protest comes out of that movement and the frustration many people had or anger people had at the way the Islamic Republic responded to those protests by firing on protesters and killing the numbers not even actually agreed upon, but many thousands of protesters in the process. And I think what we're also seeing is a real debate about what the future of Iran is going to be. And everyone we spoke to today, basically everyone, wants Reza Pahlavi, the son of the king who was overthrown in 1979, to return as what they call as a transitional leader.

6:28Ramtin Arablouei:But when you ask them, like, why, why do you want the son of a former dictator to be back in power? Their answer seems to really come from a sense of nostalgia about what it was like to be in Iran before the Islamic revolution. They look back at that time with nostalgic feelings. And this is what Holly Dagress, an expert from the Washington Institute, told me when I asked her that same question. I remember Iranians used to be like Samana Shah at the time of the Shah when they wanted to talk about when things were better. And I think that nostalgia has only grown because of the access to information.

7:00Ramtin Arablouei:There's documentaries about pre-revolutionary Iran.

7:03Adrian Ma:There's also all these nice pictures and photos that go viral. I mean, of course, a lot has changed in Iran since you published that episode.

7:11Ramtin Arablouei:Yes, definitely. I mean, as listeners will know, the U.S. and Israel have now conducted a massive air attack, which is ongoing. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has been killed. But that anti-regime feeling that was really alive back in January, especially for Iranian Americans, that's still very much alive. And the thing is, people seem to understand that the people we asked today that the U.S. and Israel are not necessarily doing this to help the Iranian people. You know, I asked one protester named Ramin that very same question. He didn't want to give us his last name because he said he feared reprisal from the government in Iran if he gave it to us.

7:50Ramtin Arablouei:But I asked him that question directly. Do you think the U.S. and Israel are doing this to help the Iranian people? And his answer was really interesting. Every country, they think about their benefits and about their interests. Of course, that's very normal. And we do not expect any country to come and spend millions and trillions of dollars just for the good of the people. Because we want this or we want that. They do this, but right now our interests are aligned.

8:19Adrian Ma:Right now. You know, your work is all about putting current events in historical context. Next, what do you think today's rally tells us about the politics of the Iranian diaspora?

8:31Ramtin Arablouei:First, I want to say that the crowd that we talked to today is definitely not representative of the entire Iranian-American diaspora. There are lots of complex views. There are many Iranian-Americans who are against this war. There's even some who are in support of the regime in Iran. But I do think it represents how many Iranians, and I would say probably most Iranian-Americans feel, about their desperate need to want to see the Islamic Republic fall. Now, with regards to Reza Pahlavi, which is what this protest is where they're supporting today, they seem to really be rallying behind him, not necessarily because they support the idea of a monarchy or that they even see him as a permanent leader for Iran, but they want to rally around someone.

9:10Ramtin Arablouei:And what he's providing is basically some kind of symbol or symbolic leadership for people to jump behind and say, we want this to replace the Islamic Republic.

9:20Adrian Ma:We've been speaking with Ramtin Arablui, co-host of NPR's history podcast, ThruLine. Ramtin, thanks for your reporting. Thanks so much for having me, Adrian. This episode was produced by Michael Levitt and Henry Larson. It was edited by Tim Beat-Eremius and Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

9:49Adrian Ma:It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Adrian Ma.

9:53Ramtin Arablouei:This message comes from Prolon. Feeling heavy and depleted? Prolon's five-day fasting-mimicking diet aims to make it easy to reset your body, habits, and energy. Developed at USC's Longevity Institute, the goal of Prolon's nutrition program is to rejuvenate you from within by working at the cellular level to support fat loss, glowing skin, and sharper focus. Get 15 % off plus a bonus gift when you subscribe at prolonlife.com slash NPR. This message comes from Rosetta Stone. Spring travel coming up? Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years. Ready to start learning a new language this spring?

10:34Ramtin Arablouei:Visit rosettastone.com slash NPR today.