EMILY KWONG, HOST:
Many Iranian Americans are celebrating this weekend after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes killed the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei. More than half a million Iranians live in the United States. So let's hear from the largest Iranian community in the country. Kelly McEvers reports from Los Angeles.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language).
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: Around LA, people played Persian music, sang, cried, whistled and celebrated the death of Khamenei.
(CHEERING)
MCEVERS: People waved American flags and Israeli flags and carried signs that said, thank you, Trump. You can hear it in this video posted on social media. There was an anti-war protest here yesterday, and some Iranian Americans had mixed feelings about the attack by Israel and the U.S. on Iran. Mehdi Yahyanejad is a pro-democracy activist here in LA. He says since the mass protests in January in Iran and the brutal crackdown that followed, when the Iranian regime killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people, Iranians have been wanting something to happen, some retaliation for the killing. But then came news reports that a girls' school in Iran was hit during the attack, killing more than 100 people. Yahyanejad says if that keeps happening, we might not see so many celebrations.
MEHDI YAHYANEJAD: What's important next is to make sure the collateral damage is minimal. Otherwise, the people's attitude can change.
MCEVERS: Amir Parstabar runs a marketing agency here in LA. He left Iran when he was 15. Like so many Iranians here, since the January protests, he's constantly on his phone trying to get news from Iran. His wife's good friend from high school lost a son in the protests. He was 18. The family says he was shot in the chest by security forces. And Parstabar says Iranians became hopeless after the crackdown.
AMIR PARSTABAR: They just don't see a future. They say, we have nothing to lose.
MCEVERS: Then, late Friday night, Parstabar was doomscrolling.
PARSTABAR: And I was really bummed out because I saw this video of a little girl at her mom's grave, someone who was killed in the protests. I told my wife, I know you get bummed out, but look at this. This is just - this is unbearable. Then she went upstairs. I swear to God, like, 15 minutes later, she comes down. She's like, did you hear? And I said, no. She's like, they just attacked Iran. And not knowing even who did, just immediate reaction, we both screamed and then cried.
MCEVERS: Parstabar says most of the time, he's a radical centrist. He did not vote for Trump. He was against the war in Gaza. But now, he says, Iranian Americans are joking they want to change their names to Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. Parstabar says he has surprised even himself.
PARSTABAR: And how weird is it that us with our political leanings are now suddenly, like, yeah, we're for this?
MCEVERS: He says now a lot of people are talking about how Iranians here could play a role in a new Iran. For now, the regime hasn't fallen, but many people are planning for the day it might. For NPR News, I'm Kelly McEvers in Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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