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Luxurious Persian rugs were stacked in the Los Angeles shop that Eric Saddigh owned for decades.
She waved a small hand-woven rug with a peacock design. “This one is $25,000,” he said. Many of his customers were Beverly Hills millionaires. The luxury seems far removed from the horrors of war, but for Eric, who is gone Iran 15 years old, his homeland is never far from his mind.
Follow the latest developments on the war in Iran
Portraits of the shahs, the kings who ruled Iran until the 1979 revolution, are displayed on the walls. A tricolor flag hung over the doorway, and inside Eric there was optimism that the US-led war would result in a freer Iran.
“I just watched the news in Iran. Everyone was happy,” he said. “They were bombed. At the same time, they were OK. It was amazing. I mean, I’m sitting here, I’m cheering, but I’m not under threat of a bomb.”
I asked if Eric thought Donald Trump do the right thing by launching an attack.
“Donald Trump did good for all of humanity,” he said. “Keep these people away from nuclear bombs. And some people, like the Democrats, are full of shit. They’re the ones who created these monsters.”
Eric’s father is 91 years old and still lives in Tehran. They usually communicated via WhatsApp, but since the war broke out two weeks ago, communication channels were closed, and he relied on his father to contact him.
“My father said it was chaos, but he wasn’t afraid of bombs; collateral damage is part of war,” he said.
“God forbid, if my father was killed, I would understand it. I would not be against it happening, there is a price to pay for freedom. Two months ago, 50,000 of our citizens were killed – it bothers me. But we are trying to free ourselves from this evil Nazi regime.”
Portraits of the shahs are displayed on the shop walls
Westwood and Beverly Hills areas Los Angeles is home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora. It is colloquially known as Tehrangeles or Little Persia.
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In the Atari cafe, called Persia Square, the birthplace of Iran’s business community, waiters brought plates full of kebabs and rice. Serge Abdishoo, who left Iran with his family at the age of eight, was waiting to meet a friend.
“It feels like we are on the cusp of being able to breathe again after 47 years, if this effort is truly successful,” he said. “But I mean, first and foremost, my concern is for America… this is the country that has housed and cared for us for so many years.
“What impact will this have on the American people? Innocent lives could easily be lost here because of that. I hope Homeland Security has a plan and things can be controlled, but I’m very worried.”
An Iranian flag before the Islamic Revolution next to a US flag in Mr Saddigh’s shop
Mohammad Ghafarian owns a bakery as well as a fruit and vegetable shop that sells lavash bread, dates and other fresh foods to mostly Persian customers. Mohammad, who has been in America for 53 years, is hopeful for change in Iran.
“I want to go back to at least visit my brother, my sister,” he said. “At the end of the day, I don’t think this war will end this quickly. But we’re going to have a hard time in America because prices are going up, oil prices are going up, prices of everything, foodstuffs, everything is going up.”
Saddigh, who left Iran aged 15, admits ‘there is a price to pay for freedom’
American intervention is not popular here. Aida, of Armenian descent, works in Tehrangeles.
“I have a lot of Iranian friends, and I understand they want a new regime, but this is not something that is easy. It is messy,” he said.
“This is not going to end unless someone throws a bomb, a nuclear bomb. Because right now, what is happening is fighting each other. How can this end so quickly? Donald Trump won’t do it and Iran will do the same thing.” [intent on] revenge. So when revenge is in the game, the game won’t end so quickly.”
However, Aida is one of the few dissenting voices in this area. Seven thousand miles from Iran, the majority of residents here support the war in their homeland and celebrate the US president who made it happen.
