Iranians living in the USA

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following the recent bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites by the United States, we talk to Iranians living in the US about their thoughts as they watch events in the Middle East from afar. They describe feeling conflicted about the attacks carried out by their adopted homeland. They worry about friends and relatives who could be in danger back in Iran. But perhaps unsurprisingly for an exiled community, they have strong views on the Iranian regime. Shaheen grew up in the US but feels very connected to his Iranian heritage. Fellow American-Iranian Manna thinks about the future of her people, “I feel not just guilt as an Iranian, but shame as an American, because I'm afraid that we just made their standard of living and what they are going to have after this ceasefire so much worse.*

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Luke Jones. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:10.1	This time in BBC OS conversations, we bring together Iranians who live in the United States
0:14.8	to share their thoughts and experiences as they watch events unfold in the Middle East.
0:22.9	America let its so-called bunker-busting bombs do the talking when President Trump got involved to support Israel's assault on Iran's nuclear
0:28.7	sites last weekend. Now, as we record this, there is a ceasefire between Israel and Iran in place.
0:35.4	Military might has been replaced by a war of words over the outcome
0:38.6	of the campaign.
0:40.3	The US claims to have obliterated Iran's nuclear program, but Iran says the bombing failed
0:45.8	to achieve anything significant.
0:48.9	Iranians living in the US find themselves in a head-spinning battle for the truth, caught
0:53.1	between what they're hearing in the
0:54.5	US, the pronouncements from Tehran, and whatever sketchy details they can get from their friends
0:59.3	and families back home.
1:01.1	I don't know which parts of Iran have gotten bombed.
1:03.2	I have no idea where in Tehran.
1:05.0	So I'm relying on WhatsApp, Instagram and relatives around the world for one of us to be able to hear from
1:11.6	somebody in Tehran to make sure they're okay.
1:18.0	Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran and the rise of a new hardline regime,
1:23.8	many Iranians fled the country to start new lives overseas.
1:27.8	A majority of them emigrated to the US.
1:29.7	And Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Iranians outside Iran.
1:34.2	In our first conversation, we hear from three American Iranians in L.A.
	...

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