Iranian Americans worried amid conflict with Israel, U.S.

Last week, Bahar Sharafi woke up with her heart racing, waiting to hear from her mother. Like many Iranian-Americans, she watched in horror as the Israeli bombardment of nuclear sites, apartment buildings and hospitals has drawn in the United States, threatening to broaden into an all-out war.

“Honestly, who knows?” she said, speaking during a protest at Park Street Station Sunday. “This could become another Iraq.”

While her mother and sister have left the Iranian capital of Tehran, Bahar feared the bombardment from Israeli and U.S. planes could threaten their lives and those of other Iranian citizens. By last Monday, as Israel and Iranian authorities agreed to a ceasefire in the conflict, the death toll in Iran stood at 950, according to the Washington, DC-based group Human Rights Activists. Israel within hours of the ceasefire claimed Iran had violated the ceasefire and vowed to strike back. Iran denied launching a missile.

While Israel has censored news of Iranian missile strikes, The Times of Israel reported Monday that the Israel Tax Authority has received 36,465 claims since Israel struck Iran, most of them for damage to buildings.

In its attacks on Iran, Israel bombed military and civilian targets, including a state television station, four hospitals and numerous apartment buildings where Iranian military commanders were said to live. Israel also targeted the home of the Iranian lead negotiator who sought to iron out a peace agreement with the United States.

“These are all war crimes,” Sharafi said.

The bombings appear to follow a playbook Israel has used in Gaza, where Israeli officials have repeatedly bombed civilian targets and targeted journalists, insisting that they’re targeting Hamas soldiers and those killed are being used by the soldiers as “human shields.” Gaza officials estimate that 56,000 have been killed by Israel, with thousands more missing, believed to be buried under the rubble of bombed apartment buildings, schools and hospitals.

For Iranian-American activists, the war against Iran is an attack on their families.

“We’re worried about nuclear fallout,” said Farhad Dokhani, a teaching assistant at Harvard University. “I’m deeply worried. This is like a nightmare. People feel as though their lives are not as valued as those of white American’s lives.”

Dokhani said his cousin’s one-year-old baby has been traumatized by the bombings in Tehran.

“He’s not been able to sleep,” he said.

Dokhani and several hundred activists rallied outside Park Street Station June 22 before marching to the JFK Federal Building on Congress Street. Peace activists, Iranian-Americans and organized labor groups were among those protesting. Many called on the Massachusetts delegation to pressure the administration. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are calling on their colleagues in Congress to support legislation barring the Trump administration from going to war without congressional approval, as is required in the U.S. Constitution.

"This is a violation of the Constitution that is risking innocent lives. We do not need another deadly, endless war. Congress must act immediately to rein in Trump," U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley posted on the social media platform X last week.

Activists said Trump’s decision to back Israel’s aggression toward Iran goes against the interests of the American people.

“Half of your federal tax dollars go toward so-called defense,” said SEIU 509 President David Foley, speaking during the Sunday rally. “That means simply, every dollar spent on war is a dollar lost on care.”

Dokhani said Trump appears to be putting the interests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over those of the American people. Trump has repeatedly spoken against going to war with Iran. Netanyahu, on the other hand, has for decades said Iran is on the verge of building a nuclear weapon and has in the past bombed Iranian nuclear facilities and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists.

“I hope we don’t make the mistakes of the past in Iraq, wasting trillions of tax dollars and killing people for the interests of a foreign government,” he said.

Hannah Didehbani, who led the protest June 22, said the number of groups and individuals who rallied in support of Iranians was encouraging.

“While I am sad about what is happening and my family is affected, it does gives me the utmost hope that we can make the change that we want to see because so many people are out here,” she said. “I think the Palestine movement that we’ve seen over the last two years has shown the strength we have, and we’re building on that movement.”