Over my career, I’ve been asked often as Jewish Iranian American: If a war broke out between Israel and Iran, which side would you support? This binary choice, presented to me and many in our community over the 45 years since the Iranian Revolution forced our families to emigrate to the U.S., is not a difficult choice at all. Given that Iran has been held hostage and ruthlessly controlled by the Islamic regime since 1979, the answer is an easy one. Of course we side with Israel. 

But that same question posed to the Jewish citizens of Iran — that is another matter. Being a captured community means walking the line between your multiple identities and forced allegiance to whichever power is in control at the time.

Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Rabbi Younes Hamami Lalehzar (C), an Iranian Jewish leader, stands next to two other rabbis at a synagogue in downtown Tehran at a "protest" against Israel on Oct. 30, 2023.

As we’ve all been glued to media outlets reporting on Israel’s preemptive attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, our focus has undoubtedly been on Israeli lives and Israel’s ability to successfully accomplish its mission of ending the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions and its existential threat to Israel.

American Jewish communal organizations, leaders and philanthropists have put differences aside and come together, as have the people of Israel, and united behind the Israeli government and the Israeli people. But perhaps this moment warrants an added dimension: concern for the safety and security of the Jewish citizens of Iran. 

The Iranian American Jewish community has been a vocal part of the Zionist voices advocating for Israel’s safety and security long before the Oct. 7 attacks; but our brothers and sisters who have remained in Iran, numbering approximately 10,000 and making up the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside Israel, are often forgotten and overlooked. 

This war is against the Islamic regime and not against the Iranian people — we have all been very clear. Nevertheless, along with the Israeli civilian population under attack from Iranian missiles and Iranian civilians getting caught in Israel’s strategic targeting of Iranian military installations, the Jews of Iran are facing great risk and should be seen as a vulnerable Jewish community in need of our support. 

Given the regime’s history of arresting Jews falsely accused of espionage for Israel and threatening to use the community as human shields in past confrontations with the Jewish state, the community is feeling especially vulnerable at this moment. The most telling signs are the two public statements published by two chief rabbis — one selected by the Iranian Jewish community, another imposed by the regime — both denouncing and castigating Israel for its attacks and affirming their identity as belonging to the Iranian nation.

The Jewish community of Iran is truly between a rock and a hard place. Their Iranianness is critical to their identity; that is the reason why they have remained in Iran. Their Jewishness is part of a 2,700-year-old legacy of Jewish life in Iran. Their cultural norms and affectations reflect centuries of being overrun by one regional power after another: the Muslims, the Mongols, the Ottomans. They — we — have learned to survive. When Ayatollah Khomeini landed in Tehran’s airport in 1979, a delegation of the leaders of the Jewish community greeted and welcomed him. Our chief rabbi at the time was all too aware of the age-old survival mechanism of abiding by the new ruler. Along with other minorities in the region such as the Druze and Yazidis, this is the reason Jews of Iran have survived.

Now that the regime has been cornered and weakened, we need to consider this ancient community and the threats it faces. It is clear that what is left of the regime’s leadership will lash out somehow, and the Jews are the easiest target. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s ban on all refugees except for white South African farmers has meant that over 700 Jewish Iranians who were already being processed by HIAS, the leading Jewish American refugee resettlement NGO, have all been put on hold. 

At this point, the community needs a lifeline. Although Iranian minorities were not covered under the Trump administration’s visa ban, meaning they could visit the US as tourists, coming as tourists means they have to return. They need to be recognized as refugees and given asylum as vulnerable religious minorities. At a time when refugee numbers from Iran should have surged, they have come to a complete halt according to HIAS President Mart Hetfield, who has been working tirelessly to advocate for Jewish Iranian refugees among all religious minorities seeking asylum in the United States.

For those of us who had the privilege to immigrate to the United States in 1979, I find it incumbent upon myself to advocate for those who are now in a most vulnerable and insecure state. Whether Israel will stop after dismantling Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and other military installations, or will push for outright regime change, there is no doubt in my mind that the Jewish community of Iran will face uncertain and dangerous days and months ahead. And they need our help. 

Sharon S. Nazarian is the president of the Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation.