Amir, who is Jewish and Iranian, had been in America for less than a year last July, when he found himself 7,500 miles away from his family with no way to contact them as Israel and the United States took aim at Iranian nuclear facilities, and communication into the Islamic Republic went silent. 

Since the 1979 revolution, Jewish Iranians have lived under the thumb of the Islamic Republic, a brutal theocratic government with a history of persecuting its minority populations. Before the overthrow of the shah of Iran, when the Islamic Republic seized power, Iran had a flourishing Jewish community of over 100,000, but a mass exodus — largely to the United States and Israel — has left a community estimated at 9,000-20,000, living under the watchful eye of an oppressive regime. Amir, who received refugee status as an oppressed minority, was one of the few to escape, but afterward he said he found himself more alone than ever. 

Every day during last summer’s 12-day war, Amir sent his family emails and WhatsApp messages, called and scrolled news sites and social media for signs of hope. Days into the conflict, he found a workaround: A friend who lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where communication was then still open with Iran, could contact his family. His friend told him they had food, they were safe, and Amir could finally breathe. 

But the current war, launched on Feb. 28 in a joint military operation by Israel and the U.S., is different because Iran attacked its neighbors, cutting off communication with the surrounding countries, and now Amir, who asked to use an alias due to fear for his family’s safety, has no way to know they are safe. 

“I’m 100% sure that in the next couple of weeks, we will see the bad situation in Iran” turn worse, Amir told eJewishPhilanthropy, as food prices continue to skyrocket and essentials grow scarce. 

In December, a popular protest movement erupted in Iran in response to the country’s faltering economy. The movement quickly expanded, drawing millions to the streets to oppose the Islamic regime, which has ruled often through violent suppression of the Iranian people. A parallel movement also developed within the Iranian diaspora, with thousands gathering for weekly demonstrations in support of the Iranian people, and some calling for U.S. intervention, particularly after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cracked down on the protest movement in Iran, killing thousands of protesters, though some watchdogs estimate that the number could be much higher. 

Building on those demonstrations, on Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched a campaign of airstrikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure and top brass. This included an opening strike that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, bringing a moment of joy and relief for the overwhelming majority of diaspora Persians. Now approaching its second week, many view the war as the culmination of nearly 50 years of hope for change. But with the ever-present memory of the regime’s brutal crackdowns — the stakes are high, particularly for its Jewish community and other minority groups. As the war continues, many diaspora Persians hope that this could be the moment that the regime finally topples, and worry about what happens if it doesn’t. 

“The most powerful guy in Iran died, so you cannot imagine what [the Islamic Republic is] going to do,” Amir said. “You cannot imagine what is going to be the reaction of the Muslims. Everything is possible.”

If Iran is unable to target Israel, “they’re gonna attack the Jews in Iran, because they are kind of hostages,” Amir said. 

Even laced with unease and uncertainty, this is primarily a moment of hope for the Persian Jewish community, Sharon Nazarian, vice chair of the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League, told eJP. And the broader Persian community, she said, is on the same page. 

“There’s a lot of complexities [in the current war]. There’s a lot of questions about what comes after. There’s a lot of worry and concern about what tomorrow brings. All of that is a given,” said Nazarian. “But the question of whether this regime should be toppled or should it be allowed to continue to strangle its own people, to bring havoc to the region and literally, the world, none of us are questioning that.”

While some Jewish leaders told eJP that materially supporting Iranians in Iran is beyond the reach of Jewish nonprofits and philanthropists, others believe the Jewish philanthropic world could play a part in transitioning the country to a more tolerant future, one that would emerge as a close ally to the United States and Israel. 

“When [the Ayatollah was killed] we were all really excited, and now it’s just setting in that, how far is this going to go?” Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, vice president for Jewish engagement at American Jewish University, told eJP. “Are we going to actually be able to topple the regime? Is the administration going to keep moving forward? Or are they going to feel pressure from some of the American people internally, and Trump will say, ‘OK, let’s make a deal. Let’s not keep going.’ So that’s kind of the feeling we’re constantly feeling. It’s almost like one of your relatives [is] in surgery, and you’re sitting in the waiting room.”

As the larger Jewish community struggles to reckon with their own views on the conflict, often tinted by their feelings towards President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Iranian-American Jewish leaders are speaking out on the need to pay attention to Iranian Jews’ views on the situation. 

“All of my countries are involved, Israel, U.S., [Iran],” Rabizadeh told eJP. “All my friends in Israel are in bunkers. I was in a meeting yesterday, and they’re like, ‘Sorry, there are sirens. I have to go.’ I mean, that’s the level of anxiety.” 

Farhad Novian, president of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, Calif., and son of Iranian Jewish immigrants, described a sense of uncertainty over the last few weeks, interspersed with “relief and happiness” at the news of Khamenei’s death. Initially, Novian was hopeful that the U.S. and Israel’s military actions would lead to regime change led by Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled crown prince who fled alongside his family when his father, the last shah of Iran, was overthrown in 1979. 

Pahlavi’s father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, is often remembered both for rapidly modernizing Iran, and for using his secret police, the SAVAK, to forcefully shut down opposition, earning him a dictatorial reputation. Yet for many diaspora Persians, the crown prince has come to represent the halcyon days before the Islamic Revolution, when the country maintained close ties with the West and ensured freedom for women, and for many diaspora Persian Jews, his vows to restore ties with Israel are particularly compelling. 

A week after Khamenei was killed, Novian is less certain that the war will lead to regime change. For him, the optimal political solution is that, led by Pahlavi as a transitional figure, Iran becomes a constitutional monarchy, and then a democracy. 

“My feelings were of relief and happiness for the Iranian people that this mass murderer, this bureaucratic leader [Khamenei], was being attacked and had been killed. I don’t think he has any place here in this world. And I think it was a good thing that he was eliminated,” said Novian. “But it’s now been six or seven days, and I don’t necessarily see a regime change, and I don’t think that the United States wants, necessarily, a regime change.”

But Novian is also optimistic about the impact of both Israel “ridding itself and its neighbors of the menace of Iran and its proxies,” and the outcome for Iranians if they are offered the opportunity to finally govern themselves. 

“They’re younger,” he said of the Iranian population, over 60% of whom are under 35 and have known only oppression under the Islamic Republic. “They’re enterprising, they’re super intelligent, they’re passionate, and I think they can make a democracy work,” he said.

In response to the protests in January, the regime initiated an internet blackout, cutting off the Iranian people’s access to the rest of the world. Coupled with an environment of intense surveillance, there are real challenges in providing any material support to the people of Iran. 

Daniel Bral, director of education at Project Shema, told eJP, “Aside from messages of support for the people of Iran, I don’t know what philanthropists can do to actively support Iranians in Iran. It’s beyond their reach.”

But there is opportunity to support the community stateside, said Nazarian, including bringing in Iranian Jews as speakers at Jewish events and cultivating partnerships with non-Jewish Iranians with similar goals. 

Nazarian called for the Jewish community to support diaspora Iranian organizations across culture, human rights and political action, as well as invest in social media to engage in what she described as a “battle of narratives,” facing both the Iranian community and the Jewish community. 

“There are lots of Iranian organizations in the U.S., across Europe, who have been investing in building for this moment, and whatever your organization’s strength, whatever your angle is, find a partner and invest in them,’ she said. “By doing that, we’re really furthering both of our interests, both of our priorities, as the Jewish community and the Iranian diaspora community.”

There is a large swath of Iranian American Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs from companies such as Google, Uber, Meta and Amazon, including thousands who signed a petition calling for an end to the Islamic regime, ready to partner with Jewish philanthropists interested in helping rebuild Iran as a democracy, she said. “Their arms are open and willing to get not only assistance and help, but partnership with the Jewish community, with Jewish philanthropists.”

This is also an opportunity for the larger Jewish world to learn the rich history of Persian Jews, Nazarian said. “Learning about Iran, hearing from Jewish Iranians about our 47-year experience being kicked out of our country of birth, these are important things, and Jewish Iranians will be happy to speak about that.”

According to Rabizadeh, the lens through which many Americans view the Middle East doesn’t always leave space for the Persian experience, let alone the Persian Jewish experience. Many of her “American, Ashkenazi” peers, who lean liberal, she said, have been confused that many diaspora Iranians, across ethnicity and creed, are standing “side by side” in support of the war.

“For them to see Iranian people, a majority of whom are Muslim, stand side by side with Jews. I think it’s just been really hard for the Americans and a lot of the progressive Europeans to really compute how that could be,” said Rabizadeh. “They’re just entering the conversation now, and they think they know everything.” 

When the protests began in January and “the regime responded by murdering more than 35,000 of their fellow Iranians in a matter of days, my communities were mostly silent,” Rachel Sumekh, a Los Angeles-based Persian Jewish leader, told eJP. “Since Friday night, so many have spoken out! And yet, the newsletters/memes/hot takes too often erase Iranians. Their focus is whether Trump is bad/good, or Israel is bad/good, or whether this is going to hurt this other group. All of the discourse is valid, but missing are the Iranians desperate after 47 years for freedom from this authoritarian regime. Their sadness, uncertainty, and even the tinge of hope we may feel, all unseen.”

Next Wednesday in Los Angeles, the nondenominational congregation Ikar, the Israel Policy Forum and the New Israel Fund are holding an event titled “Across Iranian Jewry: Home, Exile, and Belonging,” featuring a conversation led by Sumekh, with Persian Jewish leaders Bral and Camille Moradian. 

“My hope is that it first and foremost humanizes Iranians in Iran,” Sumekh said, about what she hopes attendees take from the event. They are “currently silenced so we must speak for them. Second, I hope it helps the greater Jewish community understand Iranian American Jews. Our journey in the diaspora, ?our political leanings and also break up the myth that we all think or vote one way.”

Amir hopes this moment motivates the Jewish American community to realize the urgency of getting the remaining Jews out of Iran, he said. Freedom from the Islamic Republic may take longer than people hope. “The most efficient thing that people can help with [is] providing a way to help Jews going out from Iran to come into the United States.”

For the past several months, he has been working with HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, to petition the government to let refugees in and to make sure Iranian Jews have their paperwork in order to ensure they can get in the moment an opportunity arises. 

“I don’t care about myself right now,” Amir said. “I just care about my family and all the Iranian people. Doesn’t matter if they are Jewish or not.”

Still, many advocates hope for a future that allows Jews to thrive in Iran and for members of the diaspora to finally return to visit. “The relationship between the Persians and the Jews dates back thousands of years,” Novian said, excited about the prospect of regional peace. “Whatever we could do as Jews to support what’s going on and for a transition to a democracy, whether it’s by money or other support or by contacting our senators, we should do that.”

He has a smile on his face, he said, thinking about “the potential holding of hands between Persians, Jews and Israelis.”