Liberation, Not Invasion’: Los Angeles Celebrates Strikes on Tehran, Calls For End To Islamic Republic

The article examines how Iran strikes have shifted attitudes within the Los Angeles Iranian diaspora, highlighting support for external action and leaders like Reza Pahlavi, alongside concerns about human rights and potential consequences.

As news spread of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, parts of Los Angeles’ Iranian community broke into open celebration, reflecting a sharp shift in opinion among many exiles who now see military action as the only way to dislodge the Islamic Republic after years of repression and the recent killing of thousands of protesters.

In Westwood, the centre of Iranian Jewish life in Los Angeles, crowds gathered on Saturday afternoon after reports that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had died in an airstrike. People waved imperial flags from the Pahlavi era, leaned out of car windows, honked horns and shouted “Javid Shah!” while others held pictures of Donald Trump and cheered the joint attacks by the US and Israel.

Growing support for Iran strikes within diaspora politics

Among those now backing the Iran strikes is Alaleh Kamran, a criminal defence lawyer in Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran. Kamran once belonged firmly to the political left and strongly supported the Obama-era nuclear deal signed a decade ago. Back then, Kamran hoped diplomacy would bring peace to Iran, the country of Kamran’s birth.

Today Kamran speaks very differently about the Iran strikes and the broader campaign. "It's not an invasion, it's a liberation," Kamran says. "My support is behind this 100%." Kamran, who used to argue fiercely with conservative Iranian Jews over the nuclear agreement, now accepts their claim that negotiating with Iran’s rulers is pointless.

Iran strikes seen as answer to protests and repression

Kamran and other community members say many Iranians, both inside and outside the country, now believe talks cannot work with a government they describe as murderous. That mood hardened after last month’s killing of thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of protesters who had taken to the streets seeking to overthrow the regime and facing live fire.

During the lead-up to the Iran strikes, some activists inside Iran went further and urged direct help from abroad. Kamran says the scale of that appeal is without parallel. "This is unprecedented, to have a nation take to the streets and ask a foreign country to bomb them so they can be liberated," Kamran said. "They've been incarcerated and dominated for the last 47 years by an occupying regime… This is a cancer, and Trump is doing what Trump needs to be doing. As a Jew, I am standing behind him and behind Bibi [Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu]. Oh my God, I cannot believe I am supporting Bibi, but here I am."

Iran strikes linked to rising backing for Reza Pahlavi

Alongside support for the Iran strikes, many exiles now rally behind Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince and son of the Shah toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The emerging plan, discussed in online forums and family gatherings, imagines US and Israeli military action ending the Islamic Republic and Pahlavi stepping in as a temporary leader during a transition period.

Reliable polling is scarce, so experts say it is hard to measure backing for Pahlavi. Yet academics and activists, including critics of war, describe a strong push for unity across fractured communities. Even Iranians who once rejected any attack on a sovereign state now whisper that something must stop the government killing its own citizens, and so many remain silent in public but speak differently in private.

Public rallies in Los Angeles after Iran strikes

That shift spilled onto the streets in mid-February, when a large demonstration in downtown Los Angeles drew thousands calling for outside military intervention in Iran. Huge banners proclaimed "Reza Pahlavi is our choice" and, under a photo of Donald Trump, "We are locked and loaded." Protesters appeared to set aside memories of widespread hatred for the Shah and his security forces.

Another major gathering followed the Iran strikes and the reported death of Khamenei, with demonstrators again waving Pahlavi-era flags. A separate image from Los Angeles showed a protester hoisting a picture of Trump while people around smiled and waved American and Israeli flags. For these groups, recent US and Israeli actions in Iran are seen as a necessary step toward regime collapse.

Debate over Iran strikes within a divided 'Tehrangeles’

Despite the noisy rallies, researchers caution that support for the Iran strikes may not match the loudest voices, especially offline. The broader Iranian diaspora in Los Angeles, often called Tehrangeles, is famous for internal divides. Conservatives argue with liberals, Republicans with Democrats, and religious communities such as Muslims, Jews and Baha'is often hold very different memories of both the Shah and the Islamic Republic.

These divisions frequently appear within the same families, especially between people born in Iran before 1979 and those born later in the United States. The comedian Maz Jobrani captured that complexity with a joke. "Being Iranian American is like a Facebook relationship status – it's complicated," Jobrani said, highlighting disputes that stretch from dinner tables to digital spaces.

Iran strikes and shifts among Iranian Jews

Among Iranian Jews in Los Angeles, political opinion has moved more clearly to the right since the Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza. Kamran says many now link the fear and trauma facing Jews after Hamas’s killings with the trauma facing Iranians under their own government, especially those targeted in street crackdowns.

Kamran describes both communities as confronting threats to survival. Kamran sees parallels between Jews facing antisemitism after 7 October and Iranians facing state violence for protesting. For Kamran and like-minded exiles, this perceived shared "existential crisis" helps explain support for the Iran strikes and for leaders like Trump and Netanyahu, whose policies they once opposed.

Iran strikes framed as response to 'occupying’ rulers

Some supporters of the Iran strikes describe the Iranian government as an occupying force rather than a legitimate authority. That language, used by Kamran and others, is meant to justify calling in outside firepower to remove the leadership. In their view, if the state behaves like a foreign occupier, then foreign militaries can be invited to help push it out.

Backers of this approach insist the situation differs from other regime-change efforts, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 or NATO’s intervention in Libya in 2011. They argue that Iranian society is more united, less divided along sectarian or tribal lines, and better prepared to handle a political transition after any Iran strikes.

Concerns about online pressure in Iran strikes debate

Not everyone accepts those arguments about the Iran strikes or the supposed unity. Melody Mohebi, a Los Angeles-based expert on Iranian civil society with the group Democracy 2076, says more people who previously opposed monarchy now gather under Pahlavi’s banner. "I have increasingly seen people who don't support the monarchy and don't like Pahlavi come under that banner for the sake of unity," Mohebi said.

Mohebi says the debate has become harsh. "The mindset now is that anyone who does not support this one vision is now supporting the regime." That pressure, Mohebi warns, silences different ideas on how to confront Tehran. The online space, where much of the Iran strikes discussion unfolds, leaves little room for disagreement without personal attacks or accusations.

Scholars question hopes pinned on Iran strikes

Shervin Malekzadeh, who teaches political science at Pitzer College near Los Angeles and studies Iran’s protest movement, also expresses unease about the direction of online debate over the Iran strikes. "It can be very toxic," Malekzadeh said. "It is driven by a segment of the population that is very strident and often very hostile."

For Malekzadeh, reliance on Trump, Netanyahu and Pahlavi as saviours after the Iran strikes reflects deep despair rather than political optimism. "This is the nadir, the pit of despair," Malekzadeh said. "They're thinking, better to be devoured by a beautiful lion than to be torn apart by a horde of foul wolves." Malekzadeh sees that stark view as a warning sign.

Human rights groups warn against Iran strikes

Some organisations have publicly opposed the Iran strikes and broader regime-change plans, even while condemning abuses by Iran’s rulers. The National Iranian American Council, which works on human rights issues, says a bombing campaign could trigger chaos and conflict inside Iran instead of delivering democracy or effective reform after years of authoritarian rule.

The group set out its stance in strong language. It warned that seeking to topple the government through force would come at a terrible human cost. The National Iranian American Council said that pursuing regime change would have "a high cost in blood, with no guarantee of a brighter future for Iranians... Ultimately, state collapse, civil war and a reshaping of authoritarian governance in Iran are far more likely to flow from bombing than human rights and democracy."

Authoritarian fears beyond the Iran strikes

Mohebi worries that the way many Iranians debate the Iran strikes shows how deeply authoritarian habits run, even among people who oppose the current system. "We are leaving an authoritarian system, but that authoritarian mindset has not left us," Mohebi said. For Mohebi, the danger lies not only in what happens during any war but also in the politics that may follow.

Mohebi adds another warning. "If we're not imagining something better, we're leaving the door open for another authoritarian to step in, and that cycle will continue." For critics like Mohebi, the crucial question is whether Iranians, at home and abroad, can build a democratic culture while they argue over the Iran strikes and possible regime change.

The debate over the Iran strikes now stretches from Tehran’s streets to Los Angeles coffee shops, uniting some exiles behind foreign military action and Reza Pahlavi while others urge caution, fearing civil war or a repeat of past regime-change disasters; what remains clear is that despair over Iran’s future is driving stark choices and hardening divisions within already fragmented communities.