Las Vegas resident Siavesh Akrami fled his native Iran in 2008.
Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020 | 2 a.m.
Siavesh Akrami had no other choice but to flee his native Iran in 2008. A member of the Baháʼí Faith, he did not have the right to go to college or work for the government because of his beliefs, and he felt his safety was in jeopardy.
Now a Las Vegas resident, Akrami is like many Iranian transplants concerned about the rising tensions between the United States and Iran. The U.S. drone strike killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani set off an escalation of events that left many worried about a full-scale war.
“Basically, I know any war will result in loss of blood, and it’s not going to be good in any way,” Akrami said. “I’m also not so happy with the way (the Iranian government) treated us.”
While the anxieties over an imminent war have died down, the conflict between the United States and Iran is decades old and tough to unpack, leaving some Iranians living in the United States in a difficult spot as they try to reconcile their ties to both nations. Some Iranian refugees living in Las Vegas say they were tortured and faced persecution for various reasons including religion, political affiliation and sexuality, under the Islamic Republic regime, which took over in 1979 following the fall of the Western-friendly Shah.
Mohammed, who also lives in Las Vegas and asked that his last name not be used to protect his family, said he faced religious persecution in Iran after he converted to Christianity.
He said he and his family were harassed and tortured. So he fled to Turkey in 2014 and lived there for six years before resettling here through Catholic Charities’ refugee program. He doesn’t follow the news beyond what he sees on social media.
“It’s not my favorite thing to follow the news, but sometimes the things I see on Facebook are so bad,” he said. “I saw the story about the Ukrainian airplane crash, and I’m so sorry for the people who died. … I don’t want to ignore it but it makes me so sad.”
Mohammed, who still has family living in Iran, said the possibility of a war with the United States makes him worry for their health and safety, especially his sick mother.
But he also worries for U.S. soldiers — to him, they're just as much his family.
“The United States is my country, even more than Iran,” he said. “This government saved me.”
Like Mohammed, Akrami also didn’t follow the news too closely until Soleimani’s death and subsequent missile strikes. Akrami has mixed emotions about the conflict because Iran still holds precious childhood memories after he spent the first 23 years of his life there.
“When I see people suffering, I do feel for them,” he said. “That is something that will always be a part of me.”
Farrokh Nikmaram, who considers himself a proud conservative and a proud American, said he doesn’t believe there will be as much bloodshed between the U.S. and Iran as others might fear.
“Iran is already breaking down under its own mismanagement and tensions,” he said. “They don’t want to go to war.”
Nikmaram fled Iran in 2009 when he faced persecution for being gay, which is punishable by death. An LGBTQ rights activist, Nikmaram was editor of the Toronto-based Iranian LGBTQ publication Neda Magazine.
Prior to leaving the country, he was closely involved in the presidential campaign of Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist politician who was an open critic of the Iranian government.
Following the election, which was won by incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nikmaram said he was arrested and subsequently tortured and raped. He eventually was able to escape and flee to Turkey. When it became clear that he could never return to his home country, he eventually settled in the United States, where he was able to acquire refugee status.
Nikmaram said he still cares about Iran and hopes there will eventually be peace. But as a naturalized citizen, he said he swore allegiance to the United States.
While some have criticized President Donald Trump for signing off on the Soleimani strike, Nikmaram said that taking him out was necessary, as it warns the regime against taking larger-scale actions against the U.S.
“It was a message from the United States and it needed to be given,” he said. “That man had become a both a superhero and a symbol of oppression.”
