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Iranian protests impact local residents
FOX 13's Briona Arradondo reports.
SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. - A Safety Harbor Iranian American businessman wants to go visit his father’s grave in Iran, but the Islamic Republic has made returning difficult and potentially dangerous.
What we know:
The United States warned all options are on the table in an emergency United Nations meeting on Thursday as tensions escalate in Iran. The Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that more than 2,600 people have been killed by the Iranian government.
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The turmoil has Iranian Americans worried for their loved ones overseas.
Hooman Hamzehloui, a businessman in Safety Harbor, said his family is still in Iran and his father is buried there. He said seeing the protestors stand up against the Islamic Republic this time gives him courage and hope.
"People take for granted how free we are here. You know, this is the best country in the world. And you see what they're going through, and the government is going door to door, executing people," said Hamzehloui.
Pictured: Iranian American businessman Hooman Hamzehloui, who is based in Safety Harbor.
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He was born in Iran and stayed there until his parents knew it wasn’t safe for them anymore. His family fled to build a life in the U.S.
"I haven't been there since I was four years old. It was 46 years ago, and it was right before the Islamic Revolution," said Hamzehloui.
Dig deeper:
Hamzehloui said his father went back to Iran a few years ago.
"My father was there during COVID, and he passed away. I wasn't able to go back and see him," said Hamzehloui. "And, we had enough time. He was on the respirator for several days. I could have made it. I just didn't have the courage to knowing that I might not be able to come back, and I couldn't take that risk."
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He said the government took away the house his father built there, and he’s working to get it back.
The Iranian government has been volatile for years. University of South Florida research fellow Arman Mahmoudian said the protests we’re seeing are nothing new.
"What I would like to everybody understand is that what is happening in Iran is not a sudden or a chance protest. It's a reaction. And it's not only a reaction. It's an evolution of almost half a decade of the suppression of the Iranians' right," said Mahmoudian, a research fellow at USF’s Global and National Security Institute. "Only four years ago, Iran had a large movement largely fueled by the woman's rights movement, known as the woman life liberty movement. And they started because of a young lady being killed in Tehran over the way that she was dressing, because she didn't have her hijab."
The government has had its people in a communications and internet blackout for more than 100 hours now, preventing those with family there from contacting them.
"I just sent my aunt a message just telling her, 'hey, I'm thinking about you, and I hope that you guys are doing what you can to stay safe,'" said Hamzehloui.
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What they're saying:
Hamzehloui said he felt like a coward for not going back to Iran to see his father when he got sick.
"You know, this is happening, and I'm like, ‘should I post? Should I not? Should I post, should not?’ And imagine, I'm a grown man, afraid of a regime on the other side of the world," said Hamzehloui.
Seeing the protestors taking on the regime sends a message, not just to the government itself but to the world watching.
"My friends from India, from London, they go back and forth all the time. I've never had that privilege. So, I would love to take my children and have them visit their grandfather's grave," said Hamzehloui. "If I could go back home, I just want to visit my dad's grave. That's the dream, and a free Iran."
The USF research fellow said he thinks the best action the U.S. can do is help connect Iran with the internet. That way, more people can see and know what’s going on.
"Assistance doesn't mean you send soldiers or send aircrafts or anything like that," said Mahmoudian. "Assistance means that you find ways to just enable the civil and the civic society of the Iranian, the citizens."
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Briona Arradondo through interviews with an Iranian American businessman and a USF research fellow.