It’s not an invasion, it’s a liberation’: LA’s Iranian community speaks out after US strikes Tehran
The desire to see an increasingly ruthless Iranian regime collapse has intensified in Iranian expat communities
Andrew Gumbel in Los AngelesSun 1 Mar 2026 17.00 GMTShare
A decade ago, when Iran signed an agreement with the Obama administration and five other countries to give up its ambitions for a nuclear weapon, Alaleh Kamran was staunchly on the political left and welcomed the prospect of peace in the country of her birth.
Now, though, as Israel and the US launched punishing airstrikes on Iran, she finds herself in a dramatically different headspace.
“It’s not an invasion, it’s a liberation,” she says. “My support is behind this 100% .”
Kamran, a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles, which boasts the largest Iranian community in the world outside Iran, used to be at loggerheads with more conservative members of the Iranian Jewish community here who opposed the nuclear deal from the outset.
Demonstrators wave flags in celebration following the US and Israeli strikes in Iran; in Los Angeles. Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA
Now she agrees with them when they say there can be no negotiating with an authoritarian government they view as no better than murderers. She and other community members the Guardian spoke with believe that a majority of Iranians agree, too, particularly in the wake of last month’s killing of thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of street protesters seeking to overthrow the regime. In the run-up to the US and Israeli bombardments, some in the protest movement called openly for help from the outside world.
As of 2025, the population of Iran is estimated to be around 92.4 million. The population has been gradually increasing, but the growth rate has slowed in recent years. Wikipedia Trading Economics
Iranians in America:
As of 2024, there are approximately 750,000 Iranian Americans living in the United States, making up about 0.2% of the population. This number has grown significantly since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, with many Iranians seeking refuge in the U.S. during that time. Pew Research Center ebsco.com
Deporting Iranians from America:
US begins deporting hundreds of Iranians after rare deal with Tehran
So, in the age of AI-slop, stay vigilant and be on the lookout for generative AI. When you read an article, familiarise yourself with the author and their sources. Become an active, thinking person on the internet, however brain-dead and robotic your fellow users are becoming. And no matter how many companies try to shove it down your throat, take a stance against artificial intelligence and the harm it causes the open and free internet we used to love.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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