Iranians in Chicago voice opposition to U.S. military intervention amid brutal crackdown

Nassim Abdi has been trying to get information about her parents and other loved ones in Iran. It’s been difficult because Iran has cut off internet and texting service in recent days as it cracks down on demonstrators angry over the theocracy's faltering economy.

“I have a hard time focusing on anything else. We have been so distracted with everything that is happening there,” said Abdi, who lives in Munster, Indiana. “My parents live there. All my extended family are still there. We are constantly checking the news right now.”

Abdi is concerned about the number of Iranians who have been reported killed during demonstrations. Activists have put the death toll at 2,571, but she believes the number is far higher.

“It's so brutal what's happening. It's a total internet blackout and digital blackout. At 6 p.m., they cut all cellphones, any connection," Abdi said. “That’s when the killing starts.”

Iran on Tuesday eased some restrictions on its people and, for the first time in days, allowed them to make phone calls abroad via their mobile phones. It did not ease restrictions on the internet or permit texting services to be restored.

Although Iranians were able to call abroad, people outside the country could not call them, several people in the capital told The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump is weighing options on whether the U.S. should take action, including military, against the current regime. Trump has warned that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters” the U.S. “will come to their rescue" — a threat that has taken on new meaning after American troops captured Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran. In June of last year, the U.S. joined Israel in bombing three nuclear sites in Iran.

Abdi, is chief executive of Storybolt, a learning platform used by universities and businesses. She says it’s hard to trust anything Trump says about the situation in Iran but wants to see the current regime gone and the killing stopped.

She hopes the U.S. uses other means to stop civilian deaths and restore communications.

“I am someone who is always against war. However, there are ways that [Americans] can do it without killing civilians," she said.

“I grew up during the brutal war between Iran and Iraq. My childhood was during the war, and that's the last thing I want to see in my life for anywhere to see another war," Abdi says. "People of Iran are doing everything in their power to get out of this horrific situation that they are in. ... They need support from outside, some source of intervention.”

But not everyone agrees that the United States should get involved given its long, unsuccessful history in the Middle East, dating back to the overthrow of the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in the 1950s, the Iranian hostage crisis in the '70s and in this century the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It is my view that the U.S. should stay out and let people sort it out because foreign intervention in that part of the world has never created a good outcome. We see what happened in Afghanistan, and we see what has happened in Iraq ever since Americans invaded,” said Ahmad Sadri, the Gorter Professor of Islamic World Studies and professor of sociology at Lake Forest College.

Sadri arrived in the United States in 1979 to pursue his doctorate degree. Like Abdi, he has relatives in Tehran.

“Because of the blackout that the government has imposed, we really don't have any information about the number of casualties and dead. They're claiming that a considerable number of the security forces were killed. We can't verify any of these, but this is actually the worst violence that we have seen in many years in Iran,” Sadri said. “There was an uprising in 2010, another in 2019, but neither one of them was this violent. So this is a new phase in uprisings in Iran.”

Sadri said there really is not much Trump can do to help Iranians.

“Iranians are suspicious of the intentions of Americans. At least I am. I think Iranians will topple this regime in due time, and they don't need any external force," Sadri said.

He says that if Trump orders the bombing of government and military sites without putting troops on the ground there won't be much benefit to ordinary Iranians.

“Iranian people are going to suffer. It will rally the pro-government forces. It will ignite the nationalistic feelings in people. With bombing campaigns, they can damage a lot of infrastructure and property in Iran, but they are not going to win any battles,” Sadri said. “

Chicago arts entrepreneur Narimon Safavi agrees that Americans need to allow the Iranian people to handle the uprising.

Because of the blackout, however, Safavi has been unable to talk to friends in Iran.

“I work with a lot of artists over there. I bring them to the United States for cultural diplomacy projects and dialog-through-art events. I have not been able to get in touch with any of the artists that I work with in the last few days. It's a very worrying situation.”

The United States threatening military invention doesn’t help the matter.

"If anything, it strengthens the hands of the hardliners inside Iran who want to do further crackdowns,” Safavi said. “They want to basically accuse anyone that they jail or kill of being collaborators with the outside forces.”

Safavi said change in Iran has to come from the people of Iran.

"The Iranian people deserve better than what this regime has offered them,” he said.

Michael Puente is a reporter and weekend anchor for WBEZ. Reach him at mpuente@wbez.org. 

Contributing: Associated Press