How polarization reshaped the diaspora

The US and Israel began a joint strike on Iran on February 28th, with the US immediately striking a girls’ elementary school, killing more than 180, the vast majority of them children. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated the very same day, and later replaced by his son Mojtaba; the US and Israel have continued to kill high-ranking figures in Iranian leadership. The human toll of this war is already being felt in Iran. Almost 1,500 Iranians have been killed since the war’s start, and more than three million have been displaced. On March 6th, Israel struck three oil depots around Tehran, destroying crucial infrastructure while sending noxious particulate into the sky that will do long-term damage to the health of the city’s inhabitants.

Meanwhile, Iranians on the ground and in the diaspora are fracturing over US and Israeli actions. This war was preceded, in early January, by a grassroots uprising against the regime, which may have killed tens of thousands in crackdowns on the protests. This crackdown has been cited by opponents of the Iranian state as a justification for the war, and many in the diaspora have expressed support instead for the return of the monarchy, led by Reza Pahlavi, who has been living in exile since 1979, when his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was deposed. This argument between pro- and anti-war segments of the community has become deeply fraught—sometimes relationship-ending—as Iranians across the globe battle over the future of their community.

On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Narges Bajoghli, a professor at Johns Hopkins and the author of How Sanctions Work and Iran Reframed, and Manijeh Moradian, a professor at Barnard College and the author This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States about the fractures roiling the Iranian diaspora, the nuances of the anti-war position in the face of a repressive regime, and the need to build an anti-imperialism for the 21st century.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“Hard Feelings,” Narges Bajoghli, New York

“All Modern Warfare Is Chemical Warfare,” Narges Bajoghli, New York

How Sanctions Work by Narges Bajoghli

Introduction to “Iran in Crisis: Seven Essays on the Obstacles to Freedom,” Manijeh Moradian and Ida Nikou, Jadaliyya

This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States by Manijeh Moradian

International Women’s Day AI slop depicting Israeli fighter pilots “liberating” the women of Iran

“Iran Is Not an Existential Threat,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents

Transcript forthcoming.