As grainy videos of Israel’s strikes on Iran spread in WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels used by the Iranian diaspora, Persian Jews in the U.S. are viewing this moment with a mix of trepidation and excitement — the first time in decades, some say, that the Iranian regime truly appears vulnerable. 

That has prompted cautious optimism about a future in which Iranians might live free from the oppression of the Ayatollah, several activists in the Persian Jewish community told Jewish Insider on Friday, and where they might be able to bring their children to visit their native land. But the escalation has also brought fear about what comes next, and that even an Israeli military success might not effect change on the ground for Iranians. 

Sharon Nazarian, a philanthropist and Jewish communal leader in Los Angeles who left Tehran with her family in 1978, said she has felt “two striking, opposing feelings” since Israel’s attacks began. 

“One of utter hope and the possibility that maybe one day we can go back to our country of birth to bring our children,” Nazarian said. “We are [also] very fearful that this regime, although it’s at its weakest point it’s been since 1979, it will survive, and it will, yet again, find a mechanism both to manipulate and to force its way into maintaining the stranglehold it has on the Iranian people and the country of Iran.” 

Sam Yebri, a Los Angeles attorney who left Iran with his parents as a toddler, described feeling “an inevitability to today’s events, and a hope that it’ll bring a better future for the people of Iran as well as the people of Israel.”

As foreign policy experts assess how President Donald Trump and other world leaders will respond to the strikes, and question what impact they will have on Middle East geopolitics, many Persian Jews feel a flicker of hope for the Iranian people. 

Arielle Mokhtarzadeh was born and raised in Los Angeles, but her parents were both born in Iran. She expressed hope that the attacks might herald a change in the Islamic Republic.

“The Iranian people will be responsible for carrying forward a new future for Iran. But they know, and we know, that they cannot do it alone. This is the first time since 1979 that a world power has stepped up to give them a chance,” Mokhtarzadeh said. “I could not be more proud that it is Israel — as an Iranian, as an American and as a Jew.” 

In a statement on Friday, the leaders of the small Jewish community that remains in Iran condemned “the rape and inhumanity that the Zionist regime has brought upon the our beloved homeland,” according to a translation provided by Nazarian, who pointed out that the leader of the community was appointed by the Iranian government.

“That is, by definition, what a captured Jewish community acts like they have no choice. This is their survival mechanism, and so they’ve put out statements condemning Israel,” Nazarian explained. 

Others in the Persian Jewish community in the U.S. felt a touch of schadenfreude at the developments.

“For all the wounds the regime has inflicted, it deserves this eve of bloodletting. May it stop quickly to make way for the arrival of the long-awaited season of woman, life, freedom,” Roya Hakakian, an Iranian-born author, wrote in The Free Press on Thursday.  

Matthew Nouriel, community engagement director at JIMENA, an organization that advocates for Jews from Middle Eastern countries, posted a video on Instagram from Tel Aviv responding to the strikes.

“I do want to say that I’m praying for the safety and freedom of the people in Iran, and I sincerely hope that every single strike against that bloodthirsty regime of filthy thugs disguised as clerics strikes the fear of God into each and every one of their satanic, black hearts,” said Nouriel, who had traveled to Tel Aviv to attend Tel Aviv Pride, which was canceled in light of the attacks.