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>> Watching and living the
war from afar. That's what

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Iranians in Wisconsin face
as they worry and wonder

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about family and friends.
They're cut off from

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communication "Here& Now".
Reporter Steven Potter

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spoke with two Iranian
people in Milwaukee about

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being so disconnected from
loved ones during these

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times, and the hopes they
have for their homeland

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after the war.
>> Watching the war in Iran

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unfold from thousands of
miles away is causing a lot

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of worry for Wisconsin
residents like Zahra Fakhri

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and Ali Soltani.
Communication with loved

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ones still in Iran is
infrequent at best.

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>> It's because of the
blackout. There's no way to

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call them. So they're
calling us directly by the

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phone lines. And the
quality of the call is

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terrible. What they say is
always that we're we are

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okay. Everything is fine.
>> Have you been in contact

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with friends and family
that you have in Iran?

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>> Yes. Internet is cut off,
right? So my sister just

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yesterday through landline
had called me. They all

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have moved to smaller
cities, so they're not in

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Tehran anymore, even in the
small cities, a couple

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places where these are the
garrisons and security

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forces, places that have
been hit. She knew about

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those. But Tehran is really
a lot of people here, a lot

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of loud noises, the bombing
and scare some people. Of

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course.
>> Fakhri and Soltani have

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different feelings about
the United States and

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Israel beginning the war in
Iran and removing the

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country's supreme leader
from power.

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>> It was the last option
for us. At first, we were

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so happy because of the
intervention that we were

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waiting for. After that, we
got really happy and

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thrilled because of the
death of the Khomeini. But

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we all knew that it's not
just one person, it's a

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systematic. We cannot say
that and topple that

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government down just by
killing one person.

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>> We have always opposed
foreign war. It's a very

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brutal regime. So some
people, because they were

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fed up, they they said, oh,
United States come and

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attack that kind of
mentality. But foreign

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interference will never end
up well in the long run.

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>> But Fakhri and Soltani
do agree that it should be

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the Iranian people who
decide who leads their

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homeland, and it should not
be the leaders of other

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countries who choose Iran's
next government, who should

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lead Iran.
>> Whoever. Iranian people

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inside Iran and Iranian
people outside of Iran

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agreeing with.
>> We want the US, the

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international community to
let the Iranians. After 120

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years of fighting for
freedom, we don't want to

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go back to another
dictatorship. It doesn't

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matter how you sugarcoat it.
It's a dictatorship. We

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don't want to go to one man
rule. We don't want no

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clergy. We don't want no
Shah. We want a non-nuclear,

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secular, democratic
republic based on rule of

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law, that if you don't like
somebody, you can vote them

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out, right? Just like us,
just like France, just like

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many democratic countries.
>> What resolution are you

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hoping for in the end?
>> Getting rid of Islamic

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regime, Iranian people
doing their job to make the

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country free and having a
secular government and

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better place and showing
the world what is real Iran

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and what is real Iranian
people, and how it could be

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a better world with
peaceful country in the

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Middle East. That's what we
are looking for.

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>> We want the US and every
other country to recognize

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our right to choose our own
form of government. That is

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what's dear to us. And
that's what actually, in

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the long run, is for the
benefit of Iran and the

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international community.
international community.