1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000
That's great. I should ask her what happened to money because I'm taking her to Japan early May.

2
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,000
So you need to spend your own money.

3
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:09,000
Right.

4
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,000
I am recording so whenever you're ready to see.

5
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000
Okay. Again, we're not live.

6
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,000
It's good to introduce yourself and with the organization name.

7
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:26,000
Yeah, my name is Ali Sultani. I am from Iranian American Community of Wisconsin.

8
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,000
We have different chapters in different cities.

9
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,000
I think about 40 some states. We have chapters.

10
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:39,000
We're in Wisconsin. So I'm the spokesperson for the Iranian American Community.

11
00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,000
How many Iranian Americans are in Wisconsin?

12
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000
I think there are about 20,000 or so. But they're scattered.

13
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000
There are many students in UWM.

14
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000
But then there are a lot of people who work here and been here for years.

15
00:00:53,000 --> 00:01:00,000
There are Makhishamawaki and some are even Green Bay and some other cities in Wisconsin.

16
00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000
When and why did you leave Iran?

17
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,000
I left in 1978 right before the revolution happens.

18
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:13,000
I was going to school into a university in Iran and that was right before the revolution.

19
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000
So we had a lot of demonstrations.

20
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000
I spent two years in the university in Iran.

21
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:27,000
I passed like 26 credits because the classes would cancel because of riots and stuff.

22
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,000
So that's what I left to continue my education here in the U.S.

23
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,000
How would you describe life when you lived in Iran before the war?

24
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:46,000
You might not believe, but we were watching the same TV shows that you were watching here.

25
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:53,000
Shah was kind of trying to, you know, it was put there by United States and stuff.

26
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,000
So we tried to make the country like United States in a sense.

27
00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000
So we were watching the same shows.

28
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000
Life, much better than it's now economically.

29
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,000
But during the Shah, there were no political freedoms.

30
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:19,000
There were a lot of people who were imprisoned and tortured for political beliefs.

31
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:25,000
He canceled all opposition parties and he made one.

32
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,000
And he told people if you don't like it either leave or you go to jail.

33
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:37,000
So economically it was much better than now, but obviously it wasn't the best either.

34
00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:45,000
But as far as political freedoms, there were no political freedoms in Iran.

35
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,000
Tensions had been building for months between the United States and Iran.

36
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:56,000
What was your reaction when the military strikes began from America and Israel?

37
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:03,000
As a spokesperson for the Iranian-American community, we also support the National Council of Resistance of Iran,

38
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:11,000
which is an organization we have been saying for many years that appeasement policy will lead to war.

39
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:25,000
We always have been emphasizing no appeasement, no war helped the Iranian people and their opposition to defeat this regime.

40
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,000
The result, the war was basically the result of this appeasement.

41
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:36,000
In 2002, the Iranian opposition revealed the nuclear sites of the Iranian regime.

42
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,000
That was 24 years ago. Nothing was done.

43
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:45,000
Consequently, they actually revealed the missile program and all that stuff.

44
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:54,000
But all these years, both Europe and the United States, appeased them, helped them to a point that they made a beast out of these guys.

45
00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:08,000
They started interfering, meddling in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Yemen, all their proxy forces, and it made war inevitable in a sense.

46
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:16,000
Some people, some Iranians, welcomed a war because they were fed up.

47
00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:22,000
You heard a couple of months ago that they attacked, they killed a lot of people in the streets during the demonstrations,

48
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:31,000
they shot and killed, some estimates go 30, 40,000 people, they killed, and more than 50,000 they arrested, some of the executions.

49
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,000
It's a very brutal regime.

50
00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:40,000
Some people, because they were fed up, they said, oh, the United States, come and attack, that kind of mentality.

51
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:47,000
But for interference, we'll never end up well in the long run.

52
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:59,000
So as Iranians that believe that we, the people of Iran, should be able to do something and bring about a republic, a free democratic republic,

53
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,000
we believe that foreign interference should not be there.

54
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:07,000
But nobody asked us whether this war should be there, that people of Iran, it happens.

55
00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:18,000
We now want whoever is involved, US, Israel, and whoever, not to attack, try to minimize the civilian casualties,

56
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:27,000
and also not to attack the civilian infrastructure, because we don't want, after this regime falls, we need to get up and go.

57
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:35,000
And if we don't have any refineries, if we don't have any power stations running, it would be very hard for the Iranian people to actually get back up

58
00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000
and join the international community.

59
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:49,000
So we have always opposed foreign war, but as we said, because of the result of the appeasement policy,

60
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:54,000
it has made it inevitable for the international community to deal with the Iranian regime.

61
00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000
Can we cross just one second?

62
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:02,000
Yep.

63
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,000
Okay.

64
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,000
Is that your phone there?

65
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:06,000
Yeah, someone's phone there.

66
00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,000
I'm going to run out of my sight.

67
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,000
I'm sorry.

68
00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,000
Sure.

69
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000
You're in the water.

70
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000
There's just a moment in it.

71
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,000
I'm going to stick it on my...

72
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,000
Okay.

73
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:36,000
All right.

74
00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:37,000
Are we ready?

75
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,000
Yeah.

76
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,000
Okay.

77
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:45,000
What are the discussions you're having with other Iranian-Americans about the war?

78
00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:52,000
Well, just this Saturday.

79
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,000
A bunch of us, we ran to the 15th passenger van, a bunch of us, drove to Washington, D.C.

80
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,000
in front of the capital.

81
00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000
We had a demonstration.

82
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,000
And obviously, 14-hour drive, we're talking about everything.

83
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:21,000
Again, we want to make sure that the international community and the United States doesn't choose a leader for us.

84
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:29,000
We should let everybody in agreement that we want the Iranian people to select their own former government.

85
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:35,000
We want a non-nuclear secular republic based on rule of law.

86
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:41,000
And there have been talk of the son of the Shah coming.

87
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,000
Absolutely not.

88
00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:49,000
I mean, the Iranian people, it's been 120 years since we have the constitutional revolution.

89
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,000
And since then, we have two monarchists.

90
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,000
And now the third clergyman.

91
00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,000
So we are not going back to monarchy again.

92
00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:04,000
There are some people and some entities that want to bring him back.

93
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:08,000
But he doesn't have any organic support.

94
00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,000
Everything is manufactured.

95
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000
It's made for TV and created.

96
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,000
So we don't want that.

97
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:24,000
We want actually the Iranian opposition, National Council of Resistance of Iran, which the leader is a woman called Mariam Rajavi.

98
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,000
She has a 10-point plan.

99
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:35,000
February 28 of this year, she announced a formation of a provisional government that will take over after the fall of this regime.

100
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:43,000
That provisional government's task is to have a constituent assembly which will write a, you know,

101
00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,000
which will actually based on the free and fair election.

102
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:56,000
We'll have that and then we'll write a new constitution for a republic.

103
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:09,000
Her 10-point plan is about freedom of press, gender equality, non-nuclear Iran, and market economy.

104
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000
And basically in separation of church and state or religion and state.

105
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,000
It's a very democratic.

106
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:21,000
We have the majority of U.S. Senate and Congress support us.

107
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,000
More than 4,000 parliamentarians from around the world support this plan.

108
00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:32,000
So all of a sudden coming, you know, creating this so-called crown prince and putting it there.

109
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,000
It infuriates a lot of us that where the heck did this come from?

110
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:42,000
This guy was sitting in exile for 45 years, had nothing to do with anything.

111
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,000
He has repeatedly said that he doesn't want to go back to Iran.

112
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:52,000
He's not this. All of a sudden he's pumped and propped up by some entities trying to make a leader out of him.

113
00:09:52,000 --> 00:10:00,000
And that kind of gets a lot of people upset that we have had in a position that has fought for 47 years.

114
00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:07,000
Continuously, not just showing up at the last moment and trying to steal, in a sense, the revolution.

115
00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:12,000
That's what our concern is right now. That's what we're worried about that we don't want that.

116
00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:18,000
We want the international community to recognize the right of our people to select our own form of government

117
00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,000
and our own system of government and parliament and all that.

118
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:26,000
Okay. Moving to family now.

119
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,000
Have you been in contact with friends and family that you have in Iran?

120
00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:34,000
Yes. Internet is cut off, right?

121
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:40,000
So, my sister just yesterday, through landline, had called me.

122
00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,000
I walked out of my office and was a voicemail.

123
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,000
And then my nieces are one in California, one in Michigan.

124
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:55,000
My brothers in Florida, so they all have talked to them in some way.

125
00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,000
They all have moved to smaller cities.

126
00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,000
So, they're not in Tehran anymore.

127
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,000
Because most of the bombardment has been in Tehran.

128
00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,000
So, they've moved in smaller cities in Iran.

129
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,000
For their safety.

130
00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:09,000
They're safe.

131
00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:10,000
Okay.

132
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:11,000
Yeah.

133
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:12,000
Okay.

134
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,000
So, the internet has been cut off.

135
00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,000
They can call out.

136
00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,000
I've heard, right?

137
00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,000
They call with landline, not through internet.

138
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:28,000
Because before we were using WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram, you know, for being in contact.

139
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,000
But they've used landlines to call.

140
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,000
Okay.

141
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,000
What are you hearing about how bad the war is there?

142
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000
Well, we have the satellite.

143
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,000
We watched the satellite.

144
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:47,000
I talked to my niece that had talked to her mom.

145
00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:56,000
They, even in the small cities, a couple places where these are the garrisons and security forces, a place that's been hit.

146
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,000
She knew about those.

147
00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:04,000
But Tehran is really, a lot of people hear a lot of loud noises, the bombing.

148
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000
And scare some people, of course.

149
00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,000
But, yeah, most of the bombing has been in Tehran and big cities.

150
00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,000
Not small villages or small towns.

151
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:23,000
Do you fear continued military action and do you fear troops in Iran?

152
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,000
That's a good question.

153
00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:33,000
You see, this regime cannot be overthrown by airstrikes.

154
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:34,000
Okay.

155
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:45,000
You need people on the ground to fight these Basijis and militias and the IRGC and all the members of the suppressive forces.

156
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:56,000
In the US, either what happens is that either US or Israel have to put boots on the ground, which is for a country like Iran, 90 million is a large country.

157
00:12:56,000 --> 00:12:58,000
It's very hard.

158
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000
Or we should rely on the people of Iran.

159
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000
We have an organized armed resistance inside Iran.

160
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:14,000
Actually, a couple of weeks ago, right before a few days, three, four days before the US attacked the compound of Khamenei and killed the supreme leader.

161
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:25,000
This armed opposition, 250 members of the armed opposition of the MEK, Mujahedin Khal, they attacked that compound.

162
00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,000
150 of them, 100 of them unfortunately died and got arrested.

163
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:39,000
Their names have been given to United Nations, Human Rights Organization, and then 150 of them turned back to their Basis.

164
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:47,000
What I'm saying is that there is an organized resistance armed in Iran.

165
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:55,000
We should help them rather than try to bring US or Israeli troops on the ground.

166
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,000
It would be very hard.

167
00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:02,000
It would be much easier for the Iranian people to do it that way because they know everything.

168
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:03,000
They know who these people are.

169
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,000
They know where they live.

170
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,000
They know, and they can fight them.

171
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:12,000
So that would be the best solution for us.

172
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:19,000
When the military strike is over and has ended, what are your hopes for the country?

173
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:29,000
Well, hopefully this regime will fall if they manage to stay in power.

174
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,000
Again, our fight is not over, right?

175
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:45,000
We're hoping that, again, the organized opposition of Iran will be able to overthrow this regime and bring a democratic secular non-nuclear Iran republic for Iran.

176
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,000
If that doesn't happen shortly, I mean, we'll continue.

177
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:55,000
But again, the aerial bombardment is not going to do it.

178
00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:03,000
I'm hoping that US doesn't put boots on the ground because if that happens, it's going to be a lot of...

179
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,000
It's not going to be messy, I should say.

180
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,000
It's not going to be that clean regardless of what they do.

181
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:14,000
Again, they have some estimates of one million Basiji forces.

182
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:21,000
Basiji are the militia, plainclothes people that killed a lot of people a couple months ago in the streets.

183
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:30,000
So it would be hard for a small number of troops to go there and do what they need to do to overthrow the regime.

184
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:38,000
What are your thoughts about the anti-war protests here in the United States and those who feel that America shouldn't be waging this war at all?

185
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:46,000
Well, as I said, this regime, the war is basically the fault of this regime.

186
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000
It threatens Israel.

187
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:56,000
And you saw that they actually attacked all the neighboring countries that were supposedly friends with Iran.

188
00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:01,000
They were actually trying to facilitate the talks.

189
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:08,000
Oman, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, these people have been the ones that have been appeasing them all of them, helped them all of them.

190
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:13,000
Every way you can imagine, yet they attacked them with missiles.

191
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:22,000
So this is a regime that has brought this on to itself by, they have been saying from the very beginning, death to America, death to Israel.

192
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:31,000
And then they also say death to Monaf again, which is their name they give to our opposition movement, the Mujahideen.

193
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,000
So this has been brought up by the regime.

194
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:44,000
I understand that people are against the war, but imagine if this regime would have had the nuclear weapon.

195
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:49,000
Imagine one of those missiles would have been a nuclear weapon, armed with a nuclear weapon.

196
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,000
What would have happened?

197
00:16:50,000 --> 00:17:00,000
So the appeasement policy, unfortunately not stopping this regime earlier, has brought this on to the international community.

198
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:13,000
I wouldn't think there was any other choice except again for them, because our opposition, a few years ago or many, I think it was 90 or something around that time,

199
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:24,000
U.S. disarmed all our opposition movement in Iraq, we were in Iraq, and took all their weapons and armored vehicles and all that.

200
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:30,000
So it was a way for Iranian people to go and overthrow these people, but they disarmed them.

201
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:37,000
So that's why the opposition actually started having the rebel units inside Iran organize that and have that.

202
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:45,000
A war, to me, was inevitable, because this regime brought it on to itself.

203
00:17:45,000 --> 00:18:00,000
The alternative would have been to let this regime get nuclear weapons, or would have been to help the Iranian opposition, which it seems like some people with the appeasement policy didn't want to do that.

204
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:07,000
So no, war is not good, we understand, but sometimes it's inevitable.

205
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:23,000
Again, we don't support the foreign wars, but being put yourself in the shoes of the United States and Israel, this regime does not hesitate to kill its own people by the thousands.

206
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:29,000
They imagine what happens to it, to Israel, which they see as their enemy.

207
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:36,000
So I think it's the Iranian regime and also the appeasement policy that has brought this war.

208
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:50,000
The Trump administration has said that the reason for this war is to stop the development of Iran from having nuclear weapons.

209
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:55,000
What do you think of that as justification for the military strikes?

210
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,000
I think that is a fair assessment, in a sense.

211
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:09,000
I mean, sort of having conspiracy theories about expansion of the United States or Israel or this stuff.

212
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:23,000
Short term, I think that is a very legitimate reasoning, in a sense that if our opposition had not revealed in 2002, Natanz and Iraq,

213
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,000
the sites of nuclear facilities, they would have had nuclear weapons by now.

214
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:37,000
And they have always, regardless, even in JCPOA, when they had the agreements with during the Obama administration.

215
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:47,000
They were cheating, apparently they were doing all this stuff, because they see nuclear weapons as they're guaranteed for their survival.

216
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:55,000
They see that as if I, like North Korea, if he had nuclear weapons, nobody could have attacked us, that kind of mentality.

217
00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:06,000
So, and once they do it, they have proxy forces, Hamas, Hezbollah, you know, Houthis in Yemen, Shashro Shabi and other proxy forces in Iraq.

218
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:16,000
And even in Venezuela, the Irish, you see, had, you know, a lot of posts there and a lot of places that they were there.

219
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:29,000
So, it's, it is true. I mean, they have even states that nuclear weapon and also their missile, you know, capabilities.

220
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:36,000
Because if they would have had long-range intercontinental missiles to the United States, they would have used it.

221
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:44,000
Because they have bombarded every, they have attacked every U.S. consulate or military bases in the Middle East.

222
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:49,000
What would have stopped them? They actually did one in Cyprus.

223
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:55,000
And yesterday I heard that Turkey actually downed another, one of their missiles.

224
00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:01,000
So, they don't hesitate to attack any country that they see hostile to them.

225
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:12,000
Okay. I've seen some discussion that the Iranian regime is threatening Iranians outside of the United States.

226
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Are you concerned about this?

227
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,000
As I was talking to you earlier, I've been myself the victim of that.

228
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,000
Right.

229
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,000
Tell me about that. What, what happened in those situations?

230
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:26,000
I, for that special incident you were talking about?

231
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:27,000
Yeah.

232
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:32,000
I saw, that was 1993, I believe.

233
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:39,000
I saw that they had somebody had scratched my car and rode some graffiti on my car the first day.

234
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:43,000
And then two days, three days later I was out with a friend.

235
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,000
And it was in a, it was his birthday, so it went to a bar.

236
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:55,000
And then all of a sudden somebody came and told the bartender, the security in the bar, that I have stolen the wallet.

237
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,000
Now we just got in that bar, nothing. This guy is big, black dude.

238
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:05,000
And I was like telling the guy, no, I didn't. I was like, punch my face right then.

239
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:10,000
Bloody, obviously the bars don't want to have anything reported from their bar, so they kicked us out.

240
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:16,000
I went across the street in Pizza Man in North Avenue, and they wouldn't let me call the police either.

241
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:24,000
I got out, once I got out, two people from the car, parked on the side of the street, came with the brass knuckles, started hitting me on the street.

242
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:31,000
So they left and I broke my nose, I went to the hospital right by that north, I don't know, St. Mary's or whatever it is.

243
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,000
I went there and that was it, the police came and said, who was it?

244
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:40,000
I said, I have no idea. It's two big black guys, you know, they were hired, gone obviously.

245
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,000
And then I got a call, and next time you won't be the lucky, I said, okay, that's fine.

246
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,000
You can do whatever you want, but I'm not going to stop.

247
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:53,000
So, yeah, I mean, they have killed a lot of people in Europe.

248
00:22:53,000 --> 00:23:01,000
They don't hesitate. That's why you can't find a lot of people interview you, because there's always an anger.

249
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:09,000
They just heard that they said that they will confiscate the properties of anybody outside Iran who has been in these demonstrations.

250
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,000
Inside Iran, you know, their property, whatever they have.

251
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:20,000
So, yeah, there is always a danger there, but there are people that are being killed, so this is nothing compared to that.

252
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:30,000
Are you concerned about how attitudes towards Iranians may change if the war continues and American soldiers are hurt or killed?

253
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:39,000
During 1979, when I told you, I was in Madison. It was a hostage crisis.

254
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:45,000
I personally, that was even worse, because there were a lot of people that supported that regime at a time.

255
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:54,000
He just had come, people thought home, and he was this godly man that is holy and this and that, and they were fooled by this charisma he had.

256
00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:02,000
Even then, I personally did not have any issue with anybody, because people, bottom line, person to person, they are the same.

257
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:06,000
You can always find zealous that are, you know, extreme and do stuff.

258
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:12,000
But fortunately, now, a lot of people know that the Iranian people are themselves against this regime.

259
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,000
80, 90 percent of the people oppose this regime.

260
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:19,000
That's why some of them, as I said, are happy that you are even attacked.

261
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:28,000
So, as long as people realize that there's a distinction between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people, I don't think you'll see much of that.

262
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,000
And I think a lot of people do realize that.

263
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:36,000
Okay. We've covered a lot of ground. Is there anything that I didn't ask that's important?

264
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:46,000
No, I just, I wanted to, again, once more, I wanted to emphasize that we want the U.S., the international community,

265
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:53,000
to let the Iranians, after 120 years of fighting for freedom, we don't want to go back to another dictatorship.

266
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,000
Doesn't matter how you sugarcoat it, it's a dictatorship.

267
00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:03,000
We don't want to go to one man rule. We want no clergy. We don't want no clergy. We don't want no Shah.

268
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:14,000
We want a non-nuclear, secular, democratic republic based on rule of law that if you don't like somebody, you can vote them out, right?

269
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:20,000
Just like U.S., just like France, just like many democratic countries. And this is what we want.

270
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:30,000
We want U.S. and every other country to recognize our right to choose our own form of government.

271
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:38,000
That is what's dear to us, and that's what actually in the long run is for the benefit of Iran and the international community.

272
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:43,000
Imagine what would have happened in 1979 if you really would have had a democratic country.

273
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,000
None of this would have happened in the Middle East.

274
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:53,000
Iran would have been part of the international community. It's a very rich country with a long heritage.

275
00:25:53,000 --> 00:26:00,000
We have relatively smart people, so it would have been a good country to have in the Middle East,

276
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:06,000
like many countries, progressive countries in the Middle East.

277
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,000
Thank you so much for your time.

278
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,000
Do we need the room tone, do you think?

279
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,000
No, it's okay.

280
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,000
Thank you so much.