>> Watching and living the war from afar. That's what
Iranians in Wisconsin face as they worry and wonder
about family and friends. They're cut off from
communication "Here& Now". Reporter Steven Potter
spoke with two Iranian people in Milwaukee about
being so disconnected from loved ones during these
times, and the hopes they have for their homeland
after the war. >> Watching the war in Iran
unfold from thousands of miles away is causing a lot
of worry for Wisconsin residents like Zahra Fakhri
and Ali Soltani. Communication with loved
ones still in Iran is infrequent at best.
>> It's because of the blackout. There's no way to
call them. So they're calling us directly by the
phone lines. And the quality of the call is
terrible. What they say is always that we're we are
okay. Everything is fine. >> Have you been in contact
with friends and family that you have in Iran?
>> Yes. Internet is cut off, right? So my sister just
yesterday through landline had called me. They all
have moved to smaller cities, so they're not in
Tehran anymore, even in the small cities, a couple
places where these are the garrisons and security
forces, places that have been hit. She knew about
those. But Tehran is really a lot of people here, a lot
of loud noises, the bombing and scare some people. Of
course. >> Fakhri and Soltani have
different feelings about the United States and
Israel beginning the war in Iran and removing the
country's supreme leader from power.
>> It was the last option for us. At first, we were
so happy because of the intervention that we were
waiting for. After that, we got really happy and
thrilled because of the death of the Khomeini. But
we all knew that it's not just one person, it's a
systematic. We cannot say that and topple that
government down just by killing one person.
>> We have always opposed foreign war. It's a very
brutal regime. So some people, because they were
fed up, they they said, oh, United States come and
attack that kind of mentality. But foreign
interference will never end up well in the long run.
>> But Fakhri and Soltani do agree that it should be
the Iranian people who decide who leads their
homeland, and it should not be the leaders of other
countries who choose Iran's next government, who should
lead Iran. >> Whoever. Iranian people
inside Iran and Iranian people outside of Iran
agreeing with. >> We want the US, the
international community to let the Iranians. After 120
years of fighting for freedom, we don't want to
go back to another dictatorship. It doesn't
matter how you sugarcoat it. It's a dictatorship. We
don't want to go to one man rule. We don't want no
clergy. We don't want no Shah. 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? Just like us, just like France, just like
many democratic countries. >> What resolution are you
hoping for in the end? >> Getting rid of Islamic
regime, Iranian people doing their job to make the
country free and having a secular government and
better place and showing the world what is real Iran
and what is real Iranian people, and how it could be
a better world with peaceful country in the
Middle East. That's what we are looking for.
>> We want the US and every other country to recognize
our right to choose our own form of government. 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. international community.