ADRIAN MA, HOST:
As the U.S.-Israel war with Iran enters week three, President Trump is sending more than 2,000 marines to the Middle East. He's also urging allies to send warships to try and break Iran's hold on a key oil shipping route. Meanwhile, on Sunday Israel announced new attacks on western Iran as the Iranian regime attempts to regroup behind a new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. With all this happening, many Americans no doubt have complicated feelings about this war. And perhaps that's especially true for Americans who trace their roots to Iran, like Nick Mafi. He's an Iranian American writer who wrote this in a recent essay for The Wall Street Journal.
NICK MAFI: Every piece of the Iranian diaspora culture was built on the bedrock of the regime's permanence. It gave exiles their shape. You, your family and your closest friends were here because that was there, and that was not going to change. On Saturday, February 28, that changed.
MA: That was the day the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes all over Iran. Now, Mafi grew up in suburban Ohio, but his family has deep roots in Iran. His parents are originally from there and get this - Mafi's great uncle was once the country's prime minister, although that was decades before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, when the current theocratic regime took over. With this as the backdrop, Mafi watched the war unfolding and the initial celebrations among Iranian Americans and says he felt something like vertigo.
MAFI: The diaspora is navigating a feeling that has no precedent in our collective experience. The possibility that exile might end - not the certainty, the possibility. And possibility, after 47 years of permanence, turns out to be the most disorienting thing of all.
MA: Since that day more than two weeks ago, Mafi told me that he and other Iranians in the U.S. have felt a mix of hope and fear. And so when we spoke to him recently, I started asking him, first, what does he hope for?
MAFI: First and foremost, I would say the hope is a simple one, and that is that the bombing stops. The killings stop. That's my first hope. I just want to, full stop, say that. The second hope is that this could be a catalyst for the world to one day see Iran for what it actually is. You know, the late Anthony Bourdain, when he visited Iran, said something I've never forgotten in one of his episodes. He said that of all the places he had traveled in the world, it was in Iran where he was greeted most warmly by total strangers. And I think anyone listening to this who knows an Iranian American in their life knows this to be true. We are a warm, generous, ancient people. That's the Iran that I carry. And honestly, that's the Iran I hope survives this.
MA: For two weeks, we've been hearing daily news about Israel and U.S. striking Iran, as well as Iran attacking neighboring countries in the Gulf region and ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And still, there is no clear end to this fighting in the sight. So how are you processing that?
MAFI: It's difficult, to say the least. I do still have family living in Iran right now. I won't go into specifics for their own safety. But I can say that the distance between us has never felt wider. I say in the essay, you know, I'm losing sleep over the videos that I'm seeing from Iran, but the fact remains the people in those videos are losing their lives. And the distance between those two experiences is the width of my luck. And that distance is something I now think about every single day. It wasn't something I thought about before February 28, if I'm being honest. I took it for granted really, but I don't anymore.
MA: One thing I was curious about was, with all of the news coverage around the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran right now, what do you think is being missed? Like, what do you wish people knew more about when it comes to Iran?
MAFI: You know, I want Americans to understand that Iranians truly want the same thing they do - safety, dignity, a voice. My parents never went back to Iran because those things disappeared. They came to America because they believed those things existed here, and they were right. The people that the American public are watching on the news right now, the ones running from the bombs, the ones celebrating in the streets one moment and then retreating indoors for safety the next, they want the exact same thing every American already has. And they're dying for it right now.
MA: In your piece, you talk about how you are having these discussions now in Ohio with family. So what kinds of things are you hearing from family members about all this?
MAFI: Again, I think it's a lot of that vertigo, a lot of oscillation, hope mixed with fear, followed by hope again. It will be very interesting. Next week is the Persian New Year. Every year, the Persian New Year is on the first day of spring, and that is coming up next week. So Iranian families from all over the world will be getting together. I will be getting together with my family in Washington, D.C. And we're going to be doing what every other Iranian family is doing, which is setting a table with seven symbolic items.
But this year, for the first time, Iranian American families are gathering to celebrate the New Year, but they're doing it with the backdrop of this war in Iran. And I think it's going to be an extremely strange moment. I think there will be a lot of heavy feelings, to say the least. And the Persian New Year in Farsi, it's Nowruz. Nowruz means new day. But I don't think anyone in the diaspora knows what kind of new day we're walking into. And I think that's the reality of every conversation that's being had right now.
MA: I'm curious - have you ever been to Iran?
MAFI: I visited Iran once when I was young. My parents took us before my brother would have been old enough to be forced into military service. So we went while there was still a window. And I have memories, of course, but they're fleeting. The Iran I really know is the one my parents and grandparents built for me at home in Ohio.
MA: Do you ultimately have hope that you might be able to visit Iran again?
MAFI: I truly think it's too soon to tell. This is quite a seismic event and so much bigger than my creativity. So I pray that I can, but I - in all honesty, I don't know.
MA: We've been speaking with Nick Mafi. He's an Iranian American writer who's based in Brooklyn. Nick, thank you so much for taking the time.
MAFI: Thank you. I really appreciate it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
