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I will tell you exactly what my Iranian wife said when I asked her about people congregating on the bridges after Trump said he’ll bomb them: she said (paraphra

I will tell you exactly what my Iranian wife said when I asked her about people congregating on the bridges after Trump said he’ll bomb them: she said (paraphrasing) “bomb them, they’re all regime supporters”. The country is basically on the verge of civil war. The reason it’s not is because the anti-regime forces are disorganized with no clear leader, have no weapons, and rely on internet to organize.

tdb7893 6mo ago
Sure but that response about the people is entirely ignoring the vastly larger issue of does she (or, more importantly, people actually in Iran) want every single power plant bombed because that is what the threat was (also all bridges and some railroads). This is talking about the country being without power and stable food or water infrastructure for the foreseeable future and a lot of normal people dying (not particularly regime supporters)
- RiverStone 6mo ago
  My impression is that people don’t take Trump‘s words literally. Trump often exaggerates and plays word games. If you take every statement from Trump literally you’re going to be constantly triggered. But even so, I think the response you’ll get from most anti-regime Iranians is “go for it, if it may let us get our country back”. Iranians who wants the regime overthrown are very conflicted right now. They see their country being destroyed, but they also hate the regime and want a revolution. They literally feel that their country was hijacked by an Islamic theocracy. They want that destroyed, so they’re thankful that Trump is attacking it. How far should Trump go? I just saw news reports that Iranian expats and anti-regime Iranians were disappointed with the cease-fire. That aligns with the initial reaction from my family and the Iranian expats that I know. So it’s a complicated answer… Do Iranians want all their infrastructure destroyed? If it would guarantee the regime was defeated I think most would say yes.
  - rainbow13 6mo ago
    [dead]
  - amritananda 6mo ago
    I have never seen any diaspora have more contempt for their own people than Iranians. Thankfully more recent diaspora in the US are both more level-headed and diverse (coming not just from Tehran and a few other major cities but many other places and ethnic groups). I know an Azeri Iranian who was nothing but contempt for the regime (especially after thousands of protesters were murdered) but is horrified by what the US/Israel has been doing. Diaspora communities are never representative of their home country. This is something I know from my own community, since selection bias leads to a very particular (and privileged) set of people with the means to emigrate, almost universally from a single ethnic group that is less than 11% of the total population. Perhaps you should consider whether the Iranians you know are representative of the Iranian population as a whole.
    - RiverStone 6mo ago
      I would agree that there is some bias amongst expats, I think that’s a fair point. I think saying diaspora “never represent” their home countries is an exaggeration. All the Iranians in the US I know are first generation immigrants who have been here maybe 5-20 years. I’m not talking about second generation Iranians. They all still have family in Iran. And their views do not differ from their family. My mother-in-law is the most anti-regime person I know, and she lives in Tehran. A bomb recently exploded nearby and broke all the windows in her house. But life goes on, Iranians are extremely resilient.
      - donkeybeer 6mo ago
        [flagged]
        RiverStone 6mo ago
        No, she’s not a monarchist, and she’s actually very uncomfortable with people referring to “prince” Reza Pahlavi. I think she understands that every movement needs a leader, so she’s ok with Mr. Pahlavi leading that, i.e. a constitutional assembly. But beyond that she doesn’t recognize the monarchy
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
samrus 6mo ago
Your wife doesnt live in iran im assuming? She wont risk her child being killed in preschool by a tomahawk, or having to live without electricity or transportation or drinking water because trump bombed it? As someone from and in a thirdworld country, these expats can be even more arrogant and psychopathic than the imperialists they live under
- inemesitaffia 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - dbdr 6mo ago
    False dichotomy. You can be against the current Iranian regime and against intentionally bombing civilians at the same time.
    - inemesitaffia 6mo ago
      There's is no valid claim from anyone credible that civilians were intentionally bombed. It's all cover for IRGC and their minions in the Levant. I've seen it go as far as Wikipedia edits and I'll always speak up.
  - lionkor 6mo ago
    This has no place on HN. Please read the guidelines and be a better person moving forward.
    - inemesitaffia 6mo ago
      I'm already a better person than Khamenei and the IRGC. And those who cover for them and their minions covertly or overtly. I would have been a worse person for keeping silent
- RiverStone 6mo ago
  My in-laws all live in Iran. My wife has many aunts, uncles, and cousins. I don’t even know how many people - it’s probably 20 to 30 people at least. All in Tehran. My mother-in-law is the most anti-regime person I’ve met.
archagon 6mo ago
I gotta say, that's really fucked up. Like, I'm Russian, I hate what Russia is doing, I think support for Putin in Russia is far higher than it has any right to be, but I'd never casually throw out a "bomb them all, they're all complicit." I think people with these sorts of opinions need therapy.
- throwawayheui57 6mo ago
  The other side (regime) publicly state “execute them all” and the response is “bomb them all”. To be clear, I’m not agreeing with the sentiments and agree that bombing the infrastructure is awful, just stating my observation of the state media vs opposition voices.
- RiverStone 6mo ago
  I think that makes sense. My impression is that Iran is much closer to a civil war than Russia is. It’s very polarized. You have to put yourself in the mindset of someone against the regime. They feel that their country was hijacked by an islamic theocracy. This is a regime that forces little girls to cover their body. Dancing and singing in public is illegal. Protesters are hanged. My wife was sent home from school as a kid because her headband didn’t properly cover her forehead. At the age of 30 my wife still has trouble wearing shorts because she is self-conscious about showing her legs. This is the kind of mental trauma that women have to recover from after leaving Iran. And I’ve only skimmed the surface. There is zero sympathy from the anti-regime side for those who support the theocracy.
  - gwd 6mo ago
    > At the age of 30 my wife still has trouble wearing shorts because she is self-conscious about showing her legs. Just as an extra data point: I (a man) still feel weird about going running with a tank-top, because nearly 3 decades ago at a gym in Turkey I was politely asked to cover my shoulders. I'm sure she and other Iranians have endured far far worse; my only point is that "Is uncomfortable showing skin" isn't necessarily evidence of that, as it doesn't necessarily take much to trigger.
dbdr 6mo ago
> “bomb them, they’re all regime supporters” Even those regime supporters are civilians. This is literally advocating for a war crime.
- kortilla 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - dbdr 6mo ago
    "Corruption" is all but meaningless. It happens in every society and the only people that get prosecuted for them seem to be people outside the elite. /s I don't think holding such views is helpful. Besides, a few people have been prosecuted for war crimes while being on the winning side (or by their own side), some examples: William Calley (US), convicted for his role in the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which American troops killed hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians. Donald Payne (UK), for abuse and death of an Iraqi detainee. Charles Graner (US), sentenced to 10 years in prison for the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. However, we can agree those are very few and far between, compared to all crimes committed. But it's more useful to condemn them and advocate for more accountability than to claim it's useless anyways and normalize calls for more crimes.
    - kortilla 6mo ago
      But the huge disconnect between what people call war crimes and what actually gets prosecuted makes the term meaningless. If you go by the definition used in online discourse, every US President this century would be prosecuted for them. There is using nerve gas on children and there is posting a picture of Maduro in hand restraints and a blindfold. Both receive the equal screech of “war crime” by keyboard warriors.
- RiverStone 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - 6mo ago
jamaliki 6mo ago
With all due respect to you and your Iranian wife, just because someone has these views, does not mean that it represents the majority of the people of Iran. I am also Iranian and find support for war crimes, even if you disagree politically with the victims, to be horrendous.
- RiverStone 6mo ago
  That’s fair! I would love to hear your thoughts as an Iranian. My only goal has been to surface conversations I’ve had with actual Iranians. I think that’s been missing from these Internet conversations, and I think it’s really helpful that people know what actual Iranians think. Otherwise, you fall into the funny situation like what happened with Maduro, where Internet commentators were upset, while ordinary Venezuelans (and expats) were celebrating.
joejohnson 6mo ago
It's a good thing the people of Iran are not represented by these diaspora Iranians then
- pydry 6mo ago
  This is what a lot of diaspora are like when a country has had a western friendly puppet regime overthrown. The people who left tend were often in a privileged position under the previous regime and the bitterness at having their privilege revoked often echoes through the generations. They might feign concern for human rights when the regime they hate is violating them (i saw a lot of that when the alleged killing of tens of thousands of protestors) but it's the bitterness of lost privilege which truly drives them. Ive seen it with Cubans, Venezuelans, Angolans, even the odd Russian.
  - RiverStone 6mo ago
    I’m just giving my personal experience as a comparison. I have not met a single Iranian expat who was in a privileged position. All the Iranian expats I know are in their 20s and 30s and were just very lucky to get a visa, many in the Obama years. I suppose there were some changes during Obama that allowed more Iranians to immigrate? For my wife, her family is actually very anti-monarchist. Exactly because of the feeling that there were privileged and unprivileged class during the Shah monarchy. My wife grew up middle/lower middle class in Tehran and did not have any privileges in life. She was lucky to get a visa to the US, worked 2 jobs + odd jobs all through college to afford it. Constantly scrounging and networking to survive. That’s why I love first generation immigrants. I think they’re the hardest working, most resilient people you’ll ever meet.

tdb7893 6mo ago

Sure but that response about the people is entirely ignoring the vastly larger issue of does she (or, more importantly, people actually in Iran) want every single power plant bombed because that is what the threat was (also all bridges and some railroads). This is talking about the country being without power and stable food or water infrastructure for the foreseeable future and a lot of normal people dying (not particularly regime supporters)

RiverStone 6mo ago
My impression is that people don’t take Trump‘s words literally. Trump often exaggerates and plays word games. If you take every statement from Trump literally you’re going to be constantly triggered. But even so, I think the response you’ll get from most anti-regime Iranians is “go for it, if it may let us get our country back”. Iranians who wants the regime overthrown are very conflicted right now. They see their country being destroyed, but they also hate the regime and want a revolution. They literally feel that their country was hijacked by an Islamic theocracy. They want that destroyed, so they’re thankful that Trump is attacking it. How far should Trump go? I just saw news reports that Iranian expats and anti-regime Iranians were disappointed with the cease-fire. That aligns with the initial reaction from my family and the Iranian expats that I know. So it’s a complicated answer… Do Iranians want all their infrastructure destroyed? If it would guarantee the regime was defeated I think most would say yes.
- rainbow13 6mo ago
  [dead]
- amritananda 6mo ago
  I have never seen any diaspora have more contempt for their own people than Iranians. Thankfully more recent diaspora in the US are both more level-headed and diverse (coming not just from Tehran and a few other major cities but many other places and ethnic groups). I know an Azeri Iranian who was nothing but contempt for the regime (especially after thousands of protesters were murdered) but is horrified by what the US/Israel has been doing. Diaspora communities are never representative of their home country. This is something I know from my own community, since selection bias leads to a very particular (and privileged) set of people with the means to emigrate, almost universally from a single ethnic group that is less than 11% of the total population. Perhaps you should consider whether the Iranians you know are representative of the Iranian population as a whole.
  - RiverStone 6mo ago
    I would agree that there is some bias amongst expats, I think that’s a fair point. I think saying diaspora “never represent” their home countries is an exaggeration. All the Iranians in the US I know are first generation immigrants who have been here maybe 5-20 years. I’m not talking about second generation Iranians. They all still have family in Iran. And their views do not differ from their family. My mother-in-law is the most anti-regime person I know, and she lives in Tehran. A bomb recently exploded nearby and broke all the windows in her house. But life goes on, Iranians are extremely resilient.
    - donkeybeer 6mo ago
      [flagged]
      - RiverStone 6mo ago
        No, she’s not a monarchist, and she’s actually very uncomfortable with people referring to “prince” Reza Pahlavi. I think she understands that every movement needs a leader, so she’s ok with Mr. Pahlavi leading that, i.e. a constitutional assembly. But beyond that she doesn’t recognize the monarchy
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]

samrus 6mo ago

Your wife doesnt live in iran im assuming? She wont risk her child being killed in preschool by a tomahawk, or having to live without electricity or transportation or drinking water because trump bombed it? As someone from and in a thirdworld country, these expats can be even more arrogant and psychopathic than the imperialists they live under

inemesitaffia 6mo ago
[flagged]
- dbdr 6mo ago
  False dichotomy. You can be against the current Iranian regime and against intentionally bombing civilians at the same time.
  - inemesitaffia 6mo ago
    There's is no valid claim from anyone credible that civilians were intentionally bombed. It's all cover for IRGC and their minions in the Levant. I've seen it go as far as Wikipedia edits and I'll always speak up.
- lionkor 6mo ago
  This has no place on HN. Please read the guidelines and be a better person moving forward.
  - inemesitaffia 6mo ago
    I'm already a better person than Khamenei and the IRGC. And those who cover for them and their minions covertly or overtly. I would have been a worse person for keeping silent
RiverStone 6mo ago
My in-laws all live in Iran. My wife has many aunts, uncles, and cousins. I don’t even know how many people - it’s probably 20 to 30 people at least. All in Tehran. My mother-in-law is the most anti-regime person I’ve met.

archagon 6mo ago

I gotta say, that's really fucked up. Like, I'm Russian, I hate what Russia is doing, I think support for Putin in Russia is far higher than it has any right to be, but I'd never casually throw out a "bomb them all, they're all complicit." I think people with these sorts of opinions need therapy.

throwawayheui57 6mo ago
The other side (regime) publicly state “execute them all” and the response is “bomb them all”. To be clear, I’m not agreeing with the sentiments and agree that bombing the infrastructure is awful, just stating my observation of the state media vs opposition voices.
RiverStone 6mo ago
I think that makes sense. My impression is that Iran is much closer to a civil war than Russia is. It’s very polarized. You have to put yourself in the mindset of someone against the regime. They feel that their country was hijacked by an islamic theocracy. This is a regime that forces little girls to cover their body. Dancing and singing in public is illegal. Protesters are hanged. My wife was sent home from school as a kid because her headband didn’t properly cover her forehead. At the age of 30 my wife still has trouble wearing shorts because she is self-conscious about showing her legs. This is the kind of mental trauma that women have to recover from after leaving Iran. And I’ve only skimmed the surface. There is zero sympathy from the anti-regime side for those who support the theocracy.
- gwd 6mo ago
  > At the age of 30 my wife still has trouble wearing shorts because she is self-conscious about showing her legs. Just as an extra data point: I (a man) still feel weird about going running with a tank-top, because nearly 3 decades ago at a gym in Turkey I was politely asked to cover my shoulders. I'm sure she and other Iranians have endured far far worse; my only point is that "Is uncomfortable showing skin" isn't necessarily evidence of that, as it doesn't necessarily take much to trigger.

dbdr 6mo ago

> “bomb them, they’re all regime supporters” Even those regime supporters are civilians. This is literally advocating for a war crime.

kortilla 6mo ago
[flagged]
- dbdr 6mo ago
  "Corruption" is all but meaningless. It happens in every society and the only people that get prosecuted for them seem to be people outside the elite. /s I don't think holding such views is helpful. Besides, a few people have been prosecuted for war crimes while being on the winning side (or by their own side), some examples: William Calley (US), convicted for his role in the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which American troops killed hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians. Donald Payne (UK), for abuse and death of an Iraqi detainee. Charles Graner (US), sentenced to 10 years in prison for the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. However, we can agree those are very few and far between, compared to all crimes committed. But it's more useful to condemn them and advocate for more accountability than to claim it's useless anyways and normalize calls for more crimes.
  - kortilla 6mo ago
    But the huge disconnect between what people call war crimes and what actually gets prosecuted makes the term meaningless. If you go by the definition used in online discourse, every US President this century would be prosecuted for them. There is using nerve gas on children and there is posting a picture of Maduro in hand restraints and a blindfold. Both receive the equal screech of “war crime” by keyboard warriors.
RiverStone 6mo ago
[flagged]
- 6mo ago

jamaliki 6mo ago

With all due respect to you and your Iranian wife, just because someone has these views, does not mean that it represents the majority of the people of Iran. I am also Iranian and find support for war crimes, even if you disagree politically with the victims, to be horrendous.

RiverStone 6mo ago
That’s fair! I would love to hear your thoughts as an Iranian. My only goal has been to surface conversations I’ve had with actual Iranians. I think that’s been missing from these Internet conversations, and I think it’s really helpful that people know what actual Iranians think. Otherwise, you fall into the funny situation like what happened with Maduro, where Internet commentators were upset, while ordinary Venezuelans (and expats) were celebrating.

joejohnson 6mo ago

It's a good thing the people of Iran are not represented by these diaspora Iranians then

pydry 6mo ago
This is what a lot of diaspora are like when a country has had a western friendly puppet regime overthrown. The people who left tend were often in a privileged position under the previous regime and the bitterness at having their privilege revoked often echoes through the generations. They might feign concern for human rights when the regime they hate is violating them (i saw a lot of that when the alleged killing of tens of thousands of protestors) but it's the bitterness of lost privilege which truly drives them. Ive seen it with Cubans, Venezuelans, Angolans, even the odd Russian.
- RiverStone 6mo ago
  I’m just giving my personal experience as a comparison. I have not met a single Iranian expat who was in a privileged position. All the Iranian expats I know are in their 20s and 30s and were just very lucky to get a visa, many in the Obama years. I suppose there were some changes during Obama that allowed more Iranians to immigrate? For my wife, her family is actually very anti-monarchist. Exactly because of the feeling that there were privileged and unprivileged class during the Shah monarchy. My wife grew up middle/lower middle class in Tehran and did not have any privileges in life. She was lucky to get a visa to the US, worked 2 jobs + odd jobs all through college to afford it. Constantly scrounging and networking to survive. That’s why I love first generation immigrants. I think they’re the hardest working, most resilient people you’ll ever meet.