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A fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Iran war tests the harmony of Los Angeles’ huge Iranian community
AP News ^ | Updated 8:23 AM CDT, July 5, 2025 | DEEPA BHARATH

Posted on 07/05/2025 12:00:04 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Tehrangeles” in West Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran.

This cultural enclave, also known as Little Persia, is where Iranian Muslims, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Bahai have peacefully coexisted for decades.

But the recent war between Israel and Iran — a bloody, 12-day conflict paused by a fragile ceasefire — has brought up religious tensions and political debates that rarely surface in this culturally harmonious environment. To complicate matters, the U.S. — an ally of Israel — bombed Iran during the war.

Many Iranian Jews in the diaspora have viewed the onset of the war with “anxious glee,” said Daniel Bral, a West Los Angeles resident whose grandfather, Moossa Bral, was the sole Jewish member of parliament in prerevolutionary Iran. He sees family members and others in the community rejoicing at the possibility of their “tormentor” being vanquished.

But Bral feels differently.

“I’m just nervous and am completely rattled by everything that is happening,” he said. “I understand and sympathize with people’s hope for regime change. But I worry about the safety of civilians and the efficacy of the operation removing Iran as a nuclear threat.”

But Bral doesn’t see the war itself as a divisive issue in the diaspora because antagonism for the current regime is common across religious groups.

“This hatred for the regime actually unifies Muslims and Jews,” he said.

Cultural enclave offers a sense of grounding

Kamran Afary, a professor of communication at California State University, Los Angeles, who emigrated from Iran in the 1970s and cowrote a book about identities in Iranian diaspora, said the community, for the most part, has nursed a spirit of tolerance and respect, much like his interfaith family. While Afary is spiritual but not religious, other members of his family practice Judaism, Islam and...

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: losangeles

1 posted on 07/05/2025 12:00:04 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The muslims are usually the problem.


2 posted on 07/05/2025 12:03:06 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“Harmony” and “Iranian Community” in the same sentence?


3 posted on 07/05/2025 12:03:18 PM PDT by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Woody Guthrie could have written This Land Is Your Land with the new places.

From Tehrangeles to Dearbornistan
This land was made for you and me.


4 posted on 07/05/2025 12:06:13 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: frank ballenger
Woody Guthrie could have written This Land Is Your Land with the new places.

From Tehrangeles to Dearbornistan
This land was made for you and me.

There were already "cultural enclaves" in the US when Guthrie wrote his song. Lots of long existing Chinatowns and Little Italy's, etc.

5 posted on 07/05/2025 12:18:39 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

During high school, my daughter worked for an Iranian couple; they referred to themselves as Persians, and sent their children to the same Catholic high school my daughter attended. I don’t know if they were muslims, but if they were, they were not radicalized. They were good people and kind. Some muslims are apparently like some churchgoers who are nice people who are not really committed to the Lord, but are in the habit of attending church.


6 posted on 07/05/2025 12:25:06 PM PDT by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Fodder for Alligator Alcatraz...
Round up all those Iranians and get them gone...


7 posted on 07/05/2025 12:30:58 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is rabble-rising Sam Adams now that we need him? Is his name Trump, now?)
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To: fidelis

Of course you’re right. And in each of these the legal immigrants proudly called themselves Americans as they attained citizenship. “I’m not a Polish American. I am an American.”

Now many have no intention of learning English, expect schools to hire teachers to educate their children in dozens of languages ((In the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), students speak over 150 languages.)) and to have “press 2” phone assistance available. And call for American flags to be removed from elementary schools as these make immigrant children feel uncomfortable or uneasy.


8 posted on 07/05/2025 12:32:43 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Flaming Conservative

“they referred to themselves as Persians”

That probably means they are not Muslims.


9 posted on 07/05/2025 1:01:21 PM PDT by odawg
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Fragile ceasefire.

As in fragile lives pointing deathly guns rockets at one another, controlled by politicians of notable greed and ambition.


10 posted on 07/05/2025 1:56:23 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: odawg

“they referred to themselves as Persians”

If I remember my history, the Persians changed their name to Iran which means Aryan to appease Hitler.


11 posted on 07/05/2025 3:21:49 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar ( )
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

“If I remember my history, the Persians changed their name to Iran which means Aryan to appease Hitler.”

The name Iran predates Hitler by hundreds and hundreds of years.


12 posted on 07/05/2025 3:28:42 PM PDT by odawg
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To: odawg

My history must have been in error. Where I read that was not a reliable source.


13 posted on 07/05/2025 3:32:35 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar ( )
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To: odawg

“they referred to themselves as Persians”

That probably means they are not Muslims.”

While living in Southern California, several of the Iranians I met described themselves as Persian so as to differentiate themselves from Arabic culture. Most were Muslim; one was Baha’i. For the most part they were well educated, accomplished, and affable.


14 posted on 07/05/2025 3:37:16 PM PDT by muglywump (Seven days without laughter makes one weak.)
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To: Flaming Conservative

“During high school, my daughter worked for an Iranian couple; they referred to themselves as Persians,”

Back in 1975 I had a roommate whose grandfather immigrated from Iran.

The family never once referred to themselves as Persian.


15 posted on 07/05/2025 3:42:19 PM PDT by TexasGator (/i.. logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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To: muglywump

I worked with an Iranian guy and he hated Arabs. I never thought to ask him about his religion, but Islam is Arabic.


16 posted on 07/05/2025 3:46:47 PM PDT by odawg
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It is the duty of a human being to live a life pleasing to God.

Most Christians, Jews and Muslims understand that.

Carrying a green book is no excuse to do evil deeds.


17 posted on 07/05/2025 3:58:42 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Flaming Conservative

there are a lot of Persian Christians in the United States


18 posted on 07/05/2025 5:55:39 PM PDT by SisterK (to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly)
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