'Thank you President Trump!' Iranian-Nashvillians rejoice as U.S. & Israel strike Iran

Описание: Iranian Americans gathered at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville, Saturday, celebrating what they called a pivotal moment following the U.S. and Israeli strike inside Iran.

“Ayatollah is dead. I mean, you can’t get more real than that,” said Dr. Peyman Peyray, an Iranian American who supports the attack. “I’m just speechless and so happy.”

Many in the crowd told stories of why they fled Iran, and said “freedom” is near for their country, which has been oppressed for nearly 50 years. They described the U.S. mission into Iran as “surreal.”

“We could not even think that this would happen in less than 24 hours, for them to take over and kill 40 top leaders of the Iranian regime,” Peyray said. "I'm so pleased and so blessed that today we had a president that actually stood, for the first time, for Iranians."

Navid Bayatmokhtari, another Iranian American at the gathering, said the moment felt long overdue.

“We’ve been asking for this help for pretty much 50 years, and we never got it,” he said. “And (now), we got it in a matter of 10 hours.”

Many said hope for change is now closer than it has been in decades. Several described fleeing what they called a regime marked by oppression and violence, especially in recent months.

“They killed more than 40,000 people. We believe they killed more than 100,000,” said Felour Shanklin, another Iranian who left her country after she said her family was persecuted for not being Muslim. “I have so many friends and family in Iran. Every single one you talk with, they have had a child die.”

But across town, a very different reaction unfolded.

Anti-war protesters with the Party for Socialism and Liberation gathered by another park, chanting, “Shut it down!”

The group said it opposes any U.S. military action in Iran, arguing taxpayer dollars should be spent on families and education, not war.

“My whole life I’ve watched us send Southern American citizens to war, not knowing if they’ll come back,” said Lindy Drolsum, who attended the protest. “And I’m tired of it... I can see the devastation that will play out with dangerous actions like this with no approval from Congress."

"The U.S. doesn't need to be fighting these illegal wars when we have children without food, healthcare, education here in America. We have the largest military budget in the world, but we still have some of the worst healthcare outcomes, especially in the state of Tennessee," said Carl Stone, another protester.

Many of the Iranian Americans who gathered supporting the U.S. attack thanked President Donald Trump, as well as the U.S. and Israel.

“No other country stood up until this happened today,” Shanklin said. “For the first time in 47 years, somebody actually came to rescue us. Thank you, President Trump. That’s all I can say from the bottom of my heart.”

As for what's next, Iranian Nashvillians said they will remain positive.

"People are going to flood the streets and they're going to take over," said Bayatmokhtari, who believes the population will not allow another member of the regime to take over. "People are not going accept that."

https://fox17.com/news/local/thank-yo...
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