Consider This from NPR - Why some Iranian Americans back the war on their country of origin

Episode Date: March 29, 2026

At the heart of the war against Iran is a question about the fate of the Iranian government. Adrian Ma speaks with Ramtin Arablouei, host of the NPR podcast Throughline, about what Iranians in the United States want from regime change in Iran - and the history of why.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [e-mail] episode was produced by Henry Larson and Michael Levitt. It was edited by Tinbete Ermyas and Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It was a weekend of protests and military escalation. In the Middle East, an Iranian attack on an airbase in Saudi Arabia hit several aircraft and wounded more than a dozen U.S. troops. Yemeni Houthis, backed by Iran, entered the war. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that his country would widen its invasion of southern Lebanon. All of this, as President Trump weighs ending the war he started, or extending it by ordering newly arrived Marines and paratroopers onto Iranian shores.

Our daughters in the Army currently stationed in South Korea. And right now, the military boots on the ground possibility is the biggest thing in my head right now. That's Karina Kagan, speaking to member station KCUR in Kansas City on Saturday. She was one of many protesters who turned out across the country at the third No King's demonstration against President Trump. The idea of a ground invasion of Iran is also divisive for members of the Iranian diaspora. Ground troops is very scary.

American troops could lose support from U.S. side. You could get a lot of casualties on the American front, and that can make the public here completely against the Iranians. That's Sahan Kodakian at an anti-regime protest on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. Consider this. At the heart of the war in the Gulf is a question about the fate of the army of the army. Iranian government. What do some Iranians in the United States want that government to look like

and why? From NPR, I'm Adrienne Ma. It's considered this from NPR. Here in the U.S., the war with Iran has prompted many Iranian Americans to take to the streets to express their opposition to the Iranian regime. The past month has seen demonstrations in L.A., New York, and on Sunday in D.C. Rompteen-Arablui, co-host of NPR's history podcast Throughline was at that rally. Javi! Javi! We are here at the National Mall where there is a demonstration taking place

in support of Reza Pahlavi, who many Iranian-Americans support as a potential future leader of Iran if the Islamic Republic were to fall. The crowd is about a couple of thousand people, it appears. Organizers have told me they expect upwards of 100,000, but we're nowhere near that number right now. The crowd is chanting, this is the final battle.

Pahlavi will return. This rally did not come out of nowhere. It's tied to a long-standing debate among Iranians in the country and the diaspora over who should govern Iran. For more context, we're joined now by Ramtin in the studio. Rantin, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me here. And can you start by telling us more? about what you saw at this DC demonstration.

Yes. So when we arrived, there was a very large crowd of diverse set of Iranians, mostly Iranian-Americans, flying flags, holding up the picture of Reza Pahlavi. And we saw a bunch of different flags. There was the lion and sun flag, which is the flag of Iran that was there before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. We saw people holding American flags and even Israeli flags, which I know for a lot of listeners that's confusing, right?

Like, why are they holding up the flag of a country that's attacking them? But I think it's a pretty simple explanation. For many of these protesters who we talk to, it's basically an enemy of my enemy is my friend's situation. And that's exactly what one of the protesters told me named Leila Raq. They are bringing peace in the whole world. Israel. Israel, of course, with the help of United States,

which we are very grateful. Because Israel, they know why. what we are going through. You have to have been living under this fascist regime so that you understand what is this. Interesting. Ramtin, earlier this year, you did an episode of ThruLine on the anti-government protests that swept Iran at the end of 2025 and earlier this year. How do you see today's actions fitting into that history?

So I think a lot of what we're seeing today and what we saw at the protest comes out of that movement and the frustration many people had or anger people had at the way the Islamic Republic responded to those protests by, you know, firing on protesters and killing, you know, the number is not even actually agreed upon, but many thousands of protesters in the process. And I think what we're also saying is a real debate about what the future of Iran is going to be. And everyone we spoke today, basically everyone, once Reza Pahlavi, the son of the king who was overthrown in 1979, to return as what they call as a transitional. But when you ask them, like, why?

Why do you want the son of a former dictator to be back in power? Their answer seems to really come from a sense of nostalgia about what it was like to be in Iran before the Islamic Revolution. They look back at that time with nostalgic feelings. And this is what Holly Dagress, an expert from the Washington Institute, told me when I asked her that same question. I remember Iranians used to be like, Sam on a Shah at the time of the Shah when they wanted to talk about when things were better. And I think that nostalgia has only grown because of the access to information. There's documentaries about pre-revolutionary Iran. There's also all these nice pictures and photos that go viral.

I mean, of course, a lot has changed in Iran since you published that episode. Yes, definitely. I mean, as, you know, listeners will know, the U.S. and Israel have now conducted a massive air attack, which is ongoing. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khomeini, you know, has been killed. But that anti-regime feeling that was really alive back in January, especially for Iranian Americans, that's still very much alive. And the thing is, people seem to understand it, the people we ask today that the U.S. and Israel are not necessarily doing this to help the Iranian people. You know, I asked one protester named Ramin. That very same question, he didn't want to give us his last name because he said he feared reprisal from the government in Iran if he gave it to us.

But I asked them that question directly. Do you think the U.S. and Israel are doing this to help the Iranian people? And his answer was really interesting. Every country, they think about their benefits and about their interests. Yeah, of course. That's very normal. And we do not expect any country to come and spend millions and trillions of dollars just for the good of the people because we want this or we want that.

They do this, but right now our interests are aligned. right now. You know, your work is all about putting current events in historical context. What do you think today's rally tells us about the politics of the Iranian diaspora? First, I want to say that the crowd that we talk to today is definitely not representative of the entire Iranian-American diaspora. There are lots of complex views. There are many Iranian-Americans who are against this war. There's even some who are in support of the regime in Iran. But I do think it represents how many Iranians. and I would see probably most Iranian Americans feel about their desperate need to want to see the Islamic Republic fall. Now, with regards to Reza Pahlavi, which is what this protest is where they're supporting today,

they seem to really be rallying behind him, not necessarily because they support the idea of a monarchy, or that they even see him as a permanent leader for Iran. But they want to rally around someone. And what he's providing is basically some kind of symbol or symbolic leadership for people to jump behind and say, we want this to replace the Islamic Republic. We've been speaking with Ramtin Arablewee, co-host of NPR's history podcast, Throughline. Ramtin, thanks for your reporting. Thanks so much for having me, Adrian.

This episode was produced by Michael Levitt and Henry Larson. It was edited by Tim Beat Armius and Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sammy Yannigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Adrian Ma.