LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As developments in the Middle East continue to unfold, there have been questions and fears from many in our community about how the situation could affect us here in the Las Vegas valley — especially as concerns swirl about a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route.
However, the owner of Luna Lounge — a popular hookah bar located just off the Strip near Convention Center Drive — says his business, and likely many other local Persian businesses, won't be affected.
WATCH| Guy Tannenbaum talks to a local business owner about how he feels the conflict in Middle East could affect business
"No, it has not affected us — it won't affect us in any sense," Mysam Sabitian told Channel 13 in an interview on Tuesday.
Sabitian says because of longstanding U.S. sanctions on Iran, his and other Persian businesses haven't been importing goods from Iran for years.
"It is illegal, it's against the law," Sabitian said. "They have managed to use what is available within the United States market to produce their goods."
Sabitian says local economic impacts of the conflict in the Middle East aren't top of mind for many Persian businesses right now, anyway — their thoughts are with their people.
"There's no financial benefits, no benefit for us to make our lives any different here," Sabitian said. "As people that fled their country many years ago and came here for a better life, we want the same life for people inside of Iran, and that's what a majority of the Iranian-American population is asking for."
Sabitian says he was born in Iran, coming to the United States as a refugee in 1998 after seeing the brutality of the Iranian government firsthand — he recently helped organize rallies on the Las Vegas Strip in support of the Iranian people in the wake of widespread protests in the country.
"We were just the voice of the people in Iran — that they're asking for basic freedom, they want to be in peace with everyone in the region and in the west," Sabitian said. "No one wants to see their country — their homeland — attacked, but we see this as a necessity to liberate the Iranian people from this brutal regime."
While he's not expecting disruptions to his business, Sabitian says he's grateful for the continued support of the Las Vegas community, adding that he and the local Iranian-American community will continue to make their voices heard through the duration of this conflict and beyond.
"Persians, Persian business owners, they're here to be part of the great Las Vegas community, to be an addition to it," Sabitian said.
