LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas is home to a significant population of Iranian Americans, many of whom now find themselves clinging to every update they can get from loved ones since the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran.
Mary Kielar introduces us to two people with ties to the region who are watching what's unfolding with mixed emotions:
UNLV film school faculty member Roudi Boroumand was born in Iran. She was forced to leave 27 years ago. She says her job as a journalist for an opposition news outlet made her a target.
"The right to work and my degree was taken away because of working with the opposition wing papers," she said.
She ended up moving to Oregon, then spent 13 years in Las Vegas. She's now living in California, but is still closely tied to her community here in the valley. Her family still lives in Iran.
Boroumand described getting "two, one-minute phone calls to say they're still alive" over the weekend as the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran.
"I feel desperate. I feel very sad," she said. "Obviously, when I know they're OK, that's the best thing that can happen at the moment."
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Meantime, Zar Zanganeh told Channel 13 he is hopeful there could be a new path to democracy for Iran. His family is from the country, and he grew up speaking Farsi as his first language.
"The start of what we’re seeing today is hopefully the start of a free Iran," he said. "It’s always been told to me that one day I’ll see it. This is the closest we’ve ever come."
Boroumand said she can't celebrate while innocent lives are being taken.
"I'm privileged to have two homes and call two lands my home," she said. "We are just one huge human family, at the end. And if we care about what happens, no matter where those people are on their journey and in suffering, I think we have a better world."
