Michigan’s Iranian American community is concerned about the recent escalation of hostilities with Iran. 

The U.S. bombed several sites in Iran on Sunday, joining Israel’s war aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear program. 

Camron Michael Amin, a professor of Middle East and Iranian diaspora studies at University of Michigan-Dearborn, says some people were not able to get in touch with their loved ones due to an internet outage in Iran. 

“Communication seems to have improved over the course of the week, but many people couldn’t reach anybody starting sort of a week ago,” he said. “Sunday, it was hard to reach people, and that seems to have been largely driven by internet outages.”

Amin says many Iranian Americans are nervous about any escalations in the war, especially those with loved ones in Iran.

“I can’t speak for everybody, obviously, but generally speaking, Iranian Americans are nervous about and wary of anything that escalates and prolongs the war. However they feel about the Iranian government, however they feel about the issues between Iran and the United States… because they have people they know or people they care about in Iran that might be at risk they themselves visit when they can,” he said.

Amin says recent polling shows that Iranian Americans frequently keep in contact and travel to Iran as tourists or to visit family.

“So anything that makes that more dangerous or more fraught is unwelcome,” he said.

Amin says one concern is getting dual-national Iranian Americans out of Iran during the conflict.

“Certainly, dual nationals in Israel, from several countries, including the U.S., have ways to get out of that country during the fighting. And I think there’s a similar concern about dual nationals, who are Iranian Americans, who might be stuck in harm’s way during the fighting right now,” he said. 

Amin says Iranian Americans are looking to policymakers and legislators to prioritize helping people stuck in Iran.

President Donald Trump announced Monday that a ceasefire had been reached between Iran and Israel, after the deal initially faltered. 

Since Oct. 7, 2023, the world has felt different for a lot of American Jews.  Antisemitism has risen. More recently, two people were shot dead outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. And a man with a flamethrower in Colorado attacked Israeli hostage advocates. 

At the same time, Israel has expanded its militarism, recently attacking Iran to destroy its nuclear capacity and potentially overturn its regime. Israel has gotten the support of President Donald Trump, as America has now also attacked Iran’s nuclear sites. 

All the while, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has continued. There are now at least 57,000 Palestinians who’ve been killed by Israel’s attacks since October 7th, 2023. In conjunction with that, Israel’s months-long food aid blockade has put one-in-five Palestinians on the brink of starvation. 

To find out where this leaves American Jews, and what they’re meant to make of the political moment, Producer Sam Corey spoke with Rabbi Shalom Kantor from Congregation B’nai Moshe, a zionist temple in West Bloomfield. The two spoke prior to Israel’s attacks on Iran, Iran’s retaliations and America’s involvement in the war.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

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