Iran

Peloni: An important essay relating the current events in the Middle East to interactions with and by relative Iranian expats in CA.  A very insightful essay.

By Ari Bussel

I was asked whether “perhaps this time the Iranians will succeed in emerging from the dictatorship?”
To reinforce this, it was said: “In fact, what Trump said regarding the Iranian people sounded like giving them backing.”

Since I was asked to write about something local, there is nothing more local than what is happening in Iran.
How so, you may scoff? Simply this: first, Iran has tied its fate to the State of Israel, and the mullahs would prefer to destroy the State of Israel if only the opportunity were given. They have raised the level of alert to the highest possible, and the missile cities are ready for a simultaneous surprise offensive launch. Israel cannot exactly cope with the power of Iranian missiles, and it has already been proven that their impact is extremely painful.

Let us remember that in Syria Assad slaughtered about a million of his own people (and the world blamed Israel, of course). In Iran they will not hesitate to slaughter millions of their own people, and the longed-for quiet they will achieve no matter what. If they are willing to sacrifice their own people without batting an eyelid, all the more so are they standing ready and able to destroy Israel.
[Let us also remember that they used non-conventional weapons against the Iraqis and others; the capability exists, as do the experience and the knowledge. Missiles and UAVs are not the only things in Iran’s arsenal.]

Second, the largest group of exiles outside Iran is here, in the City of Angels. The Iranians have a great deal of money, little political influence, a pursuit of honor and publicity, many newspapers, radio and television stations, and a dream of the Iran of the Shah until January 1979. Meanwhile, they have raised here a generation and two generations, and have even begun to be involved in politics. Various presidents had Persian “advisers”; several of them are in key positions (for example, the one accused of leaking Israel’s attack plans to the international media); there are thousands of them in U.S. universities (at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels); and they have various groups whose members it is hard to know whether they serve the West or the overthrow of the West and the imposition of a global caliphate.

In the city of Beverly Hills, where a third of the residents are Persian, there was a beloved mayor named Jimmy Delshad. He was the first who succeeded in breaking through the barrier of alienation between Persians and Americans and bridging the two worlds. Until the end of March 2026, the current mayor of Beverly Hills is Sharona Nazarian, from the clan that sits on several billions of Qualcomm, whom one can see driving a Rolls-Royce, dressed in designer clothes that probably cost the annual salary of one of us, and who prides herself on being the first Persian-woman-Jewish mayor in history. How ridiculous this is should be obvious to all: there were female mayors; all the mayors here in recent decades are Jews (or for more than a hundred years most of the mayors were Jews); and the one who deserves credit for being the first Persian-American elected is Delshad, and certainly not Nazarian. She adorns herself with wreaths that are not hers and is forced to connect dot to dot (also a woman, also Jewish, also Persian) in order to win crumbs of glory that are not hers.

The Shah’s son visited Beverly Hills in the past—his loyal subjects are here, and they all dream of the Iran of old. Will they ever return there? Of course not. The Iran of old does not exist. They are no different from hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in Los Angeles and the U.S.: they too will not return home in their lifetimes or after their deaths. (Unlike the Persians, Israelis have somewhere to return to.)

The Shah’s son is more parve than meat or dairy. He has no power or charisma, but he certainly says sensible things, both regarding the future of his people and regarding Israel and relations between Persia and the State of the Jews. Let us remember that relations in his father’s time were so good that there was a large and very influential Israeli community in Iran, an Israeli school named after David Ben-Gurion, and extensive, flourishing economic, business, and military cooperation—until autumn 1978, when all the women and children were evacuated by jumbo jets that the State of Israel sent to rescue them, and the last of the men in January 1979.

More than the Shah’s son, I would actually believe that the Shah’s wife could have led her people to a better future—the future her husband envisioned and laid the foundations for. But as the years passed, she is no longer young and not exactly in good health. I would say that age is evident in her. What a pity, because I believed that it was precisely she who would be the true leader.

In recent years there have been attempts to renew ties between the exile community and the State of Israel. But in Israel, as always, the approach is that they know better than everyone else, and why there is any need to do this at all. Visitors arrive, and everyone is busy. There was one delegation of former members of the Shah’s Royal Air Force. There was a second delegation (which tried to imitate the first) and a third, and the Shah’s son came to visit shortly before the outbreak of the war.

There is also a Persian community in Israel, but unlike the exiles here in the City of Angels, in Israel they did not gain honor or wealth. In Israel they were mocked and pushed into a corner. Perhaps because of these absorption pains, most of them did not remain in Israel but continued on to Italy, England, and the U.S.

I remember one of the first delegations during a visit to the Knesset. Members of the delegation took out the Iranian flag from the Shah’s period and stood to be photographed. It was fortunate that their host was so senior a former figure in Israel’s security establishment and government, because within seconds security guards arrived and there was a real danger that a very unpleasant incident would occur.

In Israel, like in Israel, relations are based on convenience and according to the moment. There was no long-term vision, nor did anyone care. Many very senior people simply had no time or desire to meet with the delegations, to extend a hand, to institutionalize channels of communication. The prominent values are personal benefit or media exposure, but not deep plowing in order to prepare the ground for the years and decades to come.

Among those who came were leaders of the exiles in the U.S. and London, as well as their media outlets. But all this did not exactly interest the Israelis (or exactly did not interest them). It is good that at least the media showed some interest. As stated, in Israel they know everything better than everyone else: if it is useful at a particular moment, they will make advantage of them. There is no real need to invest and develop.

Not only the Minister of Defense—also figures in academia and outside it. Years before the delegations’ visits, when President Peres (of blessed memory) arrived in Los Angeles, a rare event in itself, the Persians invited the President to an event with thousands of participants in his honor and for the glory of the State of Israel. For the older generation, the generation that came from Iran, Judaism and love of the Land of Israel are in the blood, and there is nothing more important than the Holy One, blessed be He, and the State of Israel. President Peres (of blessed memory) refused.

Who, then, did take care to cultivate ties, and in which direction? For the Jewish Persians of Los Angeles it was very important to be in contact with every who’s-who in Israel. Thus, for example, the Nazarian family established a non-profit organization in Israel to teach democracy and civics to schoolchildren, but the real goal is friction with the president, the prime minister, and other senior figures. Such is the way of billionaires, and especially such is the way of Persians. When Livni was foreign minister and acting prime minister in place of Olmert, the Nazarian family hosted her during a visit in Beverly Hills. And when delegations arrive from Israel, as well as a stream of figures seeking funds, the Persians always open their palaces and ensure that others donate.

I have no doubt that there are elements in Israel investing in cultivating “relations” covertly. I can testify from personal experience how difficult it is to distinguish between supporters and enemies. The Persians have such a trait, and they are extremely dangerous. We found advantage in this trait to use to our benefit during the years of President Obama’s term, when the organization CAIR ruled openly and with a firm hand in the Department of Homeland Security. I am identified as a Jew, an Israeli, and dangerous. Persians are difficult to identify as Jews or pro-Israeli. And thus we succeeded in inserting many of them. As stated, one must not underestimate the danger from them.

It turns out that we project our own viruses out of thought another people. Let us make no mistake: The Persians are a most advanced people with a history of thousands of years. A wise and learned people. A people that contributed enormously to civilization. A people whose time horizon stretches across tens and hundreds of years, and who have patience. A people bent on the destruction of the Jews and the erasure of the State of Israel from the map. Like the Nazis, they do not hide this goal and have placed it before their eyes openly, before all. (The Nazis had the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem. The Persians swore to erase Israel from the map.)

I have learned not to dismiss an illogical or impossible possibility, however it may appear—for example, that the U.S. will attack Iran in the coming days, or that the mullahs will leave Iran for Russia and the regime that Khomeini established almost a jubilee ago will collapse in an instant. This happened in Syria, and it can happen in Iran. In my opinion it will not happen with the same “ease.” The mullahs will not leave without leaving scorched earth in Israel and in Iran, and probably also in Europe and the U.S.

Ari Bussel
January 2026
Los Angeles, Tevet 5786