Yassamin Ansari, the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress, weighs in on the war

Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari is the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress. Her parents, like many from Iran, immigrated here to escape the regime after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

But today, watching President Donald Trump join Israel to launch a war there and take out the regime’s supreme leader, she said it’s only been destructive for everyone involved.

The congresswoman joined The Show to talk more about the nuances of the war in Iran for the diaspora and her attempts to help Iranian nationals in the U.S. who are facing an uncertain future.

Full conversation

YASSAMIN ANSARI: Look, I will say I want to see an end to this war. I was against the war from the very beginning for a number of reasons. From the president, we heard early days, you know, back in January, when there were major massacres happening in Iran and the regime there that has a horrific human rights track record was killing protesters. And the president would tweet things like “Help is on the way for Iranians,” and built a lot of hope for Iranian people that there was some outside savior coming to help.

And then that really changed over time. Every senior administration official would say a different reason for the war. They’d say it’s about the nuclear program. They’d say it’s about missiles. They’d say it’s about the Strait of Hormuz. Whatever it is, it was obviously never about the people, and I think that was clear.

And ultimately now, I think everyone is worse off. I mean, I think obviously our economy here in the United States has suffered tremendously. Thirteen American servicemembers were killed for what? And thousands of Iranians were killed — innocent people. There was a war crime committed on the first day when a school was bombed, and 160 schoolchildren were killed. And of course, the regional implications.

So, do I hope that this will end and that this agreement will come to be? Absolutely, because this can only get worse.

LAUREN GILGER: You’ve also recognized the kind of, I guess, the nuances in this, especially for Iranian-Americans. Like you talked about how your parents were were joyful or happy to see the the fall of Iran’s supreme leader. Tell us about them, their story, the kind of perspective that lots of Iranian-Americans like them are are coming from in this.

YASSAMIN ANSARI: So most Iranian-Americans here in the United States have, many have been here since the Revolution in the ’70s. That’s my parents’ story. They came before and after the Revolution, fleeing the regime, you know, searching for a better future like all immigrants here in this country.

And many of our family members were impacted by the regime. I’ve quite literally had family members who were beheaded by this brutal, brutal government. My own grandfather was imprisoned back right after the Revolution. So, that is the sentiment of the majority of Iranians — that they want to see this regime fall and end.

It is the how that has been the main distinction between where people’s perspectives fall. I would say there were many in the diaspora in the United States who — especially in the early days of this war, the first days when the supreme leader was killed — were very joyful, were very supportive, and truly felt optimistic that the United States had some grand plan to change the regime and and bring about a democratic government.

LAUREN GILGER: Mhm.

YASSAMIN ANSARI: Now, I was always skeptical. We had a classified briefing very early on where I directly asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio if a democratic transition — I mean, this is like the second week into the war — if that’s part of the plan, and he said, “No, that’s not part of the objectives.”

So, that was very clear, and I think that became more clear to Iranians, and a lot of people feel very betrayed now because now, you know, one, the president says things like “This is a new regime,” when it’s not. It’s actually a more hardline, killed out the old supreme leader who was in his 80s, and now his son is the supreme leader.

So, you know what? I truly hope for the best for Iranians. I do think change will have to come from the inside and from a strengthened civil society. I just, I don’t think that foreign intervention is going to be successful, especially with a Donald Trump leading the charge.

LAUREN GILGER: I mean, you’ve heard from those in support of this war that — and I’m sure your parents would agree — like, we cannot see Iran with a nuclear weapon.

YASSAMIN ANSARI: Of course.

LAUREN GILGER: That being the major objective here. Do you think that’s been achieved?

YASSAMIN ANSARI: Not yet. Not that we’ve seen. One, we haven’t even seen what this alleged deal is, and the nuclear component in particular hasn’t taken place yet. They’ve been pretty clear that that is sort of the the next phase of the negotiations.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. There was this really interesting cultural moment this week that I want to ask you about, when we watched this kind of international conflict play out at a soccer match, right? Like, when the World Cup came to America, there were protesters outside this week at the stadium in Los Angeles when the Iranian national team played New Zealand.

But there were also many Iranian-American fans inside cheering their team. And I wonder what you make of that. Like, that’s got to be a very interesting conversation within that community right now.

YASSAMIN ANSARI: It is, and it’s one that causes some, you know, there are again mixed feelings. Some people — and I will say I fall into this — see the team and the players as as human beings who can’t control where they were born or who their government is.

But there are others who do criticize the players for not doing more to protest and not doing more to show their opposition to the regime, which I think I understand. But at the same time, this is a brutal regime that could put their family members at risk, that could put their own lives at risk.

But I think largely from what we saw yesterday and the videos I saw from the games, it was overwhelmingly enthusiasm and excitement and pride. Obviously, the the circumstances have just been so awful, and the country’s been through so much. Again, thousands dead, infrastructure destroyed, the economy — I mean, people can’t afford anything in Iran. And so the 2-2 outcome brought a lot of joy to people.

LAUREN GILGER: Hmm. You also introduced a measure that would provide Temporary Protected Status and work authorizations to Iranian nationals who are in the, in the U.S. legally, who are now kind of facing the the possibility of having to leave, having to go back. What, first of all, would that mean for someone who’s a Ph.D. student here to have to go back to Iran right now, especially given what’s happening there with this war?

YASSAMIN ANSARI: So I’m really hopeful, and really working actively on this bill to get more support because there are more than 12,000 Iranian students around the United States — many at Arizona State University, actually — getting their Ph.D.s. They’re becoming doctors, working on artificial intelligence, clean energy, and they are all in limbo because there’s been a pause in USCIS processing.

And so, as graduation is coming up, as their student visa status will expire, they’re very concerned about what comes next. Many of them have applied and already secured jobs here. But because of that pause, they don’t have that guarantee and and are terrified.

So I’ve met with a lot of the ASU students. And so what this bill would do is give them 18 months of TPS, Temporary Protected Status, so they have some time until we kind of figure out a more permanent solution or USCIS gets back up and running.

We saw success in a similar bill that had to do with Haitian immigrants recently through a discharge petition. It passed the House and will be going to the Senate. My own dad came here as a student all these years ago, and in one generation, his daughter became a congresswoman.

So we’ve already invested in these people. They’ve gone to our universities, they’ve been working here. Like, it would be such a shame to let that talent be lost.

LAUREN GILGER: This comes, though, at such a difficult time in terms of the rhetoric around immigration in general. And as we’ve seen TPS, this Temporary Protected Status, removed for many nationalities. I wonder like are you getting some bipartisan agreement here? You mentioned Haiti and and the deal there, but this is this is a tough time in terms of the immigration crackdown being ongoing and the mood in the country being relatively anti-immigrant.

YASSAMIN ANSARI: Yeah, I don’t want to sugarcoat it. It’s very difficult. I think, unfortunately, given decades of hostile relations between the U.S. and Iran, I do think there’s racism against Iranians in particular as well, and just a lack of knowledge of the contributions and and maybe sometimes an inability to differentiate between the people and the government. So it’s very difficult, but I do think overall the tide is changing on immigration, for sure.

I mean, just look at the numbers. Donald Trump always used to be so popular on issues pertaining to immigration. He’s been underwater for months now — from the moment he his administration illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to now, the murder of U.S. citizens by ICE and all of the work that we’ve done to expose what’s happening inside detention centers.

I think that American sentiment is no longer there, but the administration and people like Stephen Miller in the White House are absolutely still doing everything that they can to go after immigrants and go after legal pathways to immigration, such as with the pause in USCIS processing.

LAUREN GILGER: That’s my conversation with Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari. I also spoke with her more about what she’s seen inside detention centers in Arizona, and what she thinks Democrats need to do heading into this year’s midterm elections. We’ll bring you that and more next week on The Show.

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