All my in-laws live in Tehran. They’re all anti-regime.

We should prioritize. We have to be pragmatic and choose our battles. We can’t be everywhere at once.

Iran has destabilized the region for decades. It’s hard to imagine how game changing it would be to remove that.

Another thread compared it to the USSR. Or maybe North Korea.

Opposition voices are not allowed. Protesters are hanged.

When the regime tells you to go to the bridge for a marketing stunt, you go.

I’m absolutely not saying that I believe they should be bombed!

I’m just trying to share the perspective of actual Iranians. To you, my wife wants to bomb civilians. To my wife, these are just marketing stunts that are fully orchestrated by the regime.

Iranians responding with excitement and hope as we bomb the regime.

My only goal has been to surface conversations I’ve had with actual Iranians. I think that’s been missing from these Internet conversations, and I think it’s really helpful that people know what actual Iranians think.

Otherwise, you fall into the funny situation like what happened with Maduro, where Internet commentators were upset, while ordinary Venezuelans (and expats) were celebrating.

I still think it’s valuable to hear Iranian voices during this conflict.

I’m definitely not saying you have to follow through on what they say!

But it’s valuable to see where people are emotionally. Because when I asked my wife and she essentially said “bomb the regime supporters” it says a lot about where anti-regime Iranians are emotionally.

It also helps people understand why anti-regime Iranians have been pro Trump during this conflict.

Keep in mind that my wife is from Tehran, and has a huge network of family in Tehran. This isn’t some abstract thing to her. And it’s consistent with the other expats I know who want continued pressure on the regime.

All my in-laws are in Tehran: aunts, uncles, cousins. Everybody is anti-regime.

It’s hard for us to understand in the west. Speaking out against the regime is not possible.

These people who congregated on the bridges were phoned up by the regime as a marketing stunt. Perhaps they were family members or friends of the IRGC. Perhaps they were forced to go, because you can’t say no to the regime. They hang protesters.

I saw someone in another thread compare it to the USSR. Or maybe North Korea.

I’m not saying that there aren’t regime supporters, there definitely are. But you have to be very suspect whenever you see videos of “grassroots” supporters of the regime and remember that opposition voices are not allowed.

I have not met a single Iranian expat who was in a privileged position. All the Iranian expats I know are in their 20s and 30s and were just very lucky to get a visa, many in the Obama years. I suppose there were some changes during Obama that allowed more Iranians to immigrate?

For my wife, her family is actually very anti-monarchist. Exactly because of the feeling that there were privileged and unprivileged class during the Shah monarchy.

My wife grew up middle/lower middle class in Tehran and did not have any privileges in life. She was lucky to get a visa to the US, worked 2 jobs + odd jobs all through college to afford it. Constantly scrounging and networking to survive.

That’s why I love first generation immigrants. I think they’re the hardest working, most resilient people you’ll ever meet.

Inculcating into young girls (and boys to some degree) that their bodies are shameful, sex is shameful, hell is real and waiting for them if they disobey, causes lifelong mental trauma.

It’s not unique to Islam. I’m sure there are extreme versions of Christianity and Judaism that also make women feel ashamed of their bodies.

A non-theocratic Iran is in the US interest.

If you give the Iranians arms, I’m sure they would be happy to fight. Have we armed anti-regime Iranians?

I do think we have an obligation to help. That’s just my personal opinion.

As an analogy: if your neighbor is beating his wife, it’s not moral to just put your earplugs in and go back to sleep. You have to take action.

During the entire war, life goes on. The bakeries are open. They go about their life. My in-laws were driving back-and-forth across the city throughout the entire war. They recently bought a fridge.

They were seeing bombs and smoke from the city, sure. But it’s like living in uptown Manhattan, and seeing smoke come from the financial district. It doesn’t really affect your life, although it may be scary.

Only after a month of war did a bomb finally go off in their neighborhood. The shockwave broke the windows in their house. But the Red Crescent was in the neighborhood to support.

I agree with you that arming the opposition is probably the best move. All I can say is that whatever we’ve been doing the last 40+ years has accomplished nothing. Anti-regime Iranians want action.

I will say that my in-laws live in Tehran, and last week a bomb blew up near their house, and the shockwave broke all the windows in the house.

They had been seeing lots of bombs dropped onto Tehran, but this was the first one near their house.

My mother-in-law is very anti-regime and was actually in the streets during the protests. I don’t think that’s changed at all since the war.

It’s hard to speak for all Iranians. I wish we had better surveys and statistics to understand public opinion.

I think one idea is that if you can kill enough regime leaders, perhaps a moderate leader may emerge?

Or perhaps there may be a military coup? Which may be a lesser of two evils?

The Iranians I’ve spoken to don’t feel like it was counterproductive. They actually feel like Trump has done more than any other president to damage the regime.

What’s the alternative? More economic sanctions? The status quo of the last 40+ years has accomplished nothing.

Anti-regime Iranians want action. They want us to make a move. We killed a lot of regime leaders and destroyed their military capability. That’s something. Now we have to see how that chess move played out.

I quoted an actual conversation i had with an Iranian where they said essentially “go ahead and bomb the bridges”. That got flagged for some reason.

I’m simply trying to surface conversations I’ve had with Iranians. So often these Internet conversations occur in a bubble.

My point? I guess there’s this idea that Iranians are disgusted with Trump’s comment today. That hasn’t been my experience at all. My wife is Iranian. I’m connected to a large Iranian expat community. They are very pro Trump because of the war. The initial reaction I saw was disappointment with the ceasefire. They want continued pressure on the regime, and they feel that a cease-fire works against that.

People bring up the school as a way of discouraging American military bombing Iran. It’s a way of shaming Americans, as if we are bad, making us feel guilty for bombing. Right?

What I’m trying to say is that Iranians I’ve spoken to are happy that we are bombing the regime. From their perspective, they are already being killed. The regime is dangerous to them. Bombing the regime and possibly destroying the regime is worth the risk.

So don’t be so hard on yourself. Iranians want your help. People die in wars, there is always collateral damage, but sometimes war is just. Sometimes the ends do justify the means. That’s how the Iranians I’ve spoken to feel.

Anti-regime Iranians are basically holding onto any sliver of hope that they can regain their country.

Of course, it’s all very unlikely, but I can’t help sympathizing with them. I think their cause is just. I think a non-theocratic Iran that could rejoin the global economy is a dream worth fighting for.

I’ve responded to this idea of bias in other threads.

I’m open to the idea that I’m perhaps biased by my wife, her friends, and my in-laws.

I’ll admit that it may be a little hard for me to accept that given that I’ve been to so many Iranian celebrations, and met so many different people, and heard the same perspectives again and again. I feel that what I’ve conveyed on hacker news in my comments does reflect truly the conversations I’ve had.

Most importantly, my goal in making these comments is to surface what actual Iranians are thinking.

Many Iranians in the US are afraid to speak out because they have family in Iran, or they’re here in the US on a visa. They fear that if they speak up, they’ll never be able to go home and see their family again.

As a US citizen, who is connected with the Iranian community, I feel it’s my duty to surface these conversations I’ve had.

All I’m trying to communicate is the conversations that I’ve had with my Iranian wife, her expat friends, and my in-laws in Tehran.