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Iranian American Rep. Ansari_ We need an off-ramp quickly to end Iran war · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: The Islamic Republic is a barbaric, corrupt regime that has murdered, imprisoned,
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  Speaker 1: and terrorized its own people for decades. As the daughter
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  Speaker 1: of Iranian immigrants who fled this regime, I know personally
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  Speaker 1: what its violence means. At the same time, as an
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  Speaker 1: American congresswoman who swore an oath to the United States Constitution,
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  Speaker 1: I am deeply concerned by President Trump's decision to launch
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  Speaker 1: an illegal war because it is in fact illegal against
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  Speaker 1: Iran without congressional authorization and without presenting a clear plan
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  Speaker 1: to the American people.
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  Speaker 2: That was Arizona Representative Yasiman, I'm sorry, the first Iranian
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  Speaker 2: American Democrat in Congress. The Iranian regime has persecuted members
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  Speaker 2: of her own family. We sat down for a conversation
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  Speaker 2: about her complicated feelings about the war and her hopes
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  Speaker 2: and fears for Iran's future.
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  Speaker 3: So let's go back February twenty eighth, the war starts.
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  Speaker 3: What were you thinking, how did you hear? What was
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  Speaker 3: your first time reaction?
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  Speaker 2: It was.
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  Speaker 1: A weird feeling, feeling of something you knew was going
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  Speaker 1: to happen, but the uncertainty of what comes next was
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  Speaker 1: quite you know, quite heavy, and I immediately called my parents,
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  Speaker 1: and I knew it was like two or three am
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  Speaker 1: for them in Phoenix, but I called them. And the
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  Speaker 1: next few days were really tough. It was had the
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  Speaker 1: first and the first week or two honestly were very
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  Speaker 1: very heavy. I think, you know, a lot of pressure
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  Speaker 1: from the standpoint of, you know, somebody who's grown up
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  Speaker 1: with wanting to see change in Iran, positive change, a
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  Speaker 1: better future for the people of Iran. But in my
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  Speaker 1: role as a US congresswoman, knowing very well what we're
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  Speaker 1: dealing with in a president Donald Trump, and knowing that
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  Speaker 1: there is no plan or clear objectives for what the
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  Speaker 1: war is about, had a lot of anxiety and mixed feelings.
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  Speaker 3: In your parents. I mean they effectively fled to the regime.
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  Speaker 3: I mean your dad was here as a student, couldn't
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  Speaker 3: go back. Your mom left.
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  Speaker 1: You know, My mom was sixteen or seventeen years old
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  Speaker 1: when she was forced to flee. Women were losing their rights,
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  Speaker 1: and so my grandfather had been supportive of the monarchy
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  Speaker 1: before it fell, and so he was briefly imprisoned, and
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  Speaker 1: that's when they decided to send my mom here by herself.
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  Speaker 1: Stories I've heard are that she was extremely depressed, you know,
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  Speaker 1: lost a ton of weight, was here by herself, living
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  Speaker 1: with a family. And you know, they've gone back over
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  Speaker 1: the years, but especially as I've gotten more into politics,
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  Speaker 1: it's pretty much eighteen years old onward. The possibility of
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  Speaker 1: going back diminishes.
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  Speaker 3: And what was their reaction when they heard that Ayatollah
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  Speaker 3: Hamane had been killed?
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  Speaker 1: Me. I think everybody's reaction, including my parents, to that
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  Speaker 1: news is joyful, not a classic joyful, right, because you're
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  Speaker 1: talking about somebody's death, but there's a feeling of hope
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  Speaker 1: that comes with it, like maybe now something can happen.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe now you know, this is the beginning of the end.
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  Speaker 1: I think immediately they are worried about. You know, their
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  Speaker 1: concerns have always been Iran like Balkanizing essentially, and the
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  Speaker 1: borders of the country changing because there are so many
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  Speaker 1: different ethnicities and groups and not all you know, good
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  Speaker 1: actors and interests around Iran, but also that it could
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  Speaker 1: become a failed state and if this isn't managed carefully,
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  Speaker 1: a country of ninety million people could very well fall
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  Speaker 1: into civil war. And I think that has been their
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  Speaker 1: concern from the beginning, and my concern.
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  Speaker 3: As well, this is obviously a very challenging time. There's
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  Speaker 3: a war going on, but is there a hope that
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  Speaker 3: the end of this, that what comes next will be better.
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  Speaker 1: This has actually caused a lot of internal strife within
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  Speaker 1: the community. A lot of family is you know, my
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  Speaker 1: own family at the Thanksgiving dinner table. There are a
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  Speaker 1: lot of debates about whether or not people should be full,
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  Speaker 1: what the right thing is to do. I will say
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  Speaker 1: there are many people who are you know, who feel
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  Speaker 1: that there was no other way to weaken this regime
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  Speaker 1: than outside military intervention. You know, the people don't have
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  Speaker 1: the weapons. The regime has the weapons, and they will
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  Speaker 1: happily massacre as many people as they can to stay
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  Speaker 1: in power. Then I think there's another camp, and I
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  Speaker 1: think that camp of folks, you know, feels that they
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  Speaker 1: really actually do believe that Donald Trump has a good
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  Speaker 1: plan here and has positive intentions, and that's real. I
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  Speaker 1: don't agree with that. There's another camp that I think
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  Speaker 1: is very anti war and believes that bombs are not
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  Speaker 1: going to free people. You know, there's people who are
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  Speaker 1: within the diaspora and Iranians who just who want something
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  Speaker 1: hopeful to hold on to and are trying to now
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  Speaker 1: steer this in the right direction. We're already in this war,
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  Speaker 1: so what can be done? And I've been thinking a
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  Speaker 1: lot about that. Ultimately, I do think we need an
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  Speaker 1: off ramp quickly to the war. We need to de escalate.
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  Speaker 1: I just want to see the best for Iranian people
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  Speaker 1: who have had to live under this regime for the
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  Speaker 1: last forty seven years
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  Speaker 2: Or thanks to Congresswoman, I'm sorry.