Here & Now

Iranians in Wisconsin React to US-Iran Peace Negotiations

Frederica Freyberg:
At the start of the war in Iran, we checked in with two Iranians who have lived and worked in Wisconsin for years but maintain close ties with their country. The shock and awe of those early days was, of course, distressing and terrifying. This week we checked back in with them to see what they think of the end of hostilities with a signed agreement between the U.S. and Iran. They both said they don’t trust the Iranian regime to uphold agreements, and it must now be up to the civilian population in Iran to take back their country, no matter the odds. Here are Ali Soltani and Zara Fakhri speaking about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regime in the face of the agreement with the U.S.

Zara Fakhri:
Iranians are in constant war while the IRGC is in power and the IRGC has repeatedly failed in any agreement with any country, with any group or community. So that’s why for Iranians, there is no longer hope or believing in any agreements that is done by these people. We do not trust them. We do not believe in them. And we are not seeing any progress because for 47 years they have shown themselves. So we also do not believe that it’s a real agreement.

Ali Soltani:
What we have to realize is that this cessation of hostilities, peace talks, whatever you want to call it, it’s only possible with freedom for the Iranian people. The nature of this regime has not changed. Whether what they’re doing is a result of basically military pressure. So they welcome war. They want war. They want crisis. They want these kind of things to suppress the internal aspirations of the Iranian people. So they’re there because they’re forced to. The real fight is actually between the Iranian people and this regime. Within the last four days, since Saturday until Tuesday, they have executed 61 people, 61 prisoners. That is one every three hours. So they’re very scared of the people and their uprising and their organized resistance.

Zara Fakhri:
It was a roller coaster for all of us because it’s not acceptable to see your country being bombed or being under air strikes. But at the same time, the wildest thing that I’ve heard from many Iranians is that we are even okay with that if the day after bombing or strikes, we see free Iran and there is no IRGC and they toppled. So that was the only thing that we were looking for. Although we were all full of fear, we were all worried about our family members, our relatives.

Ali Soltani:
You cannot overthrow a regime with bombing, okay, from air. It’s impossible, especially a regime that’s ideologically driven. You need the people inside Iran, the organized opposition that we have, they know every way there is. They know the people inside Iran. They know who is responsible.

Zara Fakhri:
Right now. I think after all of the things and complications that has happened, they got even more confident because they faced the war with Israel and United States. I cannot call any other country who is more powerful in military services or powers in this kind of matter. But now they say that we won over Israel, we won over United States. So I think the worst thing that I could see after the war was seeing them getting more confident. That’s the worst thing that I could see.

Ali Soltani:
You know, the last four uprisings in Iran, one in I think was 2019 was for the gas prices that went up in 2018. I think it was price of chicken that went up. In 2026, the last one that we saw, it was in started from Bazaar because of the price of the dollar just increased a lot. So this regime is incapable of solving the Iranian people’s problems. So as long as the structure is corrupt and you cannot address the basic needs of the Iranian people, these uprisings will happen. It’s a matter of time.

Zara Fakhri:
We are full of hope. It has been for 47 years. I mean, I’m not the generation at the time that they were protesting or they were fighting against IRGC. I’m the second generation of that. And I know the third generation are right now joining us everywhere, even in social media, TikTok and Instagram. So I don’t see that anyone has lost their hope. We are full of hope because we read the history. There is no dictatorship that they can last long.

Ali Soltani:
The people of Iran need to rise up themselves and they do have organized resistance. They need to basically get the international community’s recognition. That’s what we need. We don’t need any help, money. We don’t need any soldiers or boots on the ground from foreign powers. We need their recognitions and their help to basically help the Iranian people.

Zara Fakhri:
The first priority for all Iranians right now is to be the voice of Iranian people inside Iran and also showing the whole world that what is real Iranians and how we are separating ourselves from IRGC.