Iranian Americans in the Triangle told ABC11 the ripple effects of the war have been felt since the first drones hit targets in Tehran on Saturday.
Arian Seyedi, his mother, and his sister live in the Raleigh area, while his father still lives in Iran.
"We don't have direct communication with my dad. We have to call someone near the border, so they can call someone inside, so they can call my dad," he said.
He and other Iranian Americans say it's been getting harder to get in touch with family members in Iran since the fighting broke out.
Beth Dehghan is a member of the Iranian American Community of NC.
"Yesterday when I talked to my family, I really I was really heartbroken because I said, 'What are you doing?' So they said, 'We just heard that there was a bomb, you know, next to our home apartment,'" she said.
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Deghan says bad foreign policy by the United States and other U.S. allies allowed the regime to gain nuclear capabilities, and allowed the world to get to the point of war.
"This war was very much preventable," she said. "We call it a policy of appeasement, which gave enough opportunity to the Iranian regime to reach to this point of destroying its own people."
Seyedi says while he doesn't support violence, he feels there were no other options on the table because he says the current regime is not open to diplomacy.
"The government of Iran is not the country where you can do diplomatic stuff," he said. "Sometimes it's needed for actions like this, for America attacking Iran. We just want the regime gone so people can have a little bit of freedom."
Dehghan says family members she speaks to in the country are still hopeful that an end to the regime is near.
"I had a short, brief phone call from my brother's wife yesterday. She said we are just hoping that this war will weaken the regime. So we will see regime change because the ultimate goal of and will of Iranian people is to see regime change."
Iranian Americans in the Triangle say an end to the current regime makes the world a safer place.
"I think regime change in Iran benefits the peace in the Middle East, benefits the elimination of international terrorism," she said.
As for what should happen once the fighting ends, some Iranians in the Triangle say they would like to see the son of the former shah return to power, while others advocate for the current resistance government to step in.
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