'Go back to real estate,' Truro Iranian tells US President Donald Trump as tensions mount between two countries

TRURO, N.S. — As tensions mount between her birth country and the United States, Truro resident Flora Riyahi has a stark message for President Donald Trump.

“Go back to real estate. You are much better in business than politics,” said Riyahi via Facebook messenger Tuesday.

Hours after she spoke, Iranian missiles struck American military bases in Iraq. The government in Tehran says it is retaliation for the drone killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad Jan. 3.

Flora Riyahi, left, visited her niece Hedieh in Esfahan, one of Iran’s former capitals. The two visited Naqsh-e Jahan (Half the World) square, a World Heritage site home to two mosques and a former royal palace. FACEBOOK/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Flora Riyahi, left, visited her niece in Esfahan, one of Iran’s former capitals. The two visited Naqsh-e Jahan (Half the World) square, a World Heritage site home to two mosques and a former royal palace. FACEBOOK/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Riyahi left Iran nearly 40 years ago as revolution gripped her homeland, but like many Persian Canadians she still fears for her family in the old country.

“It is a very sad time for all of us,” said Riyahi.

Riyahi feels Trump ordered Soleimani’s assassination on Jan. 3 to boost his popularity among American voters in an election year.

However, she did not believe the American president’s threat to bomb Iranian historical and cultural sites, some of which date back thousands of years. Riyahi said such a move may harm Trump’s popularity at home, while even breaking international law.

The Si-o-Seh Pol (33 Arches Bridge) is another architectural gem in Esfahan, which Truro’s Flora Riyahi visited when she travelled across Iran before Christmas. FACEBOOK/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Riyahi’s family is from Shiraz, where one of her sisters still lives. The city is home to the tomb of the poet Hafiz, the centuries-old Regent’s Mosque with its stained-glass windows and the ruins of Persepolis, capital of the ancient Persian empire.

Her other sister and niece live in Esfahan, Iran’s former capital. The city is home to the famous Blue Mosque and Chehel Sotoun (Forty Columns) palace, built nearly 400 years ago, as well as several centuries-old stone bridges.

“They are all worried, although 40 years of uncertainty has made them strong and they have accepted the fact a military conflict could happen,” said Riyahi of her relatives. “There has never been a situation like this before.”

As a child in Iran, Riyahi enjoyed visiting Persepolis, whose stone walls are lined with carvings of soldiers and images of ancient Persian kings. At its height, the Persian Empire stretched from Greece to India.

“Although we are Canadian, we still care about our birthplace,” said Riyahi. “The destruction of any historical site anywhere in the world is disturbing."

No surprises, says local restaurant owner

Truro restauranteur Mehran Farrokhrouz is worried for his family as tensions between Iran and the United States threaten to escalate into full-scale war. He keeps a photo of the Persepolis ruins in his restaurant, but is not worried about Donald Trump’s threats to bomb Iranian cultural and historic sites. FRAM DINSHAW/TRURO NEWS

For Mehran Farrokhrouz, the prospect of an American-Iranian war came as no big surprise, given decades of poor relations between the two countries.

“This is the result of long-term conflict between Iran and the United states after the 1979 Revolution,” said Farrokhrouz at his restaurant in Truro. “From that time up to now, they’ve not had any opportunity to negotiate directly together and solve their problems.”

Farrokhrouz said his parents, together with those of his wife Foroozan, still live in Iran.

“If war comes, they are in danger and maybe some of our families and friends will be killed,” said Farrokhrouz. “Our hearts are in Iran and our bodies are in Canada and this is a bad situation for us.”

But he, like Flora Riyahi, was not too worried about Trump’s threat to bomb archaeological and cultural sites. Farrokhrouz said it was likely an attempt by Trump to warn Tehran not to hide missiles or other weapons in places like Persepolis.

“Destroying Persepolis or Esfahan is useless for the United States,” said Farrokhrouz.

Meantime, his son Aryana said customers at his parents’ Saffron restaurant were asking him what he thought of the situation in Iran after Soleimani’s death.

Just a few years ago, Aryana was more hopeful about his birth nation’s future. In 2013, moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani became Iran’s president. He promised to ease tensions with the West and improve the economy at home.

He concluded a deal with the Western powers in 2015 that lifted economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

“It was the worst situation in Iran and people were very angry and disappointed with the government, but we voted for Rouhani because he talked about peace,” said Aryana. “I’m ashamed of my government, but are Americans ashamed of their politicians?”

The poet Hafiz, whose verses are famous both in Iran and the west, is buried in Shiraz, where Truro resident Flora Riyahi’s family is from. FACEBOOK/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A timeline of tensions: U.S. – Iran relations

1953: the democratically-elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh is toppled by an American-backed coup, returning Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power. The Americans feared Mossadegh would allow the Soviet Union to gain a foothold in oil-rich Iran at the height of the Cold War.
1979: the Islamic Revolution sweeps Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power and the pro-American Shah flees Iran. The country becomes a theocracy where personal and political freedoms are heavily curtailed.
1979 – 1981: pro-Khomeini revolutionaries seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking diplomats hostage for 444 days. Diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran are severed and the Americans impose sanctions on Iran.
1980: Ronald Reagan, a Republican, is elected President of the United States.
1980 – 1988: Iran and Iraq go to war. The United States supports Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in a bid to stop Khomeini spreading his revolution.
1988: Republican George H.W. Bush elected as President of the United States.
The ruins of Persepolis, located just outside modern-day Shiraz, was the capital of the ancient Persian Empire some 2,500 years ago. The imperial palace was burned down by Alexander the Great and his Greek army. FRAM DINSHAW/FACEBOOK

1989: Khomeini dies, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei takes over as Iran’s new ‘Supreme Leader’.
1990 – 1991: Gulf War ejects neighbouring Iraq from Kuwait. Iran supports United Nations resolutions condemning Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
1992: Democrat Bill Clinton elected president in Washington.
1997: brief hopes of better relations between Iran and America as reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami becomes president.
2000: Republican George W. Bush elected as President of the United States.
2001: Iranian government provides covert support to the U.S. as it battles Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, who were also hostile towards Tehran.
2002: President Bush labels Iran a member of the ‘Axis of Evil’. Tehran’s secret nuclear program is revealed to the world by an Iranian dissident group.
2002 – 2015: Iran faces fresh United Nations and U.S. diplomatic pressure and sanctions over its nuclear program.
2003: American forces invade Iraq and topple Iran’s old enemy Saddam Hussein.
2005: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardliner, becomes Iran’s president.
2008: Democrat Barack Obama wins the American presidency.
2011 onward: Iran backs pro-Tehran factions and militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, as these countries spiral into civil war.
2013: Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric, becomes Iran’s president.
2014: Iranian forces join the fight against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq.
2015: Iran signs the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Western nations including the United States. In exchange for halting uranium enrichment and agreeing to inspections, Iran receives sanctions relief.
2016: Republican Donald Trump is elected U.S. president. He condemns the JCPOA as a bad deal for America.
2018: Trump Administration withdraws from the JCPOA.
2019: Ayatollah Khamenei rules out negotiating a new nuclear deal with the Americans.
2019, December 27: A rocket attack on an Iraqi airbase in Kirkuk province kills an American civilian contractor and injures four U.S. service members and two Iraqi security forces personnel. The U.S. blames the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia.
2019, December 29: The U.S. conducts retaliatory airstrikes against five Kata'ib Hezbollah locations in Iraq and Syria. 25 militia members are killed in the attacks and 55 are wounded.
2019, December 31: Members and supporters of pro-Iranian paramilitary groups in Iraq attack the US embassy compound in Baghdad expressing anger over the strikes. U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces use tear gas and stun grenades on the protesters.
2020: Americans assassinate General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on Jan. 3. Iran fires missiles at American bases in Iraq on Jan. 8, after Trump threatens to bomb Iranian cultural sites.