Demonstrators back Iran deal
At multiple rallies, Democratic legislators are urged to vote for the nuclear pact.
At rallies throughout the Southland, activists urge Democratic lawmakers to vote for the nuclear pact.
Nahid Lienke moved to the United States from Iran more than 30 years ago to study sociology at Miami Dade College and settled in Los Angeles with her husband, Tupper.
After decades of traveling back and forth to Iran and hoping for a thaw in relations between the two countries, Lienke has hope that a potential nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic will squelch any chance of war.
That’s why she joined about 60 other demonstrators in chanting Wednesday afternoon in front of the office of Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), urging the freshman congressman to join the growing chorus of Democrats who support the deal, which comes before Congress for a vote next month.
Lienke, 59, said the reason for her attendance was simple: to avoid what she dubs “unnecessary wars.”
“I have children who have blood of both sides,” she said.
Tupper, who has traveled to Iran with Nahid multiple times, said he has spoken to his wife’s family and friends, and finds everyone, “from taxi drivers to professors ... would like nothing better than good, friendly relations with the United States.”
The event was organized by MoveOn.org in congressional districts from Ojai to Palm Springs. The group’s website says that more than 230 gatherings were planned.
Supporters of the deal hit the district of Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) early Wednesday, and the district of Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert) in the evening.
Fifteen activists gathered in Westlake in an attempt to influence Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. His would be a pivotal vote, but Becerra has not tipped his hand, saying in a statement only that “an agreement to halt nuclear proliferation cannot be built on trust but on verifiable, enforceable requirements. Every word will count in this agreement and we need to know the meaning of each provision of this deal.”
Outside Lieu’s office on Wilshire Boulevard in Hancock Park, on a day where temperatures reached 89 degrees, the activist group carried signs that read “No War With Iran” and “Defend Diplomacy.” Among the crowd of supporters — which also has drawn help from the founders of Ben & Jerry’s — was actor Ed Asner, who has been critical of Israel over the years.
“This is what democracy looks like!” the crowd chanted as passing drivers honked their horns in support. “People power!”
During the rally, Lieu’s district director said the office had received more than 2,000 petitions urging the congressman, who is president of the Democratic freshman class, to support the deal.
Two former Iranian political prisoners told the protesters that they support the nuclear accord despite their imprisonment.
“This agreement would reinforce peace and stability in the Middle East and around the world,” Ali Shakeri and Bijan Pirzadeh said in a group statement with eight former prisoners. “Such an agreement will help counter the spread of terrorism within the region and around the world.”
Lieu was not in his office during the protest. He has said in the past that he is a staunch supporter of Israel’s right to defend its citizens from “threats to their existence.”
In his first year in office, Lieu traveled with other freshmen to Israel to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
An Air Force veteran and member of the Air Force Reserve, Lieu has argued that his commitment to Israel goes deeper than what he learned during his military service and training.
“We cannot trust the current Iranian regime, which is controlled by an oppressive, theocratic, authoritarian government that continues to fund terrorists,” Lieu’s website reads. “All diplomacy with Iran on the nuclear issue must be based on verifiable, achievable objectives.”
As a state senator, Lieu co-authored two Assembly bills that discouraged business with Iran. One divested state pension funds from companies doing business with Iran’s nuclear and energy industries; the other barred companies that do business with Iran’s energy industries from contracting with the state of California or any other public entity in the state.
Lieu’s office said he is still reviewing the details of the deal and meeting “with diverse groups of constituents to hear their opinions.”
He is among more than a dozen undecided Democrats in California, which has the largest delegation and an estimated population of as many as 500,000 Iranians in Southern California alone.
Reps. Susan Davis (DSan Diego), Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier) and Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) came out in favor of the nuclear accord this week as President Obama returned to Washington from a vacation and continued urging members of his party to help secure support.
Republicans are expected to oppose the deal.
The battle remains close in a state where cable television ads from the group Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran blanket airwaves to warn against what it calls the dangers of the deal.
On Tuesday, California Assembly members Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) and Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno) came out against the accord, joining Democratic Reps. Juan Vargas of San Diego and Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks.
“Iran’s regional dominance and support for terror worldwide pose an extraordinary threat to the United States and our allies,” Alejo and Perea said in a joint statement. “America’s negotiators must insist on a better deal.”
The matter was personal for some of the demonstrators outside Lieu’s office.
“Throughout my teenage years, this nuclear issue has been overshadowing our lives. The threats of war were constant,” said Sohaela A., 28, who declined to disclose her last name for fear of reprisals from the Iranian government. “Now, I see this agreement as a turning point for the war threats to end.”
Sohaela, who works as an international relations researcher, still wears her green bracelet — a symbol of support for Iran’s Green Movement, which mobilized large-scale protests to dispute the official results of the 2009 election.
“I’ve lived half my adult life in both Iran and the United States,” and still have family there, she said. “I want both homes to be safe and secure.”