Bay Area residents hold rally in SF as war with Iran enters 2nd month

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — With the war in Iran about to enter a second month, calls for regime change continue.

“I’m here just to be a voice for the people of Iran. What they want? Free Iran. What they want? To have a normal life, which they can’t have. They are murdered by the Iranian government,” said Mahsa Garakani, Marin County resident.

Hundreds of Iranians from across the Bay Area marched along San Francisco’s Embarcadero on Sunday.

“We’re just echoing what our people want from the inside all our families. A lot of people don’t understand the minimal internet access they have. They are sending us videos telling us what they want, and we’re going to keep doing this every week until they have their freedom,” said Ali Lohrassebi from Pacifica

“We are here to support president’s actions, President Trump and all this administration’s actions on Iran taking strikes on the regime, killing them all and we are asking them to continue this until the regime changes,” said Sayna Ibrahimi, Los Altos Hills resident.

Iran live updates: IDF launches ‘widespread’ strikes in Tehran

And while this group of rallygoers is very much in favor of the war, there is a group of local Iranians with a much different opinion.

“The first thing we would like to see happen is bombs stopping. That’s the first thing. Before that, people are just in survival mode,” said Babak Sani, Oakland resident.

Babak Sani is one of the voices calling for an end to the war…and for the people of Iran to have control over who their next leader is.

“What the war does is it sets back any kind of movement for democracy. It sets back the aspirations of the people. The idea of self-determination is one of the first things that came up right away in our first gathering and it’s been in the heart of our discussions throughout,” Sani, Oakland resident.

Still there are no signs of the war ending soon, The Washington Post is reporting the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of limited ground operations, that could involve raids by special operators.

Axios reporting The White House is also considering deploying up to 10,000 more troops to the region.