Most Iran exiles in U.S. oppose an attack

LOS ANGELES With neon signs in Persian decorating the window of the Woodland Hills Market - "Kabob" glowing in bright red, "Iranian Market" in pea green - this corner grocery store could just as well be in Tehran as in the heart of "Tehrangeles," the name Iranians everywhere have given their largest exile community.

Products labeled in Persian and English reflect the dual identity of most customers, who find themselves particularly torn these days, wanting change in Iran but dreading what further sanctions or military action would do to Iranians.

"I love my country but I hate these mullahs," said Houshang Samandi, a television director for an Iranian satellite channel whose life in Los Angeles remains so completely Iranian that after 14 years he still asks a fellow exile to translate the word "sanctions."

"Sanctions will only harm the ordinary people," Samandi said. "If there is a military attack, they will be killing my people. But if they don't attack, the mullahs will never leave."

More than 60 percent of the 70 million Iranians are younger than 35, and they often seethe at the lack of economic opportunity and personal freedom.

"I think the youth of Iran will do that job," said Hamid Moghadam, 49, an Iranian-American business owner in San Francisco who helps finance the Iran Democracy Project. "You don't need the Marines in there."

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