JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida State Representative Dr. Anna Eskamani of Orange County is the first Iranian American elected to any public office in Florida. At age 35, she’s only known Iran under the Ayatollah. She tells Action News Jax that she has mixed emotions regarding the death of the Supreme Leader.
“There’s no way that I could ever be happy about war,” Eskamani said. “When it comes to Ayatollah Khamenei, this is something that I…that Iranians have been waiting for for a long time,” she added.
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Representative Eskamani did not expect what happened on Saturday. There were coordinated strikes by the U.S. and Israel on Iranian military and nuclear-linked sites. Iran’s supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, was killed. Iran launched missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. military facilities across several Middle Eastern countries.
“This is a brutal dictator that has terrorized and massacred hundreds of thousands of Iranians,” Eskamani said.
As for who should lead the country next — “It has to be self-determination for the people of Iran, but it’s not as easy as it sounds,” Eskamani said.
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That’s because even though the Ayatollah is dead, his government is still in place. Eskamani says Iran’s clerical regime still exerts a lot of power in the nation. As for further US action in the region, the Tallahassee Democrat is concerned about the president’s war powers — just how much military action is permissible without congressional approval?
“I don’t necessarily see this as a partisan issue. In fact, the War Powers Act at the congressional level is sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat,” Eskamani explained.
The Iranian-American has a message for Americans about Iranians.
“All of my aunts and uncles and cousins are in Iran, and it’s a beautiful country, and its people are not a reflection of the government at all,” Eskamani said.
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