Arash Bahrami doesn’t like the Iranian government. When he was last in Tehran, in 2005, he urged friends, family members and people he met on the street to vote against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He didn’t particularly like the other candidate either, but he foresaw terrible things for his country if Ahmadinejad were elected president. Bahrami’s fears have been realized; he views Iran’s administration as ineffective, repressive and corrupt.
But, Bahrami says, “the most horrible thing that could happen is war between the United States and Iran.”
Should this come to pass, as some pundits now say is inevitable, Bahrami, 28, who has lived in Madison for the past five years pursuing a Ph.D. in biophysics, would feel helpless. “I cannot do anything,” he says, “so I’d just have to stay here and watch it.”