Tehran – Important Jews in Iran are caught in the crossfire and other people in the Islamic Republic are caught in the middle US-Israel war with their country. For some, it brought a unique sense of inner struggle.
Iranian officials allowed CBS News and other foreign media to visit one of the main synagogues in central Tehran last week, where several Iranian Jews – who asked not to be identified by their real names – shared their anger and concern over the seven-week war.
There are believed to be 12,000 Jewish Iranians in the country. It is one of the largest Jewish communities, if not the largest, in the Middle East outside of Israel.
CBS News/Seyed Bathaei
That's a much smaller number than the estimated 100,000 or so who lived in the country before the Islamic Republic took power in a 1979 revolution. Since then, the community has declined for a variety of reasons, including concerns about unequal treatment – which the government denies, insisting that Jews are allowed to practice their religion freely without fear of persecution.
Yacub, 71, a grandfather who owns a small shop in the Iranian capital, was initially reluctant to speak to an American news agency, but eventually agreed to share his opinion.
He said there are restrictions against Jewish people “everywhere, and naturally there are also in this country. Things like not being able to be employed in the government or the armed forces.”
Iran's justice system does not treat Jewish and Muslim citizens equally, financial compensation for Muslim victims of crimes is high, for example. Because of the long-standing hostility between Iran and Israel, travel restrictions mean that Jewish Iranians also cannot visit Israel to attend religious ceremonies.
But Yacub told CBS News, “Overall, I'm happy and satisfied living in Iran.”
When Israel and the US launched their war against Iran at the end of February, Yacub said “it was a very strange feeling, and it was full of conflicting ideas in my mind about which side I am on and which side I should support, but in the end I had very strong feelings about my country, my birthplace and my roots.”
He said his father told him years ago that “we are Iranian Jews, not other Jews living in Iran.”
CBS News/Seyed Bathaei 
For Deborah, a 37-year-old mother in Tehran, the combination of antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric from her country's government was troubling during the war.
“I can't support this war, but the anti-Semitic propaganda that goes in between the anti-Israel propaganda hurts my feelings,” Deborah, who works in the health care industry in Iran, told CBS News. “The official narrative of the Iranian government is that they are against Israel and Zionism, but I hear an incessant narrative about Jews and Judaism in their propaganda and religious circles, as well as state TV and other state media broadcasting 24/7.”
“Yes, I am not happy that Israel and the US attacked Iran, as I consider myself an Iranian and not an Israeli,” said Deborah, who added that she and her family may have left Tehran when the US-Israeli strikes began, but could not because of an elderly family member who needed ongoing medical treatment.
“I also had to work as there was a shortage of health workers,” she said. “I felt that, when all the bombs fell, they would not differentiate between the followers of any religion, and Jews could be killed just as easily as Muslims or Christians or Zoroastrians or basically any other religion.”
“I just hope that peace will return between all the countries that are fighting, and I will be very grateful if the government of Iran and the government of Israel forget their differences and sit at the table and discuss and finally solve their problems through dialogue, not guns,” said Deborah. “I know it's a dream, but that's my dream!”
Sarah, 31, said she has a good job as a medical technician repairing CT scan machines for hospitals.
“I'm not a pro-war person, and as I hear from people around me, no one else is pro-war, but I don't understand those people who come to the streets to sing about the destruction of the country, whether it's Israel, whether it's the enemy,” Sarah told CBS News at the Sukkat Shalom synagogue, in the center of Tehran. “I definitely consider myself 100% Iranian, and I don't want to leave my country. However, I can't agree to wage an endless war on any person or country. I just don't understand why they can't solve their problems peacefully.”
“I am not a dreamer, and I understand that political issues are serious issues and the anger of both countries is very much based on people's opinions,” he said. “I am begging both governments, calm down and let us live in peace.”
