Iranian-Americans rally in downtown Dallas
February 28, 2026; Denton Record-Chronicle
More than two dozen Iranian-Americans and their supporters gathered at John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in downtown Dallas on Saturday afternoon advocating for a democratic transition in Iran.
Homeira Hesami, a community organizer with the Iranian-American Community of North Texas (IACNT), said she had just heard the news of Ayatollah Khamenei’s death.
“If this is true, that is great news for all the people of Iran, for all of the people who have been killed by this regime, which are thousands and thousands from 1981 until now,” Hesami said.
"We think that we are getting to a different phase of the regime to be overturned by the Iranian peoples and their organized resistance," Hesami said. "The regime is getting weaker and weaker, and the Iranian people are more courageous than ever."
Hesami told KERA she supports the provisional government announced this morning by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The council aims to establish a democratic republic based on dissident Maryam Rajavi's 10-point plan, which calls for gender equality, freedom of religion and "peaceful coexistence" with neighbors.
IACNT member Hannah Jam, who was at the rally in Dallas, said a regime change can only happen for Iranians, by Iranians.
“All of the people mentioned in Iran that they don't want the Shah… they don’t want to go back to the, you know, king era,” said Jam. “They do not want this theocracy, all they want is a free and democratic Iran without nuclear [weapons].”
Others, like Momeni, said they're hopeful that Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran, will be able to assemble a secular, democratic government.
"He is not claiming power right now and we are trying to trust him," Momeni said. "He seems like a very democratic person, but we will see in the future."
For now, Momeni and other Iranians in North Texas are watching the news closely as they wait to hear back from their family and friends.
“I really pray that all of them [will] be safe,” said Jam, adding that “the only way that Iran's regime would be changed is by having boots on the ground, but not from outside.”
“We have resistance units inside,” she said. “They are capable of doing regime change in Iran.”
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