Iranian New Yorkers Share Their 9/11 Memories

On the twelfth anniversary of Sept. 11, we asked Iranians who were living in New York City and witnessed the fateful day to share their recollections with us. We asked what they recalled from the day itself, and also their thoughts on whether it changed the city forever.

Hadi Ghaemi, Human Rights Activist

When I reached home, I realized that in addition to the two passenger planes that had hit the towers, two other passenger planes had crashed in Pennsylvania and Washington DC. The news was unbelievable and horrific. Though slowly, the group behind the horrible terrorist incident was becoming identified, like a live image, the shock and astonishment of those moments and minutes have a constant presence in my mind.

The night fell and I was filled with apprehensions. My main concern was whether Brooklyn and neighborhoods that were homes to mosques and Muslim-owned businesses might face the angry reactions of people who were slowly learning details about the attacks on symbols of New YorkCity. I thought about the Mosque said to be where the 1991 bombings were planned. I was worried that the next day a group of thugs or angry individuals might attack these buildings and create riots.

But the next day and the days after that, in that area and in general all over New York City, there were no emotional or violent activities; though, unfortunately, many Muslims and in particular Pakistanis, Indians, and Afghans in other states were targeted in violent attacks. But the fact that nothing happened in that neighborhood where so many Muslims lived, is a lasting memory for me and in and of itself says so much about the city in which I have lived for more than 20 years.

That day was a horrible experience that changed the lives of all of us New York residents and millions of others all over the world forever, and its consequences reverberated in four corners of the world and its effects continue to unfold.

Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal Correspondent

I've covered several wars and uprisings but 9/11 still stands out in my memory as one of the most horrific tragedies I've ever witnessed. When going to a war zone there is a certain level of mental preparation, you are aware of where you are going and expect to see death and mayhem. The attacks of Sept.11 were the complete opposite, it came with absolutely no warning. Everyone, including myself, was completely shocked, terrified and confused. Also, I was living in New York then, the city where I lived had been attacked. When you are covering a disaster in a foreign country, a degree of separation exists between you and the story. As heart-breaking as it was to cover the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, I always knew if things got really bad I could leave. I knew that my loved ones were safe. This wasn't the case on 9/11 in NY. The emotional impact was very personal.

I had a view of the Twin Towers from my apartment. The day started out like any other normal work, sipping my morning coffee and reading the newspaper. I looked up and saw the first tower in flames, thinking it was a giant fire, it never even crossed my mind that this was a terrorist attack. I called my editor at home and he shouted "Go There" and hung up the phone. I ran out the door, taking the last subway to downtown.There was commotion all around me, waves of people running in opposite direction and shouting about airplanes hitting the towers. When the first tower collapsed I was about five blocks away, running toward them-and that's a very short distance in NY. The ground rumbled, it went dark, I could barely see the ash, paper and debris whirling around me. A firefighter screamed, "run, run" and all I could think of was that we were all going to die.

Two things will forever burn in my memory about 9/11. One is the site of people jumping out of the top floors of the towers. At first I thought it was debris falling and then got close enough to realize they were actually people. The second is the sea of volunteers that began pouring into Ground Zero almost instantly after the attacks to help in any way they could, from rescue workers to medical personnel and regular folks bringing food and water or just giving you a big warm hug. The spirit of New York and the way the community came together amazed and inspired me to this day.

Pouria Dehghan, Managing Director at an Asset Management Firm 

The first thing I remember was a sound, a very loud sound, like a rocket flying by my apartment, followed by loud explosion and the ground shaking. I can't remember if that was when the plane hit or when the tower came down. When I looked out the window of my apartment, which looked out onto the Twin Towers, I could see a gash in building, a gash of flame, but I had no idea what had happened. When the second plane hit I was on the phone talking to a colleague in London. I told him “A plane just flew into World Trade center,” and he kept on talking. I remember saying “I think New York City is under attack, I have to go.”

When I started watching on television, it started to feel much more serious, obviously. I started calling people outside of California to tell them that I was okay. The tower collapse was the serious thing, an hour or so later, that was unbelievable, because of the huge dust cloud that followed and ground shaking like an earthquake. The dust cloud was visible from my apartment, vast and thick, and I thought that a million people downtown must be dead from suffocation.

Every time after that when a military plane would fly by, whether during the day or night, I'd jump or wake up in a cold sweat. There was nothing to explain it, rationally I knew it was military jets, but that visceral fear was just there, the sound of it subconsciously reminding me of the event. Once the dust dissipated, it became clear that if you weren't in the building you were okay. I heard from a colleague who worked nearby, my work building is quite close, and she had seen people jumping from buildings.

Laleh Bashirrad, Managing Director Loan Syndications - BNP Paribas  

What I remember is that I had worked late the night before, and had a boss who was angry if you were late to the morning meeting. So I was late and trying to arrive unnoticed, but a guy on the sales desk was screaming and waving to get my attention. And I remember being furious at this, because he was calling attention to me. Then I realized everyone was staring at the TV, and we all ran to the south side of our building, the offices that had a view onto downtown, and saw smoke gush out when the second plane hit. I didn't know what had happened.

The next thing I remember is that we were all evacuated. I've often felt that working in these highrises in New York is a rat race, and I felt like we were all little rats crawling out of buildings, I felt so small. People were pouring out of buildings, en masse, the majority walking north. I stayed that night with a friend, and I remember waiting in line to use a pay phone, the cell phones weren't working. The girl next to me was talking to her parents, she was an Irish tourist, and she kept saying “Can you believe it, bombs going off here!” I realized if you were Irish growing up in Belfast, you probably knew someone who had at some point been a target or a victim of IRA attacks, and here we had never known anything like that.

If you were Iranian, you became a lot more aware of how it wouldn't ever be the same, having slightly darker skin in America after that. I remember walking through Union Square with a friend of mine, who looked Middle Eastern, a few nights after Sept. 11, people were gathered around talking about what had happened and why, and the conversation took a bad turn. My friend had been trying to defend the angle that U.S. policies abroad don't always win friends, and he felt insulted by the response to his viewpoint. I realized that night that the welcoming diversity of New York City didn't seem so welcoming anymore. I remember going back to work, and on the first day back, just staring at the screen and the space around me, and feeling this distinct sense that  everything was very meaningless. I had something almost like a panic attack. I splashed water on my face, and my boss sent me home to my family. We're a very close family, and I think needed to be at home with my mom and my sister to feel collected and protected.