IRVINE, Calif.—President Joe Biden visited Irvine Valley College on Oct. 14, where he spoke to a private crowd of about 100 people about his administration’s efforts to lower prescription and medical costs in the United States, but just outside the campus protesters could be heard seeking to gain his attention.
The majority protesting were of Iranian descent, outraged by the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by Iran’s morality police for not following the country’s strict dress code for women. She died after 3 days in custody.
“We are here to tell [the president] not to strike a deal with the Islamic Republic, this is not a regime that can be negotiated with,” Irvine resident Behrang Borhani told The Epoch Times.
He said if a deal is made with Iran, more money would be going into the hands of the republic, which the Iranian people no longer stand with.
In 2015, the United States and other global powers entered the Iran nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal promised billions of dollars worth of sanctions relief if Iran dismantled much of its nuclear program. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in 2018, and in 2021 Biden made statements suggesting his administration would attempt to revive the deal.
Borhani said he is a member of the California Society for Democracy in Iran, which advocates for democratic change in Iran. The group is a member of the Organization of Iranian American Communities, which Borhani said has been fighting the same cause for decades now.
“I’m here on my own behalf, but we have been working on this issue for decades now. It’s good to see that it’s finally coming to light,” he said.
Other Iranian protesters said they were upset that the news media have not been covering their demonstrations.
“We are right now the voice of people in Iran. They have no voice, no internet, no coverage,” Irvine resident Farzad A., who chose to withhold his last name for safety concerns, told The Epoch Times. “They don’t say anything about the demonstrations.”
Student members of University of California Irvine Republicans club also attended the protest.
“We originally came because Biden was here, and we wanted to show that Orange County doesn’t support Biden,” Caitlyn D., who also declined to provide her last name for personal safety, told The Epoch Times.
She said the club ended up joining in the anti-nuclear deal protests because the cause was agreeable to many.
“The way Biden has handled international relations has linked so many problems all over the world,” she said.
Other protesters also gathered to express their dissatisfaction with the Biden administration.
Huntington Beach resident Nancy Kerr said she was there to stand for freedom, and she said she believes Biden is not for freedom.
“These past couple of years, they [the administration] have been using the pandemic as a way to strip away our freedoms,” she said.
Kerr said her family escaped communism in Vietnam when she was little and was able to find success in America.
Irvine resident Susan Morehouse said she was in attendance with the election integrity team for Scott Baugh, District 47 congressional candidate.
“There’s about 200 of us here representing our precinct, we are just patriots out here protesting this president,” she said.
Morehouse said she was against Biden’s stance on supporting abortion, which she said aligns with congressional candidate Baugh’s opponent, Katie Porter.
“Just about everything [Baugh] stands for is contrary to what she stands for, her position is on abortion, and that’s all she’s really running on,” Morehouse said.
