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Connections
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Connections

Iranian Americans react to President Trump's address

By Evan Dawson,
Megan Mack, Julie Williams
Published April 2, 2026 at 4:32 PM EDT
Two people wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a woman at left has dark hair and is wearing glasses, a navy blazer, red blouse and patterned scarf; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a puffy navy vest over a white button-down shirt.
1 of 2  — Shahin Monshipour with host Evan Dawson on "Connections"
Shahin Monshipour with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Thursday, April 2, 2026
Gary Pudup / WXXI News
A man with short dark hair wears a black blazer and blue button-down shirt.
2 of 2  — Pouya Seifzadeh
Pouya Seifzadeh
Provided
WXXI News

President Donald Trump says the U.S. will hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks.

Trump made the remarks during an address to the nation Wednesday night. He claimed success in the war, saying the U.S. has nearly completed its objectives, while also saying upcoming American military strikes will send Iran "back to the Stone Age."

We sit down with local Iranian Americans to discuss the state of the war, the effect of U.S. involvement, and what's next for Iranians and their leadership.

Our guests:

  • Shahin Monshipour, Iranian American
  • Pouya Seifzadeh, Ph.D., associate professor of strategy in the School of Business at SUNY Geneseo and local business owner of Funtastic Adventure Park, Bounce Hopper, and Ontario Play & Cafe

Connections
Evan Dawson
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.<br/><br/>Reach him at <a href="mailto:edawson@wxxi.org" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000017a-9b5e-d1df-a7fa-dfffdd1f0000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1775161543623,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000017c-9927-dcdf-a97d-db2792350000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1775161543623,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;0000017c-9927-dcdf-a97d-db2792350000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;edawsonwxxi.org&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;mailto:edawson@wxxi.org&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019d-4fdc-dfd5-a3bd-fffd03b40000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019d-4fdc-dfd5-a3bd-fffd03b40001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">edawson@wxxi.org</a>.
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Megan Mack
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.

Reach her at mmack@wxxi.org.
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Julie Williams
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.
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