Iranian American Small Businesses Struggle Under Rising Tensions

On one side of Farhad Besharati's elegant living room is an inviting sitting area. There's food on the coffee table, surrounded by ornate couches and a fully mirrored wall.

On the other side of the room is Besharati's newly implemented home office. What was once a dining room table now holds a Mac computer, pens and a printer.

This is the location of ATT Vacation, a travel agency catering to Iranian Americans.

Up until a few months ago, Besharati hosted clients in his office in Persian Square, a strip in the Tehrangeles neighborhood of Los Angeles that has many Iranian American-owned businesses. But after President Trump enacted the travel ban in 2017, barring visas for citizens of five Muslim-majority countries including Iran, and amid recent threats of a strike against Iran from the White House, he says he has seen a steep drop-off in business.

"Twenty years I was in that office. Now I work from home," Besharati says. "I used to have seven or eight employees, and no one now."