FIRST ON FOX — As scrutiny of Iran’s leadership intensifies amid renewed attention, an Iranian-born Oregon winemaker told Fox News Digital his homeland “could progress” if the regime falls.
Moe Momtazi, founder of Maysara Winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, fled Iran in 1982. Today, as an American citizen, he runs one of the world’s top-ranked vineyards.
Alcohol is banned in modern Iran under Islamic law, but Momtazi has built a globally recognized wine business in the United States.
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Maysara Winery means “house of wine” in Farsi. It currently ranks No. 23 worldwide.
“If this regime is gone, we could progress and be the pride of the Middle East,” said Momtazi, 74.
Iran’s restrictions on alcohol date back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when religious authorities outlawed production and sale for most citizens.
“In Persian culture, wine has been and still is a very key component of society,” Momtazi said.
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He, his wife and their three daughters see the family business as a continuation of that legacy, thousands of miles from their ancestral homeland.
Momtazi’s 98-year-old mother still lives in Tehran, as do two of his brothers.
His middle daughter, Naseem Momtazi Bachinsky, told Fox News Digital she’s communicated with her mother’s relatives in Iran — and they’re all safe.
Momtazi left Iran with his wife, Flora, who was eight months pregnant at the time with their oldest daughter, in 1982. Tahmiene Momtazi was born later that year in Spain.
“We had a really hard journey to get to the United States, but I’m really thrilled and happy that we did leave from there because, even then, life was unbearable for us,” he recalled.
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It would be more than two decades before he returned to visit family.
Despite the distance, the Momtazi family’s success in America is something their relatives back home celebrate.
“They’re very proud of us, which makes me proud that they’re proud of what we’re doing and what we’ve created,” said Momtazi Bachinsky, who is also president of sales.
Wine, they pointed out, is part of a cultural heritage that stretches back thousands of years — one that predates modern political divides. Persian poets wrote about wine as a symbol of joy, reflection and even spiritual connection, Momtazi said.
For the Momtazi family, producing wine in America is both an expression of gratitude and a nod to history.
“The United States is not second to any other country, and we’re just really lucky and thrilled to be in this country,” Momtazi said.
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Momtazi Bachinsky, who was born in the U.S., said her parents raised her with a simple principle.
“Add value to where you are and who you are,” she said.
That mindset shaped the winery — and their outlook on Iran’s future.
“I want freedom … for the people to be able to make their own choices and to be able to do what they want,” Momtazi Bachinsky said.
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She remembers first visiting Iran and being upset that she was forced to wear a hijab while she was there.
“I want women and girls to be able to make that choice without a fear,” she said.
She’s also hopeful that Iran will become a country that is welcoming to all religions.
“I’m personally not Islamic. I don’t have ties to the religion, but it’s not the religion that [is] making people bad,” she said.
“There are certain leaders [who] are using the religious aspect as a power mechanism. And that is what has been bad for the root of that country.”
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Noted Moe Momtazi about what’s happened in Iran amid Operation Epic Fury, “I couldn’t be happier that the head guy has been put out, because finally somebody had the guts to interfere. … We’ve gone through so many things over 40-some years.”
As Maysara Winery celebrates American opportunity, the Momtazi family said it hopes the Iranian people can soon raise a glass in the name of freedom.
