Inside her Brooklyn café, Iranian chef and restaurant owner Nasim Alikhani prepares pastries as she follows reports of escalating violence in Iran, where authorities say about 2,000 people have been killed.

Alikhani, who opened Sofreh Cafe and the nearby Persian restaurant Sofreh seven and a half years ago, said she has been constantly monitoring news and social media but has been unable to reach relatives.

"I have been glued to social media, news from outside of Iran, all kinds of sources - but I haven't been able to reach any of my family members or friends, both in capital and I'm from Isfahan - so no, to this day, to this moment, I have no news from my pretty large extended family," she said.

Her relatives outside of Iran are spread across Europe and Canada, all sharing the same uncertainty.

"We are all calling each other, 'Any news? Any news?' And no one has any news," she said.

Alikhani said discussions about Iran often overlook the human toll.

"We should not forget... the central point, which in this case is human suffering," she said.

Daily life for ordinary Iranians has steadily worsened under years of pressure.

"I was in Iran a few months ago and I just couldn't believe how my middle class family could not even simply afford basic needs," she said.

She described conditions that have stripped people of stability and hope.

"There is no future, there is no job, there is no water, there is no electricity," she said.

Alikhani came to the United States in 1983 after universities in Iran were shut down during the country's Cultural Revolution. She gave up plans to become a judge and arrived as a student, taking on odd jobs.

"I did anything I could to survive," she said.

After decades working various jobs, she eventually turned to cooking Iranian food as a way to express identity and culture.

"For me, it was more than food, more than claiming my voice - this is who we are," she said.

Despite feeling overwhelmed, Alikhani said her suffering is secondary.

"I am a basket case and I can't think straight and I can't even work straight, but compared to what they are going through, what we go through is nothing," she said. "What I cannot deal with is 2,000 young, innocent lives being killed and still continue to be killed."

Production: Roselle Chen/Reuters