The past few weeks have been among the darkest in modern Iranian history—for Iranians inside the country and throughout the diaspora. The pain is profound, relentless and almost impossible to put into words.
An entire nation is in mourning, suspended between grief and fragile hope for the end of a 47-year nightmare that has consumed generations. This is not distant or abstract suffering. This is a collective trauma that has invaded our homes, our sleep and our hearts.
I am hearing firsthand accounts from family and close friends: a three-year-old child killed in her mother’s arms; a mother of two shielding her children, only to be shot in the face as they watched. These are not exaggerations. They are not propaganda. They are real lives—real people I know and love.
For those of us in the diaspora, the anguish is uniquely suffocating. We carry a heavy, black grief while being physically safe yet utterly powerless, watching our people bleed in silence as the internet goes dark and voices are violently erased.
This moment is different. The Iranian people are different. They are not asking for chaos or extremism. They are educated, secular, proud and deeply committed to progress and prosperity.
This is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. The people in the streets are openly calling for Reza Pahlavi to return and lead a democratic transition. This is a wounded generation—one that has fully reckoned with the tragic mistake of 1979 and is determined to correct it for their children.
They are standing bare-handed in the cold, with no weapons, no protection and no means to defend themselves except courage.
The time to act is now. International support—particularly from the United States—matters, and it can change the course of history. Supporting decisive action and meaningful intervention is not warmongering; it is standing with a people who are begging not to be abandoned again.
Give them a chance. Support them. Support efforts to help Iranians reclaim their country and finally rid the world of the brutal, blood-soaked, terrorist Islamic Republic. History is watching—and so are the people of Iran.
Anahita Yazdi
Morgan Hill
