On Feb. 28, 2026, an Israeli missile in Tehran assassinated the Ayatollah of Iran, Ali Khamenei. Operation Epic Fury and Roaring Lion—a military operation aimed at eliminating Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile capabilities, naval assets, and leadership—moved Iranians globally, and it changed me for the rest of my life.
The United States and Israel conducted a military invasion of the Islamic Republic of Iran because of its advanced nuclear weapons program and its recent violent crackdown on protesters that killed over 40,000 people. The assassination of the Ayatollah, alongside many other Iranian officials, flipped my world upside down with a new hope: Iran is going to be free again.
The 2025-26 Iranian protester crackdown affected me like nothing before. I once saw my mother come back from work having a panic attack with skyrocketing blood pressure because she saw our people getting relentlessly murdered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
I decided to watch these videos, and they have traumatized me. No one should ever see what the IRGC is doing to the people of Iran. My family in Iran kept us updated about the protests: They mentioned how people would run for their lives as the IRGC chased them with guns, and my mother’s niece even said she would rather die fighting than live under this regime.
Yet the rest of the world remained silent, and it made my family’s world even darker, as if there was no hope for us and nothing we could do.
When America and Israel invaded Iran and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated, we celebrated like never before. My mother cried tears of joy, and my father rejoiced. The murderous regime that terrorized my family and people for years was finally being put to its ultimate demise.
It was the best time of my life, and I have embraced that day ever since, but what shocked me was the backlash from American Democrats and liberals. I expressed my contentment online, and critics labeled it as American and Mossad propaganda. Close friends objected to my commemoration, stating that I was enjoying my freedom too much.
Some people have insisted that the United States and Israel are killing innocent lives by bombing Iran, and that the people of Iran need to be freed from Western terrorism, but the truth is that we Iranians are blessed to have America and Israel on our side.
For years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has established a dictatorial Shia-theocracy rule: a government with a lack of separation of church and state and limited civil liberties, funding proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthis that have terrorized not only Iranians, but the world around us. Iranians haven’t had half the freedom they had under the previous leader, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, since the Islamic Republic took power. Because of that, we have fought every day—from the Masha Amini protests to the 2026 protests—to overthrow the government.
My message, as an Iranian, to all those who are against U.S. and Israeli intervention, is that we—Iranians—wanted this to happen. Iranians have been asking U.S. presidents for help for years, and finally, President Donald J. Trump was brave enough to take action. The Islamic Republic is responsible for over 40,000 murders of Iranian youths, and that number would have kept growing if nobody came to help.
If my opinion isn’t enough to convince you, I recommend reaching out to your local Iranian and having a real conversation with them, and asking why they take their stance. Thank you, Trump, Bibi, and Reza Pahlavi, for listening to us. Make Iran Great Again!
