Why I Spoke Up

In late December 2025, Iran’s economy collapsed. The currency was nearly worthless. People couldn’t afford to eat. And millions of Iranians decided they’d had enough.

I led young people in protest in my city. I was part of a movement that was bigger than any of us. But the regime’s response was something I will never forget.

“They kill you so easily. Like you are not a human, like you are a rock. They’re shooting at rocks, without any kind of feelings.”

I lost several of my best friends to the security forces.

On January 6, 2026, I asked a friend to hold the camera. I stood on the railroad tracks near the Dorud train station and said what everyone was feeling. My friend looked at me like I was insane. I had no plan for what came after. I knew it could mean execution. But something inside me said: “Have courage, my son. Don’t worry about anything. I will protect you.”

The Escape

Within hours, the video had hundreds of thousands of views. A friend called me and told me the IRGC was coming. I had about ten minutes to run. I grabbed a small backpack and left my home.

For eight days, I moved between cities inside Iran, changing locations every day, hoping the protests might succeed and I could go home. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I lost 10 kilograms in eight days. And I watched the regime kill people like it was a video game.

When I realized the crackdown had won, I moved toward the border. I had no passport — Iran requires two years of IRGC service to receive one, and I refused. I had never been outside Iran in my twenty-nine years of life. Iran was like a prison for me.

I found people I could trust and started walking. Through the Mountains, in the snow, wearing a hoodie and carrying almost nothing. The journey through the mountains was roughly 350 to 400 miles. I come from the Lor tribe. We have always lived in these mountains. That heritage is what got me across.

After two days in the mountains, I crossed into Iraq.

Finding a Church for the First Time

In Iraq, someone helped me find shelter. The next morning, I met Hunter — an American — and we started talking. He became my first American friend. He took me to a church. It was the first time in my life I had been inside one.

“That was like a miracle for me. It was like God gifted me new friends. I was only dreaming to be in a church with other believers, praying with the people. I was alone with Jesus for a long time.”

Hunter baptized me. After years of hiding my faith, of living as the only Christian I knew, I finally had a community.

Then he took me to the gym. We have become gym bros. When people in the street see us together — one obviously Iranian, one obviously American — they say: “But your countries are fighting!”

And I’d tell them: “My country is not fighting. The regime is fighting. We are friends.”

What I’m Fighting For

I didn’t leave Iran to be safe. I left to keep fighting from somewhere I could stay alive long enough to matter.

I’m fighting for an Iran without the IRGC. I’m fighting for a Middle East without Hamas, without Hezbollah, without Shabiha — without the machinery of theocratic terror that has kidnapped an entire region. We will not see a peaceful day in the Middle East until they are gone.

I’m also building something. I’m connecting with other Iranian refugees here in the borders. Families who fled with nothing. People whose friends and relatives were gunned down in the streets. I’m working with partner organizations to find them safe housing, basic supplies, and a path forward.

And I’m building relationships. The Kurds have taken me in. I believe in a future where Iranians, Kurds, Israelis, Americans — all of us — can stand together. Not because a government told us to, but because we choose to. Because we genuinely love each other.

My Message to the World

“Be wise. Don’t let the media control you. If you want to understand the truth about Iran, find some Iranians and ask them. Don’t just listen to one source. Search for yourself.”

There are people who will call me a Mossad agent for speaking the truth. I am not a Mossad agent. But if they want to say this, that’s fine. They can say whatever they want. There are bots, there are paid accounts, there are people who benefit from keeping you confused. That is not new.

But if you want to know what real Iranians think — the millions of people who took to the streets and risked everything — I’m one of them. And I’m telling you: we love our country, we love freedom, and we are not the regime that holds us captive.

Every time you share this story, follow this work, or lift your voice alongside mine, you make it harder for the IRGC to operate in the dark. That is not a small thing. That is the whole thing.