An Iranian man left this comment on a YouTube channel recently. It breaks my heart.
"As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just politicalit's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republics unelected institutions.
Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymorebecause every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapsebecause we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation.
So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regimebut because we know how imperial powers treat liberated nations in the Middle East.
Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberationtheyre collapse.
A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because weve learnedtoo wellwhat happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."
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