Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part column. "Iran Past, Present, and Future: A Conversation with Marziyeh Amirizadeh, Part 1" can be read here.
This week, January 16, marks the anniversary of the day in 1979 when Iran's Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was forced to flee Iran with his family, including his then-teenage son and Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. This year, the date will be marked at the height of protests that have been taking place for nearly three weeks, the largest and most widespread protests in Iran against the Islamic Republic. Iranians across Iran and expatriates around the world are more hopeful and inspired by these protests than ever before. They believe that the regime is on its last legs and are waiting for the day that the protests turn into celebrations.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh was born in Iran just before the Islamic Revolution. She grew up there knowing only the repression of radical Islam, and especially as a girl and young woman, suffering the institutional misogyny that is Islamic doctrine, even impacting her relationships in her own family. Throughout her life, she always sought truth, but in the Islam with which she was indoctrinated, she only found lies. In 1999, she had a profound interaction with Jesus through a dream and became a Christian. She was responsible for distributing 20,000 Bibles throughout Iran. In 2009, she was arrested and sentenced to death for the "crime" of "apostasy," and spent nine months in Iran's notorious Evin Prison before being released due to international pressure. She has written two books and lectures widely about her story, faith, and vision for Iran and the future.
In January 2023, I was introduced to her and hosted her for the first time of several on the "Inspiration from Zion" podcast. We have become friends and partners in a remarkable program, Root & Branch, the first olive harvest pilgrimage, connecting Christians and Jews in support of Israel. With protests at a historic and hopeful level, Iranians being killed by the thousands, and on this anniversary, I was able to catch up with her and discuss some of what's taking place now, and what the future may look like.
Q: There are so many videos coming out of Iran showing the protests and bravery of the Iranian people. What's significant about these, and is there any truth to them being fake?
MA: The videos that I have shared on my social media are real. I don't know of any being fake. There are hundreds of films, maybe thousands, of Iranians calling for the return of Prince Pahlavi. It is hard to share all of them. The evidence is clear, however. By the way, one sign that people are part of the fake opposition and reformists is their outright lies that the videos are fake. That's absurd and is a discredit to the brave Iranian people. There is no way that all these films are fake.
If any of the videos are fake, what I am seeing is that they may be produced by the regime. While the images appear real of hundreds of bodies piled on top of one another or lying in the open, in body bags, one has to ask how it is that the regime would allow an average citizen to film these things in areas they and their agents control. It's likely that they were filmed by regime supporters and released to instill fear among Iranians. Even if they are fake, the world needs to see the evidence of their crimes.
The videos are documenting widespread support of Prince Pahlavi, loathing of the ayatollahs, exposing the leftists and fake Islamist opposition, and even condemning the regime's support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Not even Steven Spielberg could conceive of, much less make up, "fake" videos that people are claiming. They are afraid, which is why they are denying these are real, to fool others, and try to protect themselves.
Leading the lies about videos being fake are the fake opposition and reformists themselves. All they care about is keeping power and making sure the Iranian people do not overthrow the regime. This proves they are not really with the people but against the will of the people.
The significance of all these videos is that Iranians are resisting the regime bravely and in public. Day and night. They are not afraid. They are not just filming and sharing them to encourage one another and show the world the truth; they are finding ways to publicize them even with the regime shutting down the internet across the country.
Q: What's the most important thing for the American people and people in the West to know about Iran, the protests, and its people?
MA: I would tell them to hear the true voice of Iranians and not to be deceived by the mainstream media, which does not cover the truth. The majority of Iranians reject Islam; they support Israel and would like to have a good relationship with the West and America. They recognize that under the previous Shah, Iran was modernizing and Iranians were doing well. The Islamic Republic ended all that and ushered in almost half a century of brutal repression. Iranians believe King Cyrus is their true father, representing a proud Persian culture and values, not the terrorism that they have suffered.
It's also important for Americans to stand up for their freedoms, their Judeo-Christian values, before it's too late. Looking at Europe and how radical Islam has infiltrated there, we need to pray that Europe can be redeemed, but that America never allows the mistakes the Europeans made to bring down our great country.
America and the West must stop the immigration of radical Islamists. Do not allow them to use your religious freedom to spread a dangerous virus (Islam) in your country. Do not allow them to brainwash your children or infiltrate the halls of power and media. Iranians lost their freedoms because a minority group of radical Islamists and those who believed in communism supported the fanatic Muslim, Ayatollah Khomeini, to come to power.
Americans must also, with Israel and Iranians, who are fighting against our common enemy, radical Islamists, we must be united to purge this evil in our midst. This is an urgent American interest, and also the opportunity to do the greatest thing in the world since World War II, to eliminate a global threat and bring real peace. With the elimination of the Islamic Republic and freedom for Iran, the cancerous cells that it has planted and funded around the world and their evil ideology will wither and die. Now is the time. Silence is compliance.
Q: What is your hope and expectation for the future of Iran?
MA: As soon as the regime falls, I pray that the criminal leaders of the Islamic Republic and all those who brutalized the Iranian people for generations will be arrested, and tried, and punished. Iran needs this closure, not to have the leaders arrested by foreign countries, and certainly not to be able to flee.
I pray that Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi will return soon, restore his monarchy, and serve as a unifying leader that brings Iran to democracy, restoring its greatness and becoming a cornerstone of peace and stability in the Middle East and the world.
Iranians reject Islam and need to be given the opportunity to live in freedom. I believe that Iran is ripe for a spiritual revolution, with millions of Iranians becoming Christians. Already, the fastest-growing church is in Iran, but it's still underground. Unlike me, when it was illegal, and I suffered as a result, Iranians will embrace Christianity openly, publicly, and worship God freely.
Through my nonprofit NewPersia.org, I am working to assist Iranians in coming to faith and to restore warm relations between Israel and Iran and Jews and Persians.
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