Last week, my eldest turned 19 and, as I write this, he's walking around Washington D.C., taking in the sights on a road trip with some of his good friends. He's sent me pictures from his stops in New Jersey (where he checked off his 21st state capitol) and Philadelphia. Today, he gets to tour the U.S. Capitol with our Congressman, and I get to live vicariously through him while I work. He is happy and his only regret is that he has to drive back home to Wisconsin tomorrow.
In Iran, the mother of a 19-year-old named Saleh Mohammadi is going to bury her son. He was hanged, along with three others, by the flailing and desperate Iranian regime for the crime of protesting back in January.
Today, in Iran, in the middle of a war, the regime executed a 19-year-old national wrestling champion for the crime of joining January protests. 💔
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) March 19, 2026
After signaling to the world, including President @realDonaldTrump, that they would halt executions of protesters, the regime has… pic.twitter.com/GzaoiI71JJ
The entire post reads:
After signaling to the world, including President @realDonaldTrump, that they would halt executions of protesters, the regime has done the exact opposite.
Three young protesters, Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi, were hanged in Qom after a sham trial.
Reports indicate torture. Forced confessions. No access to chosen lawyers. Closed-door proceedings. No right to appeal.I call on @GlobalAthleteHQ to stand with Iranian athletes who are being silenced, imprisoned, and executed simply for raising their voices.
This is not just about sports. This is about human dignity.
Iran has been a threat to the world for longer than I've been alive. My earnest prayer is that the U.S. and Israel destroy that Iranian regime so that no mother has to bury her 19-year-old son because the tyrants in Tehran didn't like what he said and did.
Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi are just three of the tens of thousands of Iranians — men, women, and children — that the regime has slaughtered in recent weeks. For the past two and a half years, I've had to listen to various Leftists scream about how Israel was committing a "genocide" in Gaza, how President Trump's transgender policies was a "genocide" here in America, how every single policy the Left doesn't like is akin to the systematic mass murder of people. Likewise, Iranian regime officials have brutally raped the nurses treating the wounded. Those rapes were reportedly so violent that the women suffered damage to their internal organs; they've had their uteruses removed and require ostomies. The Me Too movement told us merely asking a woman out on a date was akin to sexual assault; what's it called when your government rapes you for treating the protesters it wounded?
The Left's silence is deafening. Not a single one of them is mourning Mohammadi, Ghasemi, or Davoudi, or the tens of thousands of other Iranians whose names we don't know. But they were mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, siblings, and friends. They did not deserve to be summarily abused and executed by their government.
Well, no, the Left isn't silent. They're openly cheering for the U.S. and Israel to lose this battle, and mourning the deaths of the dictatorial leaders and military brass who oppressed the Iranian people for the better part of five decades.
The Iranian regime executed a 19 year old for demanding democracy.
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 19, 2026
I stand with his memory and the thousands of other young Iranians.
Those who grieve the elimination of Iranian leaders over murdered protesters is telling. https://t.co/98odk7mozR
Tomorrow night, my son will return home, and I'll give him an extra hug when he arrives. He'll be full of stories, exhausted from the drive, and already planning his next adventure. That’s what 19 is supposed to look like.
Saleh Mohammadi will never come home again.
That is the difference between freedom and tyranny. Between a nation that, for all its flaws, allows its young people to dream—and a regime that executes them for daring to do the same.
We don’t need to redefine words like “genocide” or twist ourselves into rhetorical knots to understand evil when we see it. It looks like a mother burying her teenage son because he spoke out. And it demands to be called exactly what it is.
Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, and Saeed Davoudi will never come home again.
That is the difference between freedom and tyranny. Between a nation that, for all its flaws, allows its young people to dream—and a regime that executes them for daring to do the same.
We don’t need to redefine words like “genocide” or twist ourselves into rhetorical knots to understand evil when we see it. It looks like a mother burying her teenage son because he spoke out. It demands to be called exactly what it is.
And it must be wiped from the face of the earth.
