American Mom

I fled Iran as a child, carrying in my heart the memories of women beaten in the streets for daring to wear makeup, of girls whose only crime was letting a strand of hair escape their scarves, and of neighbors dragged off to prison for refusing to bend to the regime’s cruelty. Tonight, as I watched the news of Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, I felt a surge of hope: not for the destruction itself, but for the first glimmer of freedom for the people trapped under a government that gouges out women’s eyes for their clothes and tortures dissidents for daring to think differently. This regime has forced every schoolchild to chant “Death to America,” has backed the October 7 terror on Israel, has sent suicide drones against our troops at sea, and has spent decades sharpening its tools of oppression. I do not celebrate the loss of life, but I rejoice that these subterranean breeding grounds of tyranny—those uranium enrichment halls and shadowy military bases—have been struck. For too long, the world stood by as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps brutalized minorities, silenced journalists, and exported terror. Tonight’s operation is more than a military maneuver; it is a message that no regime which tortures its own citizens and plots mass murder abroad can be allowed to finish the path to a weapon of genocide. To the brave Iranian people, I pray you find strength in this moment. May you rise up from the ashes of fear and reclaim the stolen streets and schools of your homeland. My heart is with you as you whisper prayers of liberation—may your courage ignite a revolution of compassion, equality, and secular rule, banishing the mullahs’ darkness once and for all. And let the world hear this clearly: Iran must never, under any circumstance, be allowed to hold a nuclear arsenal. A regime that flogs teenage girls for posting a dance video would not hesitate to unleash devastation on its neighbors. Stand with Israel tonight, stand with the oppressed in Iran.