I escaped from Iran. But I keep reliving the horror
America and Israel were only supposed to hit the Revolutionary Guards but they’re hitting everyone. I don’t think anyone will rise up now.
A man stands in a damaged residence at the site of buildings, including a police station, that were destroyed in an airstrike in the Khani Abad neighbourhood of Tehran, Iran. Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
Nicolas Pelham
My hands won’t stop shaking. When the first bombs dropped, we were happy. We didn’t want this regime. We didn’t choose it. After 47 years we thought it was finally reaching its end.
On February 28, they announced Ali Khamenei had been killed. We rushed to the streets – I had tears in my eyes. We chanted Marg bar Khamenei (death to Khamenei). It was like the 1998 World Cup when Iran beat America. A woman in a hijab approached my mother and said it was disrespectful to celebrate someone’s death. My mother said, “shut up, your time has passed”.
