Washington D.C. – As Iranian Americans, we are horrified by the images and reports emerging from Iran showing brutal state violence inflicted on civilians to suppress their protests and demands. We condemn the Iranian government’s crackdown on peaceful protestors in the strongest possible terms and urge for accountability for what, according to the information we are receiving, appears to have been a massacre. Given that nonviolent resistance is the most effective way for organic movements to achieve sustainable political change, we are also concerned by calls for Iranians to engage in violence from actors who sit comfortably outside of Iran.
We continue to reject the prospect of the U.S. answering the Iranian government’s brutality with bombing. Military interventions have not brought democracy, human rights or prosperity to the targets of prior interventions, including Iraq, Libya, Palestine and Afghanistan. Iran’s long history is riddled with examples of external interventions and military actions that have only robbed Iranians of their agency to decide their future.
The future of Iran must be shaped by Iranians, not by repression, foreign militarism, or those seeking to exploit suffering to justify war. There is no credible case that U.S. military intervention would protect Iranian lives. If the United States enters this crisis, the bloodshed we have seen so far will only be a prelude, with no clear path to an end. We do not want this future for Iran.
At this time when our hearts are torn for those killed and wounded, we are also dismayed by threats and incidents of violence among the Iranian diaspora, including a violent confrontation at a protest in Los Angeles yesterday. As a diaspora, we must reject violence unequivocally, regardless of our political differences. This should be a moment of unity and collective responsibility to uphold a democratic political culture that is free from political violence as we stand with Iranians inside Iran.