Dear American Public Servants,
I am writing to ask you to listen carefully to the voices of the Iranian people.
For decades, many Iranians have lived under a system that they describe through firsthand experiences of repression, censorship, political imprisonment, discrimination, violence, and restrictions on basic freedoms. These are not merely abstract geopolitical arguments. They are lived experiences passed from one generation to another.
The United States should not assume that it knows better than the Iranian people what their future should look like. But neither should America ignore Iranians who are asking the outside world to hear them.
There are Iranians who openly call for the end of the Islamic Republic and who want the international community, including the United States and other Western democracies, to support their aspirations for freedom, human rights, and self-determination.
We need to believe them.
Their testimony is itself a form of evidence. People who have experienced oppression firsthand possess knowledge that cannot always be captured in diplomatic reports, intelligence assessments, or political speeches. Their stories tell us what life under the system can actually mean for ordinary people.
America has historically placed enormous value on the testimony of people fleeing authoritarianism and political repression. We should extend that same seriousness to Iranians who speak about their experiences.
Listening does not mean blindly accepting every political claim. It means taking Iranian voices seriously, examining their testimony, and recognizing that millions of people may have legitimate grievances against their government.
It also means distinguishing the Iranian people from the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian people are not their government. Iran has a rich civilization, culture, history, and population of millions of ordinary people who want the opportunity to determine their own future.
American policymakers should therefore ask:
- What are Iranians themselves asking for?
- What do Iranian dissidents, activists, students, workers, women, and families say they need?
- How can America support human rights without treating the Iranian population as a geopolitical pawn?
- How can the United States help ensure that Iranians—not foreign governments—ultimately determine Iran’s political future?
- How can America make the voices of ordinary Iranians impossible to ignore?
There is also something larger at stake.
The Iranian experience can teach America about the nature of authoritarianism, how repression operates, how propaganda works, and how ordinary people survive under systems that restrict their freedoms. Iranian voices represent a valuable lived experience of oppression and survival from which the free world can learn.
We should not dismiss these voices because they are inconvenient or politically complicated.
We should hear them.
We should document them.
We should protect those who are at risk.
And when Iranians ask the democratic world for solidarity, we should at least have the courage to listen.
America cannot determine Iran’s future for the Iranian people. But America can choose whether to stand with people who seek freedom, dignity, and the right to determine their own destiny.
Listen to the Iranian people. Believe their testimony. Learn from their experience. And do not allow their voices to disappear.
Respectfully,
[Your Name]