Iran Past, Present, and Future

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This week, January 16, marks the anniversary of the day in 1979 when Iran’s Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was forced to flee Iran with his family, including his then teenage son and Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. This year, the date will be marked at the height of protests that have been taking place for nearly three weeks, the largest and most widespread protests in Iran against the Islamic Republic. Iranians across Iran and expatriates around the world are more hopeful and inspired by these protests than ever before. They believe that the regime is on its last legs, and waiting for the day that the protests turn into celebrations.

Marziyeh Amirizadeh was born in Iran just before the Islamic Revolution. She grew up there knowing only the repression of radical Islam, and especially as a girl and young woman, suffering the institutional misogyny that is Islamic doctrine, even impacting her relationships in her own family. Throughout her life, she always sought truth, but in the Islam with which she was indoctrinated, she only found lies. In 1999, she had a profound interaction with Jesus through a dream and became a Christian. She was responsible for distributing 20,000 Bibles throughout Iran. In 2009, she was arrested and sentenced to death for the “crime” of “apostasy,” and spent nine months in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison before being released due to international pressure. She has written two books and lectures widely about her story, faith, and vision for Iran and the future.

In January 2023, I was introduced to her and hosted her for the first time on the “Inspiration from Zion” podcast. We have become friends and partners in a remarkable program, Root & Branch, the first olive harvest pilgrimage, connecting Christians and Jews in support of Israel. With protests at a historic and hopeful level, Iranians being killed by the thousands, and on this anniversary, I was able to catch up with her and discuss some of what’s taking place now, and what the future may look like.

Q: Are you in contact with people in Iran, directly or indirectly, and what are you hearing?

Marziyeh Amirizadeh: Recently, I tried to reach an old friend just to check in to see if she is OK. Not only have I not heard back, because of the regime shutting down the internet, she has not even seen my message almost a week later. I am not in direct contact with many others inside the country because my political activities, social media posts, and writings could put them in danger as the regime’s agents monitor my online activities. However, I am in indirect contact through family and friends who have friends in Iran and update me about what is happening. The human situation is scary, and Iran has never been in such bad shape, just in terms of finances and infrastructure.

Q: Previous protests in Iran raised hope and expectations for freedom, but those were largely snuffed out. What makes the current protests different than previous ones?

MA: Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, there have been several noteworthy uprisings and protests, each marked by the Islamic Republic murdering or disappearing hundreds, and thousands arrested. When I was in prison in 2009 during the “Green Movement” I witnessed the brutality of the regime because the prison cells rapidly became full of protesters, many beaten and tortured, telling stories of widespread executions taking place on the streets. 

Some of the more recent protests in my adult life include the Green Movement which erupted after the disputed re-(s)election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hundreds of people were killed in the streets, and thousands got arrested. In the end, that was put down by the brutality of the regime which understood that President Obama had abandoned the protesters and was not going to lift a finger to protect them or even sanction the regime.

Most well-known recently were the 2022–2023 protests following the killing of Mahsa Amini. This became known as the “Women Life Freedom” protests. During these protests more than 500 people were killed and about 20000 got arrested.

There have been others, but these are the most widespread until now, and were most visible overseas. In the past 47 years, tens of thousands of innocent people — men, women, children, activists, students, and minorities were killed at the hands of the Islamic Republic which has used execution, torture, disappearances, and massacres, to silence any opposition.

One thing that’s different now is that during the previous protests, Iranians did not have a leader to unite them and rally around because the fake reformists were successful in deceiving Iranians and Western people by exporting and promoting their deceitful lies, with the ultimate agenda of propping up the Islamic regime.

Today, we are seeing several different things that motivate the protestors and give hope that this will be the end of the Islamic Republic. First, most Iranians are united around the return of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. His name echoes through the streets of Iran and across social ia with the slogan “Javid Shah,” “long live the Shah.”

Second, the protests are more widespread and bigger than before, seeing streets in more than 100 Iranian cities as the frontline. Buildings owned by the regime and its institutions, as well as mosques, have been attacked and burned, showing contempt both for the regime and its Islamist extremism.

Protesters are also openly calling for the death of the ayatollahs, which is even more bold than before. Of course, it doesn’t matter what the Iranians are chanting because the regime will use any pretext to brutalize, torture, or execute them.

Another key factor is that President Trump speaking out forcefully against the regime, something that his predecessors from Carter to Obama, and Biden never did. Most recently, he imposed sanctions on countries supporting Iran, which is the polar opposite of Obama and Biden sending billions of dollars to the Islamic Republic. This inspires Iranians and puts the regime on notice. Trump has imposed sanctions which, coupled with widespread mismanagement, have led to the devaluing of the rial to historic lows. This means that all Iranians suffer.

The June 2025 12-Day war with Israel, and US participation, wiped out much of the Islamic Republic’s military equipment, nuclear plants, and many leaders. This has left Iran weak and unable to defend itself. Losing proxies in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Venezuela have also weakened the regime’s evil influence and ability to threaten others.

While the ayatollahs will do anything to stay in power have killed thousands in the past two weeks, their ultimate goal is to stay alive and live for another day to brutalize and control the Iranian people. As Iranians chant “Reformists, Hardliners, the Game is over,” they are telling the regime that you cannot deceive us anymore. As the regime has started to brand the protesters “terrorists” the fear is that it will be the pretext to launch an even more massive slaughter of Iranians. The regime has to balance putting down the protests with not doing anything to trigger foreign intervention that might lead to their being captured or killed.

Q: There are so many videos coming out of Iran showing the protests and bravery of the Iranian people. What’s significant of these and is there any truth to them being fake?

MA: The videos that I have shared on my social media are real. I don’t know of any being fake. There are hundreds of films, maybe thousands, of Iranians calling the return of Prince Pahlavi. It is hard to share all of them. The evidence is clear, however. By the way, one sign that people are part of the fake opposition and reformists are their outright lies that the videos are fake. That’s absurd and is a discredit to the brave Iranian people. There is no way that all these films are fake.

If any of the videos are fake, what I am seeing is that they may be produced by the regime. While the images appear real of hundreds of bodies piled on top of one another or lying in the open, in body bags, one has to ask how it is that the regime would allow an average citizen to film these things in areas they and their agents control. It’s likely that they were filmed by regime supporters and released to instill fear among Iranians. Even if they are fake, the world needs to see the evidence of their crimes.

The videos are documenting widespread support of Prince Pahlavi, loathing of the ayatollahs, exposing the leftists and fake Islamist opposition, and even condemning the regime’s support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Not even Steven Spielberg could conceive of, much less make up, “fake” videos that people are claiming. They are afraid, which is why they are denying these are real, to fool others, and try to protect themselves.

Leading the lies about videos being fake are the fake opposition and reformists themselves. All they care about is keeping power and making sure Iranian people not to overthrow the regime. This proves they are not really with the people but against the will of people.

The significance of all these videos is that Iranians are resisting the regime bravely and in public. Day and night. They are not afraid. They are not just filming and sharing them to encourage one another and show the world the truth, they are finding ways to publicize them even with the regime shutting down the internet across the country.

Q: What’s the most important thing for the American people and people in the West to know about Iran, the protests, and its people?

MA: I would tell them to hear the true voice of Iranians and not to be deceived by the mainstream media that do not cover the truth. The majority of Iranians reject Islam; they support Israel and would like to have a good relationship with the West and America. They recognize that under the previous Shah, Iran was modernizing and Iranians were doing well. The Islamic Republic ended all that and ushered in almost half a century of brutal repression. Iranians believe King Cyrus is their true father, representing a proud Persian culture and values, not the terrorism that they have suffered.

It's also important for Americans to stand up for their freedoms, their Judeo-Christian values, before it’s too late. Looking at Europe and how radical Islam has infiltrated there, we need to pray that Europe can be redeemed, but that America never allows the mistakes the Europeans made to bring down our great country.

America and the West must stop the immigration of radical Islamists. Do not allow them to use your religious freedom to spread a dangerous virus (Islam) in your country. Do not allow them to brainwash your children or infiltrate the halls of power, and media. Iranians lost their freedoms because a minority group of radical Islamists and those who believed in communism supported the fanatic Muslim, Ayatollah Khomeini come to power.

Americans must also with Israel and Iranians who are fighting against our common enemy, radical Islamists. We must be united to purge this evil in our midst. This is an urgent American interest, and also the opportunity to do the greatest thing in the world since World War 2, to eliminate a global threat and bring real peace. With the elimination of the Islamic Republic and freedom for Iran, the cancerous cells that it has planted and funded around the world and their evil ideology will wither and die. Now is the time. Silence is compliance.

What is your hope and expectation for the future of Iran?

MA: As soon as the regime falls, I pray that the criminal leaders of the Islamic Republic and all those who brutalized the Iranian people for generations will be arrested and tried and punished. Iran needs this closure, not to have the leaders arrested by foreign countries, and certainly not to be able to flee.

I pray that Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi will return soon, restore his monarchy, and serve as a unifying leader that brings Iran to democracy, restoring its greatness and becoming a cornerstone of peace and stability in the Middle East and the world.

Iranians reject Islam and need to be given the opportunity to live in freedom. I believe that Iran is ripe for a spiritual revolution with millions of Iranians becoming Christian. Already, the fastest growing church is in Iran, but it’s still underground. Unlike me, when it was illegal, and I suffered as a result, Iranians will embrace Christianity openly, publicly, and worship God freely.

Through my nonprofit NewPersia.org, I am working to assist Iranians in coming to faith, and to restore warm relations between Israel and Iran and Jews and Persians.

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Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Naruedom

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of the Salem Web Network.

Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation (www,genesis123.co) whose mission is to build bridges between Jews and Christians and Christians with Israel. He was born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six, and grandfather of four (so far). 

 Two sons and a son in law are currently serving in the IDF and have been involved in combat in Gaza and Lebanon since the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel. 

 Jonathan is a leader working with and among Christian supporters of Israel, and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel through his work, writing, and as host of the Inspiration from Zion podcast. Since the war began, he has authored more than 150 articles, and participated in a similar number of interviews, briefings, prayer events, and more. 

 Jonathan is working with Christian leaders all over the world to realize a true peace in Gaza, details of which can be found at www.SolutionforPeaceinGaza.com. 

 In 2023 he published the highly acclaimed book, Israel the Miracle (www.israelthemiracle.com), which makes a great gift for Chanukah and Christmas, and year round. 

Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity.   She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is author of two books (the latest, A Love Journey with God), public speaker, and columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com.

Marzi also is the founder and president of NEW PERSIA whose mission is to be the voice of persecuted Christians and oppressed women under Islam, expose the lies of the Iranian Islamic regime, and restore the relationships between Persians, Jews, and Christians. www.NewPersia.org