“A #keffiyeh in a broken frame. Some resistances are true, some are staged. The frame can shatter, but the cloth still hangs.”

During my stay in Istanbul for the Bitcoin++ conference, I stayed with a Palestinian friend. He welcomed me with such kindness that I’ll never forget — a reminder that our shared humanity is stronger than borders and politics.

But in many conversations, I noticed something troubling. People from around the world praised the Iranian regime, calling it the “only country resisting the US and Israel.” Their anger at Israel’s brutality in Gaza was raw and justified — the killing of children is unbearable.

Yet as an Iranian, I must tell another truth: this so-called “resistance” is a lie. The Iranian regime is not a hero standing against oppression — it is itself one of the greatest oppressors in our region. Inside Iran, it kills protesters, executes children, jails women for showing hair, silences every free voice, and robs generations of a future.

People outside often romanticize Iran as a symbol of defiance. But they don’t live under it. They don’t feel the fear, the censorship, the prisons, or the graves of our brightest youth. They mistake dictatorship for dignity.

Yes — Israel’s crimes in Gaza are real. But so are Iran’s crimes against its own people. And if we truly care about justice, we cannot choose which lives matter. The children of Gaza deserve life. So do the children of Iran, Ukraine, and Afghanistan.

True solidarity is not selective. It doesn’t excuse one regime’s brutality because it opposes another. Real resistance is about freedom and dignity for all people.

So please — don’t romanticize the regime that has turned Iranians into prisoners in their own land. Stand with the people, not the dictators. Because if our solidarity is selective, then it is not solidarity at all.

#free_iran

#free_palestine