From Hostage Crisis to Mass Graves: Iranians’ Long Fight for Freedom

History demonstrates that internal pressure, paired with external resolve, can topple tyrants.

An Anti-Iranian regime protester holds a flag of Iran from before the 1979 revolution, with the lion ad sun emblems, during a demonstration in solidarity with Iranian protesters and against the Islamic Republic for killing Iranian people, in Yalova, Turkey, on Jan. 16, 2026. Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

I remember watching the life fade from Neda’s eyes like it was yesterday. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years since we saw those haunting images of a beautiful Iranian girl dying on camera for the whole world to see. Neda Agha-Soltan was a 27-year-old music student shot down during the 2009 Green Movement in Iran. In June 2009, 3 million took to the streets to peacefully protest the alleged reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In short, they believed that the election was rigged. Dozens—perhaps hundreds—of protesters were killed the same day as Neda; we’ll never know for sure.