When Donald Trump, said he would “rescue” protesters if Iranian authorities started shooting, Siavash Shirzad believed the US president.
The 38-year-old father had seen protests rise up before, only to be brutally crushed by authorities.
But this was the first time in his life that the president of the United States had promised to help demonstrators. Reassured, Shirzad took to the streets, ignoring his family’s warnings and joining the growing crowds.
Authorities started shooting, but no help came. On 8 January, the internet was shut off and Iran went dark, Shirzad was shot at a protest in Tehran and died of his wounds hours later, leaving behind a 12-year-old son.
“Siavash hoped until the very end that Trump’s help would arrive,” his cousin said, speaking anonymously for fear of repercussions. “We told him: ‘Don’t go, it’s dangerous.’ But he gave a firm answer: ‘Trump said he supports us, I’m going.’”
On Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to keep protesting and to “take over your institutions”, telling them “help is on its way”, as reports grew that a strike on Iran was imminent. But just a day later, Trump abruptly did an about-face, telling reporters that he had received assurances that Iranian authorities would not execute anyone, walking back from military intervention in Iran, at least temporarily.
In Iran, protesters despaired. Despite Trump’s reassurances, killings of demonstrators continued.
The most shocking part of this is that any Iranian was trusting the US in any capacity. If I remember correctly, the old US embassy is now a museum of all that the US did while in Iran, and a reminder to never trust them again because none of those things were good.
Used to work with an Iranian who had childhood memories of being bombed by Iraqi migs, and it was US provided F-14s that saved his village from being destroyed by them.
He said that despite all of the bad things the US is responsible for, he still had hope in the US military because of that.
If we are going to use subjective experience over what is known about the general Iranian populations feelings regarding the US.:
I dated a first generation Iranian Woman for just over a year, met 100+ members of her family at a family reunion, and not one of them had anything nice to say about the US. In fact, they actively started conversations about how bad the US is, and the damage the US caused in their home country.
My Iranian boss, and his family, also do not like the US.
My current partners Iranian boss also does not like the US.
All of which cite what the US did to them, not for them.