By Princess Noor Pahlavi
On this, the 100th day of its national revolution, I am newly inspired and amazed by the continuity, growth, and unity of the Iranian people’s movement to reclaim and rebuild Iran.
I recall the very first days of this movement after the murder of Mahsa [Amini], when journalists and commentators outside of Iran said that this was just a small protest, and that it would not amount to anything. Yet the Iranian nation has proved them wrong, showing, as my father [Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi] has always said, that nothing in the world — not this regime, not the world powers — can compete with the will of the united Iranian nation.
The Iranian people are making history and determining their own destiny. Those of us in exile abroad have done little compared to the bravery that those inside have shown the world. Yet we have tried to do everything in our power to share their voice and their demands with the world.
It is to that end that I write on the 100th day anniversary of this revolution: to highlight what the immense sacrifice of Iran’s people has resulted in outside the country, and share my perspective on what work there is left to do.
As my father said in his most recent remarks to the nation, never in history has a protest movement so quickly dominated international attention and shaken the global conscience. Lawmakers have stood on the floor of the European Parliament and cut their hair in solidarity with the women of Iran. Celebrities around the world have stood in solidarity with the people of Iran and honored their bravery and dedication. This bravery and dedication has spurred more than just their words of support. It has also spurred their action.
When I visited the French Senate and met with prominent lawmakers in Paris, I witnessed firsthand the desire to take tangible steps to support Iran and its revolution. I am happy to say that for the first time in the history of the struggle for freedom from this regime, the world is acting.
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In Canada, the government took action to ban 10,000 agents and affiliates of the regime from seeking refuge there, and from hiding away money they stole from the Iranian people. In the United States, legislation has been introduced to sanction [Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei and [President] Ebrahim Raisi for their crimes against our compatriots.
In Germany and in many other leading global nations, governments announced that they were no longer seeking to engage in negotiations with the dictatorship. This is an important development that will prevent billions of dollars of money belonging to Iran’s people from flowing into their hands and paying for more bullets to kill more Iranians. Indeed, Europe finally seems to have awakened to the notion that the Islamic Republic is a threat not only to the people of Iran, but to the people of the world.
The regime’s support for Putin’s crimes in Ukraine has turned this regime into more of a pariah in Europe — and Europe is finally taking action. The European Parliament implemented historic sanctions against those officials committing crimes and human rights abuses against the Iranian people. This was a historic break in tradition with Europe’s appeasement policy.
As I write, this piece the German government is announcing that it is suspending measures to support business ties with the Islamic Republic. German trade with Iran, the benefits of which predominantly go to the regime, totals nearly $2 billion annually. The move to limit such trade is perhaps the most significant step taken in the past three months to hold this regime accountable, and to hit it where it hurts — in its pocket.
Even at the highest level of international diplomacy and geopolitics, the United Nations, the voices of Iranians are being heard. The Islamic regime was removed from a place it never deserved the honor of being: on the Commission on the Status of Women. Even more consequentially, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to implement an independent investigative mechanism into the Islamic Republic’s crimes against the people of Iran. This institution will continuously monitor and investigate the Islamic Republic’s crimes and publish them for the world to see. This information will be saved for the day that the people of Iran, in free and fair trials, can hold their oppressors to account for their crimes.
Iran, a nation united in a movement to reclaim and rebuild itself, has forced the world to take action with its sacrifices and its ironclad will for liberty. Supporting them every step of the way are Iranians abroad. Some were forced to flee Iran 43 years ago. Some left more recently. They have differing political views. They are of different generations. But they are united in one thing: supporting those inside in whatever way they can.
While the regime has tried to divide us, Iranians abroad have proven that even when we are forced to live abroad, our pride of, dedication to, and love for Iran and Iranians cannot be taken away from us. While many foreign allies have sought to help in this fight, it has been the Iranian nation, beyond divisions of time zones, languages, and borders, that has stood together at this trying time in the nation’s history.
While this is important work and something of which the Iranian nation should be proud, there is much more work to be done. Know that those of us abroad are not tiring. We are not stopping. Our activists, experts, NGOs, and the entire community are continuing to work to support Iran and its revolution.
Some are assembling medical experts to aid wounded protesters. Others are lobbying foreign governments to implement a maximum support strategy to provide Internet access, communications tools, and more to the Iranian people. Others still are launching campaigns to save our prisoners of conscience and expel the regime’s diplomats from Europe. These efforts are ongoing, and more details will be announced in the coming weeks.
One hundred days into this revolution, Iranians have already made history. The pages of the nation’s great epic are being written, and the Iranian people are the authors of this new chapter. As my grandmother [Empress Farah Pahlavi] says, “I have faith that light will overcome darkness, and that, soon, we will be together in a free Iran.” With the unity that Iranians around the world have shown in these 100 days, I know that Iran’s future will be even brighter than its past.
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