1/18/26: Iran Protester Recounts Crackdown

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0:31rings and listen now. Black history lives in our stories, our culture, and the conversations we still have in today. This Black History Month, the podcast I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either digs into the moments, perspectives, and experiences that don't always make the textbook. Let me tell you about Garrett Morgan. Bruh had to pretend he didn't even exist just to sell his own invention. Listen to I Didn't Know. Maybe you didn't either. From the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or simply wherever you get your podcasts.

1:111969. Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. At a Morehouse College, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protest and rebellion in Black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There's been a lot of talk about the geopolitical implications of the protests in Iran, but there has been little heard from protesters themselves.

1:50That is not merely a failing of the media. part of the reason is that the government there has shut down the internet for an extended period of time, which is blocking people from reaching loved ones or reaching Western or any other media outside of Iran. And it's blocking people from inside, you know, journalists who are inside Iran from getting images out. There's also the phenomenon that we know of, of transnational repression, that even if you are able to get in touch with one of your family members who is in Iran. If you speak publicly and they find out who you are, there's a significant risk for the family back at home.

2:28So joining us today will be a person who has been involved in protests for several decades at this point inside Iran and was there at the height of the demonstrations, has since left. And we're not going to talk about where she has left to or where she came from in order to conceal her identity. But we're grateful that she's joined us today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. And so can you tell us a little bit about, well, actually tell us the first protest that, or how did you realize that this protest movement, which started shortly after Christmas, was something serious?

3:16and when did you first start participating in it?

3:23I went home to visit family. I had no idea that there was unrest until Thursday night, 8th of January. And we were sitting around. But you had been there for weeks at that point. Yes, yes. But it hadn't passed onto the scene. I didn't notice anything. And we would hear about things happening outside of Tehran, but not in Tehran. I didn't notice anything. And that's not surprising because I wasn't near anywhere near center of town or places that people would gather. um but on thursday night um around 8 p.m we started we were january 8th yes january 8th um we were sitting around just drinking socializing with a few of my friends and we started hearing chanting outside so we went out to check out what was happening and we realized that people were getting together and the chants were getting louder and louder.

4:39So we decided to go out and check it out. It's cold in Iran at night right now. So it took like a few minutes to get our clothes, get ready. And we were in the streets on Thursday night, a little before 8.30 p.m. and so what what did you see when you were were out there there was just like groups of people we walked for a long time so by the end of the night we were miles away from where we started and it was there were people everywhere everywhere in alleys main streets and they were moving There were more and more people joining main streets in Tehran, and they were chanting, and everybody was really excited.

5:36And we were all surprised, all of us were surprised to see these many people out on the streets. people of iran have been protesting for a long time and at least for myself i can say that i've always dreamt of these many people coming out supporting each other and it happened yeah how did it compare to previous demonstrations over the years size i've never i've never seen anything like this on any uh never not in green movement although there was um there was a silent protest after uh the election during the green movement that i wasn't i wasn't there but i heard that hundreds of thousands of people silently walking but besides that one i have never never heard about anything this massive and it seemed organic and it's and people were joining as they were hearing chants from the streets people were coming out i saw an old lady like with a cane really old i i went and talked to her i asked her to go home i told her that i would do what she wants to do she should tell me what i should chant and i would do it for her she doesn't have to be out and she's like no i'll stay i'll just walk slowly i'll like walk behind you um and that was thursday night was just awesome so there were some reports of violence that thursday evening somewhere around the city did you did you see anything though what what was the you know what was the balance between kind of just marching and chanting versus clashes with security services I we did not see any clashes between security forces and the protesters and they stayed away from us the two times that we saw any sign of government regime people present was tear gas behind the crowd if they wanted to they wanted us to move they would tear gas that area and We would just walk away from that area.

7:56That was it. There was no clashes that I saw on Thursday. Thursday was pretty much people. And the crowds got so big. I don't know. Besides what they did on Saturday, there was nothing they could have done. There was just so many people that the sheer number of people in the streets was unprecedented. So then Friday, January 10th, what was your experience? so far it was the same but with more presence from police forces militia we saw them they but they wouldn't engage there was a still tear gas but i heard from other friends across town that they saw snipers on rooftops and they saw people falling so there was some some presence on friday night but it was still mainly people and the only i don't know what i saw the coverage on state tv they saw that people set fire to mosques and I'm not surprised by that.

9:16When you use mosques to force people into a way of life, you shouldn't be surprised if that's the first thing they set on fire. But I heard other violent stories that I did not witness. I don't know if normal, regular people are capable of that kind of violence, but I don't know like state governments have turned people into violent beings all the time but I didn't witness any of the protesters doing anything violent on Tuesday, Friday or Saturday and at that point what's communication like? You couldn't communicate out of the country but within the country you could? So on Thursday night I could even text outside of Iran.

10:09Up to, I don't know if it was 8pm or 9pm, like between 8 and 9pm, everything just stopped working. We couldn't even call each other. Internet went out, that was Thursday night. Calls, the only thing that we could do, it was landline to landline. Landlines could call each other. But that was it on Thursday night. So there was really no way to organize at all. Friday night happened organically. So then Saturday, people are back in the streets. What time did you go back out on Saturday? Describe what Saturday was like.

10:58Saturday was I don't think I'll ever forget Saturday Saturday was brief

11:16I think it was around I had to do something on Saturday for work So it was a little later, I think around seven or eight. I don't think it took even an hour. But as soon as we reached an area that people would gather, we started hearing machine guns like not just one shot, two shots just shots nonstop and then as we ran and

12:09we heard people falling and

12:19And then I saw like two blocks away from, like further away from where we were, a neighborhood just got lit up silently, just so bright that it was like it was day for like 10 seconds. I don't know what they used, but it just lit up and then went quiet.

12:47there were big groups of bikers with like machine guns and machetes just controlling and did they have uniforms no they were like dressed in black with face masks and my friends asked me if they were Iranian or not and there's no way we could have tell. It's just impossible to tell. They were in a large group together? Yes. Can you describe these motorcyclists? Yeah, they were always in large groups together dressed in black like commandos or like movies and really scary like staring even the day Sunday after Saturday I was in a car and they they were patrolling the streets after Saturday and they came from behind like a group of 50 of them at least and I was so scared that I couldn't look away and one of them was staring at me and one of my friends held my hand and was like, look at me, don't look at them.

14:07Tried to get my attention away from them. Just freakishly terrifying. And you were telling me that as you were running, you could hear the bullets and you could see people fall. How close to you were the people who were going down? What kind of... I have no idea. I could tell you, but I don't know how accurate it would be.

14:43It was shocking.

14:49How did you finally get away? What got you to safety? We ran that far away. We got lucky because we got out late. And we just ran back into the alley. And people opened doors, but it was just like we were close enough to get away. To the place where you were staying? Yes.

15:19I wasn't, we didn't even got that far on Saturday. And then it was quiet, like silence. thursday and friday like at 1 2 a.m people would still be in the streets and they were chanting from rooftops and windows and people would support even if they didn't leave the house saturday night after so like for an hour there was a lot of noise a lot of light a lot of commotion and then silence just just absolute like even i don't think tehran has ever been this silent whether and i know there weren't even sirens or nothing just death nothing just silence and i know that i i try not to watch the videos still because like i don't yeah i can't take them right now but um i know that videos are coming out now but most of these videos are from thursday night friday and maybe saturday if it's super violent there was nothing after in tehran

16:44so sunday monday so the rest so that was complete from your perspective that was complete suppression yes saturday night tehran was massacred and then it went quiet is there any is there any sense or is any talk of renewing them once people have regrouped or is your sense that this is the level of violence was significant enough that it's just completely knocked out like i don't really suppressed i don't know if i can predict that but uh every time that the people of iran have protested they have responded with violence and every time the next time has been worse for them and i think something changed on saturday night because they killed indiscriminately they fired into crowds of people and they said that they were going to do that but i don't think people they sent um text messages from intelligence services to all of the people of tehran that was the only text that we did we could receive to to numbers in iran and they warned the people don't come out because we are going to use force if you do and they did

18:18something changed

18:23I know that there's a lot of discussion of who can hijack this movement the freedom movement of the people of Iran and it's very possible but I can tell you this the way that the government of Iran has responded to the protesters every single person in Iran would happily join any intelligence service to end this regime. We are not unified in what we want, but we are unified in not wanting the Islamic Republic. What was the talk among demonstrators about what the end goal was? What was the step from hundreds of thousands of people in the streets on Thursday to the regime being toppled?

19:15There wasn't a lot of talk. It was just like chatting.

19:25But my sense is that nobody knows. And that's very scary. And I think the people of Iran know that in chaos there's risk. They know that their livelihood is going to be affected. Dollar has, like, the Iranian currency has dropped in value so much that a regular person in Tehran now makes a little less than$300 probably. Millions of families have dropped from middle class to poor. so I think they know it's going to be rough I think they're scared of what's going to happen next I think this government could have stopped this many many times during this 47 years they could have made change easier and smoother but every time they chose to oppress their own people, to kill their own people, hang their own people, torture their own people, disappear their own people.

20:34And there was this saying after Masamini was murdered that the rage of a grieving mother will never go quiet. and there are thousands of grieving mothers in Iran right now, and I don't know what they're going to do with that. They might succeed this time, but something changed. Now, the videos and the photos that you shared with me that you and your friends took, were those mostly from Thursday and Friday? Did you catch anything from Saturday, or were you in and out so fast? No, no. Yes. I had nothing on Saturday. And I meant to take a video of the bikers, but I was so scared I couldn't move. I can tell you this.

21:26They were freakishly terrifying. They were moving around collectively. Yes. And patrolling. Even after Saturday night, they would patrol and scream and, you know, just make sure that their presence is known and that they are causing terror so that people won't come out anymore. I also wanted to get your reaction to the government's response here. As you saw, they brought in a bunch of ministers from around the world and showed them footage of...

22:06I lost, um, armed and masked. Um, and people have probably seen a lot of this footage as it has kind of circulated over the internet on the internet. Um, here you have people, you know, they're firing a shotgun. Um, and there's more of this, you know,

22:29how does this how do you relate that to these the dynamic that unfolded i i didn't see anybody armed in the crowd and i didn't see any violence um i'm not surprised it's been 47 years um i'm i'm not even surprised if it turns out that there are foreign agents among the crowds. Of course, I know Israel benefits from turmoil in Iran. I'm not surprised if they try to capitalize on this, if they try to hijack it. And I'm not surprised that the government of Iran does these kind of performative sittings with ambassadors. They have done this, it's not new and they have a certain narrative that everybody that opposes us is imperialist agent and agents of musad or cia and i'm not denying that musad or cia are

23:37not benevolent agents in the world but i can tell you that most of the people in the streets are the people of Iran. And I'm not saying that they are beyond being manipulated. Of course they are. But any, I think anyone in the situation that the people of Iran are right now, economically, culturally, sanction-wise relationships with the outside world, you look at the situation in Iran from any aspect that you like, you will understand why the people of Iran would come to the street. It doesn't matter who asks them to. They want change. And I don't think these kind of having ambassadors watch videos would work anymore, even if there are armed agents that hijack these movements that doesn't matter that's not the movement because this is not this hasn't been the only uprising we have been protesting for 47 years the mullahs are corrupt and cruel and that's the truth and i think as somebody who's been a leftist and a progressive I'm actually a little heartbroken that we can't say that with our full chest because Iran has been

25:25a presence in the Middle East that's at least a kind of obstacle for United States and Israel. But that shouldn't mean that we deny the people of Iran what they deserve, which is freedom and a dignified life. And if Iran has been an obstacle for Israel and Israel has been an obstacle for the Islamic Republic, all of that can be analyzed without being silent when people are being oppressed. Now, when it comes to the American response, the trump administration as far as my sources are telling me are still leaning towards airstrikes um despite the fact that um we are where we are where do the demonstrator obviously there are a lot of different viewpoints but like how do you see american intervention and how to how what is your general sense of how people in the street sense it and it goes to that that same question earlier what's the step from american airstrikes to the regime toppling because from my own analysis and i don't know i've never been to iran i don't know it as well as people who live there but i don't see how american airstrikes bring about regime change i i i fail to see what the connect how how that connects from one to the other so what so give me your take on that I okay I'm hesitant to just give you my own opinion I'll tell you what I think and what I think people of Iran think most of them I am anti-war I do not like airstrikes and I do not like foreign interventions they're always short-sighted and not motivated by what I think is needed on the ground um so i and i don't respect donald trump in any shape or form so my personal opinion is i don't trust what he says i don't trust what he does and i don't i wouldn't if it was me i wouldn't ask him for help and i don't know how airstrikes can lead to regime change i have no idea either i'm just a normal person.

27:50I've never worked in politics. But inside, on the streets, I think people were as divided as the Iranian diaspora outside of Iran. I think there are a lot of people that are so done, they're so, it's been so bad that they're like anything. If they can attack and kill Khamenei, for example without us having to pay a lot sure why not and there are people that are like absolutely not we do not want anybody to attack us and i don't i'm not saying that we should take everybody's opinion and like take an average uh i don't believe in that kind of attitude when it comes to making these decisions and i i don't presume that i know what's best so i'm just talking for myself.

28:44I'm just telling you what I think. And I think the best thing for Iran is for we have elites in prison. We have elites outside of Iran. We can have a group of people that would help referendums and help polling to move from this regime to a more democratic one. if possible. Throughout 47 years, they have tried to kill and silence everybody inside of Iran, and they have done some assassination outside of Iran as well. But I still think Iranians themselves have people that are capable of steering this country at least towards a better path. I don't think we need anyone, particularly those who are responsible for genociding other people.

29:44Well, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Very much appreciate you. Thank you. I'm sure that was difficult and it's going to live with you for forever. Thank you. Seems like just yesterday that the Two Guys Five Rings podcast was in Paris for the Olympics. And now we're heading to Milan for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games. I'm Bowen Yang. And I'm Matt Rogers. And we'll join athletes from 93 countries as Two Guys Five Rings hits the Italian Alps for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Did we mention it's free? Search Two Guys Five Rings and listen now.

30:30Black history lives in our stories, our culture, and the conversations we still have in today. This Black History Month, the podcast I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either, digs into the moments, perspectives, and experiences that don't always make the textbook. Let me tell you about Garrett Morgan. Bruh had to pretend he didn't even exist just to sell his own invention. Listen to I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Either, from the Black Effect Podcast Network, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or simply wherever you get your podcasts.

31:071969, Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. And at Morehouse College, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protest and rebellion in Black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Menelik Lumumba. Listen to The A-Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.