OPINION: Republicans Report — An Iranian-American’s view of Soleimani’s death

Loru Yazdani is a first-year student double majoring in music production and law enforcement. She is a member of the Ohio University College Republicans. The following article reflects the opinion and views of the author and does not represent those of the Ohio University College Republicans.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political. 

There has been a lot of coverage in the media about the death of Qassem Soleimani, who was Iran’s top general and one of the country’s most powerful men. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be that of outrage and shock that our president would order something that resulted in the death of a foreign dignitary.

I wonder why these people, who are so outraged at the death of one man, aren’t outraged by the hundreds of thousands of deaths that occurred during his life. They want to condemn President Donald Trump for taking out one man — a man who killed so many Americans and even more Iranians. However, they refuse to condemn this man for the countless lives that he took. Why is that? Soleimani was a terrorist. Are we, in this country, really mourning the loss of a terrorist leader?I’ve also seen a lot in the media about those crowding the streets of Iran and mourning the loss of a “national hero.”

What they don’t tell you, though, is that those people were forced into mourning. They were told that they would be shot or their families would be killed; they would be imprisoned or they wouldn’t be able to obtain food if they didn’t comply.

No, Soleimani was not a national hero, a victim or a martyr. He was a cold-blooded killer who had no compassion for the people of his country or any other country in the world. He was the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which many Iranians are now referring to as their ISIS. This man was feared and hated by a vast majority of Iranians.

Personally, I find it extremely presumptuous and supercilious for the media, the politicians and the elite in America to assume that they know better than the Iranian people — the ones who suffered at the hands of Soleimani, a madman.

They decided that, simply because Trump took him out, Soleimani was a man worth mourning. Has their hatred really clouded their vision so much that they can no longer see the difference between good and evil?

Iran doesn’t mourn for Soleimani, it mourns for those he took from them. The Iranian government doesn’t mourn for Soleimani, it mourns for the mortality he’s forced upon them. I don’t mourn for Soleimani, I mourn for those who have so much hatred in their hearts for our president that they would choose loyalty to terrorism.

I hope the day never comes that the people of America have to endure the type of dictatorship that the people of Iran live under and watch as their freedom of speech is silenced by the government’s bullets. I hope the day never comes that the American people experience what it truly means for the government to rule the people and not the other way around.

When our leaders begin to side with terrorists, though, I fear that we may inevitably watch our country slip into the chains Iranians are fighting to break free from.