By far the most accurate post I’ve seen about how Iranians around the world feel, including myself. Please stop lecturing us and take a moment to read this. “A lot of people outside Iran are watching what's unfolding and are shocked by one thing in particular: that Iranians will feel relief, even joy, when a violent dictator falls. Whether you like it or not, that reaction is real. It comes from lived experience. After 45+ years of being hunted, tortured, disappeared, executed, and massacred, the collapse of the machinery that did it doesn't feel "complicated." It feels like a breath. A moment of air. And no, celebrating the fall of a dictator doesn't mean Iranians are naïve about what's next. People inside Iran understand the aftermath better than anyone commenting from the safety of a democracy. They understand how dangerous transitions are. They understand the risk of chaos, revenge, and power vacuums. They knew from the beginning that you can't topple a regime like this with empty hands. They have paid for every peaceful route with blood. So here's what some need to hear: If you've been absent for 45+ years, if you ignored the massacres, the executions, the prisons, the disappearances, the rapes and only found your voice from the safety of a free country because Iranian suffering finally fits your political framework... then you do not get to arrive now and speak with certainty. You don't get to lecture Iranians with theories as if your analysis is the truth. Because what's happening isn't a debate. It's survival. And Iranians don't need permission to feel relief when their oppressor falls, even while they brace for the frightening road ahead. Listen to Iranians. Amplify them. Centre the victims, and not your worldview. And stop regurgitating regime propaganda.”