Eli Lake, Columnist

What America Has Learned From Iranian Social Media

U.S. policy should focus more on the Iranian people and less on the regime.

December 30, 2020 at 10:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Not only talking but also listening.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America

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Most Americans have no idea who Nahid Shirbisheh is. But in Iran, she has become a powerful symbol of resistance. A little over a year ago, she witnessed her son’s murder at a government protest in Tehran. Last month she released a video made at the location of his killing that went viral in Iran.

When I spoke to her last month, she surprised me by thanking the Trump administration. “They mentioned my son’s name and my own name and they supported my voice when my son was killed and I was in prison,” she said.