NTD NewsDr. Houman Hemmati, a board-certified physician, spoke with NTD’s Iris Tao. He recalled fleeing Iran at age 3 during the revolution, and his parents and the entire Jewish community faced the urgent choice to escape or stay. He recalled that many Jews left for the United States, Austria, or elsewhere, while those who decided to stay found a way to adapt, with some practicing their religion in secret.
Dr. Hemmati said the Iranian regime oppresses even non-extremist Muslims, in addition to Christians, Jews, people of other faiths, and atheists. Dr. Hemmati says Iran’s population longs for freedom after decades of exposure to what freedom is like via the internet, TV, and speaking to friends and family abroad. He noted there have been many revolts have been suppressed under the regime’s deadly control, and real hope will come only if the regime is weakened. He said true liberation entails the destruction of top regime leaders and the Basij force, which is the paramilitary force representing the regime that enforces checkpoints in the streets and kills thousands of protesters, as they did in the recent protests. Dr. Hemmati says the number of Basij members will dwindle after surviving the U.S. drone strikes on Basij members and Basij checkpoints within the city centers, and this will allow the people to take to the streets and overwhelm the remaining regime forces, which will not be easy or immediate. The people see it as an existential issue, Dr. Hemmati said.
