Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Lessons From Three Years in an Iranian Prison
Opinion
By Opinion
Published 4 years ago on
September 4, 2020

Share

[aggregation-styles]

In August 2016, shortly after I was arrested by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, one of my interrogators asked me what I thought of the antagonism between Iran and the United States. I told him frankly that like many Americans, I did not believe that Iran and the United States should be enemies. I said that I thought President Barack Obama should visit Tehran and turn a new page in the relationship, just as President Richard Nixon had done by going to Beijing in 1972. The interrogator sneered. The U.S. president would never be welcome in his country, he told me.

My view of the relationship between the United States and Iran, and of the nature of the Iranian regime, would gradually change over the course of my 40 months in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. There I witnessed the regime’s actual workings from the inside, and I learned a great deal from interacting with other prisoners—Iranian men from all walks of life, many of whom had previously worked for the regime.

Read More →

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

DON'T MISS

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

DON'T MISS

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

DON'T MISS

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

DON'T MISS

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

DON'T MISS

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

DON'T MISS

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

DON'T MISS

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

DON'T MISS

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

DON'T MISS

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

UP NEXT

Rise of the Anti-“Woke” Democrat

UP NEXT

High-Level Saudi Visit Follows Multimillion-Dollar Foreign Influence Operation

UP NEXT

Iran and Russia Move to Fill Diplomatic Vacuum in Afghanistan

UP NEXT

Pelosi’s Husband Locked In $5.3 Million From Alphabet Options

UP NEXT

Experts Reportedly See Major Damage in Attack on Iran Centrifuge Plant

UP NEXT

Opinion: School Choice Marches Ahead

UP NEXT

Zakaria: Americans Care About History Because the Stakes Are High

UP NEXT

California Democrats Are Reliably Pro-Labor. But One Union Is Testing Their Patience.

UP NEXT

The Tightrope Walk Democrats Have Ahead on Two Separate Infrastructure Bills

UP NEXT

Bill Barr on Trump’s Election Fraud Claims: “It Was All Bullsh*t”

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

3 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

6 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

7 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

8 hours ago

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

1 day ago

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

1 day ago

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

1 day ago

European Detour Destinations Are 2025’s New Travel Trend

1 day ago

California’s Aging Population Will Test Whether Its Demography Is Destiny

1 day ago

A Former Firefighter in the Legislature Has Ideas. Will Democrats Listen?

1 day ago

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

Fresno participated in a nationwide Presidents’ Day protest Monday as part of the 50501 Movement, a grassroots online group that declared th...

15 minutes ago

15 minutes ago

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

Team United States fans cheer after their team defeated Canada in a 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Montreal, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
3 hours ago

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, boards Air Force Two at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Harris might have traveled on Friday to Philadelphia or Milwaukee for the umpteenth time, but motivating tuned-out voters in battleground states required something different. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
3 hours ago

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

Downed trees cover the roadway toward South Jefferson Street from severe weather in downtown Tuscumbia, Ala., Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.(Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP)
3 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

6 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

7 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

8 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

1 day ago

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend