TEARS FOR SALE: the exploitation of Iran’s people
My heart aches for the beautiful people of Iran. And this past week, my grief has deepened—not only because they endure a season of profound suffering, but because their suffering itself is being exploited.
Last night I watched a heartbreaking video of a young Iranian man, his voice breaking with tears as he testified to the killings and brutality of the regime’s crackdown on protestors. The rawness of his appeal was striking. He spoke of hardship in graphic detail and ended with a desperate plea to Western powers—calling out Donald Trump by name:
“Trump, or whoever it is. All the kid’s hope is in you.”
The urgency in his voice was undeniable. Yet, as an investigative journalist, I sensed a red flag rise. There was no name, no source, no reference—only a face and a message, unverified and unanchored. I did not doubt his honesty or the depth of his trauma. I could sense the pain. I did not question the reality of suffering in Iran; I have spoken with Iranian friends and ministry partners and know the pain firsthand. But I wanted to know if there was another voice with an agenda, using his pain as a megaphone.
So I began tracing the trail of social media placements and shares. Step by step, I followed the digital breadcrumbs until I reached the original source. I was not surprised to discover that the video had its first posting on the Facebook page of Donald Trump for President. From there it spread like wildfire.
I found this profoundly disturbing. His pain became their profit, his tears was sold at his own expense.
HIJACKING HARDSHIP
The darker dimension of Iran’s unfolding crisis lies in the way ordinary people’s pain is intentionally hijacked for political leverage. It began with the deliberate creation of conditions ripe for a revolution—most notably the sanctions imposed by the United States in November 1979, freezing about $12 billion in Iranian assets and restricted trade. It intensified in 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated sweeping sanctions, targeting oil, banking, and shipping. But sanctions never hurt the elite. These sanctions crippled Iran’s economy and systematically suffocated ordinary Iranians to a slow economic death. On 28 December 2025 frustration reached a breaking point and protests erupted across the country. After waiting patiently for 47 years, those who initiated the movement moved in strategically. In these moments, the most tragic and harrowing stories were singled out and amplified – like that of the young man, often framed with promises of outside intervention and hope. Such narratives are then sharpened into a stark dichotomy of “us” versus “them,” casting one side as wholly evil and the other as righteous. This framing becomes a powerful tool, channeling grief and anger into a broader agenda. The agenda itself is presented as salvation, persuading the masses that its architects are the liberators they have been waiting for. Ultimately, the aim is regime change—an outcome that would serve the strategic interests of Israel and the United States, with Reza Pahlavi positioned as the figurehead of a new order. Yet all of this comes at a devastating cost: millions of Iranians bearing the burden in blood, sweat, and tears, their suffering instrumentalized in the pursuit of geopolitical gain.
THE TEST
The measure of whether concern for people is genuine or merely exploitation lies in a single test: COMPASSION. Where compassion is present, sincerity is revealed; where it is absent, exploitation is exposed.
On January 14, 2026, at the height of the protests and suffering, Donald Trump announced that US immigrant visa processing would be frozen for Iranians. In the midst of their hardship, the “welcome” sign was stripped away and replaced with a clear message: “We may share your tears, but you are not welcome here. We will tell the world of your sufferings, but do not try and find freedom here. We will liberate you from oppression, but our borders will be closed if you seek a new future. You are not welcome here. Stay where you are.” His previous call on January 12, where he addressed Iranian demonstrators directly, hailing them as “Iranian Patriots” has doubled down to “unwelcome guests”.
But, not only are Iranians barred from entering the United States, those who had already entered legally are being deported back to Iran. On September 30, 2025, U.S. officials announced plans to expel roughly 400 Iranians, with the first group of 120 sent back on a chartered flight. Then, on December 7, 2025—just one day before the protests erupted—another chartered plane carrying about 50 Iranians departed Arizona, bound for Iran after scheduled stops in Egypt and Kuwait.
For me, that stands as irrefutable evidence of exploitation.
That the people of Iran are suffering is beyond dispute. Their anguish is immeasurable. They deserve every voice raised in solidarity, every prayer whispered in compassion, and every act of mercy we can offer.
But equally beyond dispute is the fact that their suffering is being exploited—twisted into a tool for political agendas. This is not advocacy; it is opportunism. It is despicable. The pain of a people should never be weaponized.
Those who exploit it must be named, unmasked, and exposed.
THE GREATER SIN: EXPLOITING PAIN
There is a cruelty in the world that takes many forms. To inflict pain on an individual is a grave wrong—an assault on the dignity of another human being, a violation of the sacred worth that each person carries.
To inflict pain on a community is an even greater evil. It is not only the breaking of bodies but the breaking of bonds—the collective traumatizing that shatters trust, erodes belonging, and extinguishes the fragile flame of hope. A wound to one heart is tragic; a wound to the shared heart of a people is catastrophic.
Iran is suffering both under the current leadership of the Iranian regime.
But there is one sin greater still: to exploit someone else’s pain for your own benefit. This is cruelty weaponized, suffering turned into currency. It is the manipulation of grief for power, the trading of anguish for advantage. To profit from another’s tears is to desecrate the very meaning of compassion. It is not merely indifference to suffering—it is the deliberate use of suffering as a tool, a strategy, a means to an end.
Such exploitation corrodes the soul of both the oppressor and the oppressed. It leaves the victim doubly wounded—first by the original pain, and then by the betrayal of seeing that pain paraded, politicized, or commodified. And it leaves the perpetrator hollow, for in feeding on the misery of others, they forfeit their own humanity.
Inflicting pain wounds the body and spirit. Exploiting pain corrodes the very fabric of trust and solidarity. It turns suffering into currency, grief into leverage, and human anguish into a tool for ambition. This is not merely injustice—it is desecration.
And make no mistake, whether we want to believe it or not: America and Israel pursue solutions that stretch far beyond the suffering of ordinary people. That very suffering of the people of Iran has become the fuel to achieve their goals.
On December 29, 2025, just a day after the protests erupted in Tehran, Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago and declared: “Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again. And if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We will bomb the hell out of Iran.”
Trump vowed to bomb Iranians “out of compassion for the majority” if their government resisted. Liberation by annihilation. These are the grim rules of collateral damage: someone must suffer so that others may claim to benefit. Ask the people of Caracas, Venezuela.
Venezuela, we were told, had its justification—narco-terrorism. For Iran, a new justification must be manufactured. Nuclear weapons alone are not enough. A narrative of compassion must be created, then exploited, and finally acted upon. In this twisted logic, the United States and Israel cast themselves not as aggressors but as saviors. Not as villains, but as heroes.
The same powers that imposed crushing economic sanctions—deepening hardship for millions—now urge Iran’s youth to sacrifice their future by dismantling their own institutions. And on January 12, in social media posts and remarks aboard Air Force One, President Trump addressed Iranian demonstrators directly, hailing them as “Iranian Patriots” and urging them to “KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!”
There is little genuine concern for what the future holds for the Iranian people. The concern, instead, is narrowly focused on the military security of Israel and the United States.
A WORD TO MR. TRUMP AND MR. NETANYAHU
This is a twisted logic: to save a people, you must destroy them. To care for their future, you must erase their present. It is the cruel paradox of power—where compassion is claimed with one hand, and devastation delivered with the other.
So let me speak plainly to Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu:
If you truly care about the people of Iran, lift the sanctions. Sanctions do not topple governments; they suffocate families. They empty tables, close pharmacies, and crush the dreams of ordinary men and women. To claim compassion while tightening the economic noose is hypocrisy in its purest form – unless of course it is for your own benefit.
If you truly care about the people of Iran, do not bomb the hell out of them. Bombs do not liberate; they obliterate. They reduce homes to rubble, schools to ashes, and futures to graves. To speak of freedom while threatening annihilation is a grotesque contradiction – unless of course it is for your own benefit.
If you truly care about the people of Iran, open your borders. You welcomed white South Africans—citizens of a democracy with constitutional protections and freedom of religion. Yet Iranians, who live under repression, are barred. Compassion cannot be selective; justice cannot be racialized – unless of course it is for your own benefit.
If you truly care about the people of Iran, enter into negotiations. Dialogue is the path of dignity. To refuse talks while demanding surrender is not diplomacy—it is domination. Negotiation honors humanity; coercion erases it – unless of course it is for your own benefit.
If you truly care about the people of Iran, do not betray the principles of justice and freedom by exploiting their suffering for your gain. Turning pain into political capital is not leadership—it is exploitation. It is the sin of using another’s tears to polish your own image – unless of course it is for your own benefit.
If you truly care about the people of Iran, stop referring to Muslims as the enemy. False empathy on one hand and ridicule on the other is a poison. To call them barbarians who “eat our pets and rape our women” is not only slander—it is dehumanization. Words like these strip away dignity and justify violence – unless of course it is for your own benefit.
(It was Donald Trump who made the claim that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets, and his ex-wife Ivana Trump who publicly claimed in 2020 that immigrants in the USA “steal and rape women.)
The hypocrisy is not only repulsive; it is evil. It is the inversion of morality, where cruelty masquerades as compassion, and destruction is dressed up as salvation.
A CALL FOR INTEGRITY
If the world truly cares about Iranians, it must:
Listen to their voices directly, rather than speaking over them. Too often, global powers narrate Iran’s story without inviting Iranians to speak for themselves. Policies are drafted, speeches delivered, and strategies imposed while the voices of those most affected are silenced. True solidarity begins with listening—not to governments or geopolitical analysts alone, but to the mothers, students, workers, and elders whose daily lives bear the weight of sanctions, repression, and threats of war. Their testimony is not an accessory to policy; it is the heart of justice.
Support humanitarian aid without strings attached. Aid that comes with political conditions is not compassion—it is leverage. Food, medicine, and shelter should never be bargaining chips in the game of power. To tie humanitarian relief to ideological compliance or geopolitical advantage is to exploit suffering rather than alleviate it. Genuine care means meeting human needs first, without calculation, without manipulation, without expecting repayment in loyalty or submission.
Resist the temptation to weaponize suffering for political gain. The pain of Iranians must not be turned into propaganda, nor their protests into pawns for foreign agendas. When leaders exploit anguish to justify military strikes or sanctions, they commit a double cruelty: first by allowing suffering to continue, and then by using that suffering as a tool to advance their own interests. To weaponize grief is to desecrate it.