Two 19-year-olds, born thousands of miles apart, had their futures stolen by the same organization. First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton were the four U.S. service members killed by the IRGC in the Middle East. Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, at just 19 years old, was the youngest of them. While we honor and pay respect to all four fallen service members, Isabella’s death hurts differently.
Around the same time Isabella was killed, Iranian authorities executed Erfan Esfandiari. He was also 19 years old. Saleh Mohammadi, a member of Iran’s national wrestling team, was executed by the Islamic Republic in March. He was 19 years old as well. According to Amnesty International, “In the first few months of the year, Iranian authorities executed at least two individuals who were under 18 at the time of their alleged offenses, and several more 18-year-olds were put to death for charges linked to the January protests.”
The Islamic Republic is a regime that kills children. The IRGC bears responsibility for the deaths of four U.S. service members, as well as Erfan Esfandiari, Saleh Mohammadi, and many others. In Isfahan alone, at least a dozen protesters were sentenced to death following the January uprising, with some already executed and others facing imminent execution. Across the country, more than 100 political prisoners remain on death row.
One of the charges many of these individuals face is espionage for Israel. While the Iranian regime lacks the capability to confront Israel directly, it instead takes revenge by executing innocent young people inside its prisons. This is a government that is fearful, unstable, and increasingly desperate, punishing its own people for demanding freedom.
This is happening while the United States has been conducting sustained nightly airstrikes on Iran for 11 consecutive days. Iran, on the other hand, continues executing teenagers and attacking neighboring countries. As military operations have escalated, President Donald Trump has not abandoned the possibility of negotiations. This raises serious concerns.
Regardless of who is negotiating or what approach is being taken, the United States has spent four decades attempting different forms of engagement with this regime. If diplomacy alone could have changed its behavior, we would have seen those results by now. What I hear from inside Iran is that many Iranians support U.S. strikes against IRGC military and missile facilities. What frightens them is the end of those attacks, as happened a few weeks ago, followed by a return to negotiations with the same regime.
This is a government that, for more than four decades, has repeatedly lied to the world and the United States while breaking its promises. We should not assume that this time will be different. Previous U.S. administrations believed they could achieve a different outcome, and each time the Islamic Republic used those opportunities to preserve its power. Deception is not an exception for this regime; it is a fundamental part of how it operates.
STOP CALLING IT ‘TRUMP’S WAR.’ AMERICA JUST DID THE WORLD’S DIRTY WORK
Isabella Gonzales and Erfan Esfandiari were born in different countries, but they shared something far more important: they were young people with dreams, hopes, and entire lives ahead of them. The IRGC and the Islamic Republic took those futures away and left their parents, families, and friends with unimaginable pain. They did so without remorse, and they will continue doing so if they are given the opportunity.
As someone who fled Iran because of the persecution and repression of the Islamic Republic, I know firsthand what this regime does when it feels threatened. It is the responsibility of all of us — citizens, leaders, and the international community — to stand against this cycle of killing and prevent more innocent young lives from being taken.
Farzan Faramarzi is an Iranian-American writer and activist focused on human rights, Iranian politics, and diaspora advocacy.