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Mersedeh Shahinkar, an Iranian activist now living in California who lost her eye during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in Iran, is publicly criticizing former Vice President Kamala Harris for how she reacted to recent U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran.
Shahinkar was seriously injured during mass protests that erupted after the death of 22‑year‑old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police. Security forces used live ammunition and other heavy crowd‑control tactics against largely peaceful demonstrations. Shahinkar lost one eye after being shot by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during those protests in 2022.
Recently, after U.S. and Israeli forces conducted strikes on Iranian targets following reports of heightened regional conflict, Kamala Harris issued a statement opposing the strikes. Harris described the situation as a conflict the American people do not want and cautioned against what she called a U.S. involvement that could escalate into war.
In response, Shahinkar said she’s frustrated that Western politicians often emphasize opposition to war while not doing enough to support Iranians facing violence and repression under their own government. She asked why leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere did not speak up forcefully when millions of Iranians protested peacefully and faced harsh crackdowns from Iranian security forces.
Shahinkar and other members of the Iranian diaspora said they repeatedly tried to draw attention to the mass protests in Iran — where demonstrators called for basic rights and reform, and felt that their appeals were largely ignored by Western political figures.
For Shahinkar, the debate isn’t just about opposing war, but about how the international community responds to ordinary Iranians enduring violence and repression from their own government.
