Hamidi’s death came as Iran stepped up its crackdown after recent protests, making more arrests while holding the door open to Washington for further nuclear negotiations.
An Iranian man has reportedly died by suicide after posting a social media video of himself urging US President Donald Trump not to make a deal with Iran’s theocratic regime. In a 10-minute and 44-second video, the man, identified by Iranian media as Pouria Hamidi, said the purpose of his appeal was to draw attention to what he called a deadly crackdown on protests in Iran and called for foreign intervention against the country’s clergy leadership.
“If you’re watching this, then I’m not around anymore,” Hamidi, a resident of Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, said in a video going viral on social media.
“More than 40,000 people died, killed, massacred, more than the Russia-Ukraine war, and more than the Israel-Palestine war,” he said during the video posted on his YouTube channel ‘PoorY X’ on February 5. Hamidi captioned his video: “This Is My Sacrifice – Please, Free My Country”.
In the video recorded in English, Hamidi addressed the American leadership directly, urging them to pursue any diplomatic agreement with Tehran, saying any agreement with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime would “betray all those people who died.”
“So please, I beg you, do whatever you can to stop this deal,” he said.
He said that US President Trump had told the Iranians to “keep protesting, and we did, we trusted him.” But he added that fighting armed men is not possible, and Iranians can’t win against the Islamic regime without external support.
“America attacking Iran is the only hope we have right now,” said Hamidi. “We can’t fight this regime alone. Our people need foreign intervention.”
He also expressed support for Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, saying he’s “the best choice to make a transitional government.” He called on various opposition groups outside Iran to “come together and stop fighting each other.”
“You don’t know how hopeless our people are right now. I mean, I myself, I can’t eat. I can’t sleep,” he said.
“I can’t even cry about it because it’s so laughable to be born in a place like this, to have no future. But I hoped the people of my country would finally have a future after all this,” he added.
Hamidi described the purpose of making the video as giving meaning to his life and said he hoped Iranians would support one another. As the recording came to an end, he switched to Persian, saying, “We people of Iran are lonely people and have nobody, so please support each other. Long live Iran,” according to Iran International Report.
Hamidi reportedly took his own life after sharing the video.
Iran Steps Up Arrests
Hamidi’s death came as Iran stepped up its crackdown after recent protests, making more arrests while holding the door open to Washington for further nuclear negotiations. The arrests—including that of Javad Emam, the spokesperson for the main reformist coalition—came after Iranian and US officials held talks in Oman that both sides painted as positive.
