Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part column. "Iran Past, Present, and Future: A Conversation with Marziyeh Amirizadeh, Part 1" can be read here.

This week, January 16, marks the anniversary of the day in 1979 when Iran's Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was forced to flee Iran with his family, including his then-teenage son and Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. This year, the date will be marked at the height of protests that have been taking place for nearly three weeks, the largest and most widespread protests in Iran against the Islamic Republic. Iranians across Iran and expatriates around the world are more hopeful and inspired by these protests than ever before. They believe that the regime is on its last legs and are waiting for the day that the protests turn into celebrations. 

Marziyeh Amirizadeh was born in Iran just before the Islamic Revolution. She grew up there knowing only the repression of radical Islam, and especially as a girl and young woman, suffering the institutional misogyny that is Islamic doctrine, even impacting her relationships in her own family. Throughout her life, she always sought truth, but in the Islam with which she was indoctrinated, she only found lies. In 1999, she had a profound interaction with Jesus through a dream and became a Christian. She was responsible for distributing 20,000 Bibles throughout Iran. In 2009, she was arrested and sentenced to death for the "crime" of "apostasy," and spent nine months in Iran's notorious Evin Prison before being released due to international pressure. She has written two books and lectures widely about her story, faith, and vision for Iran and the future. 

In January 2023, I was introduced to her and hosted her for the first time of several on the "Inspiration from Zion" podcast. We have become friends and partners in a remarkable........

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