Elnaaz Norouzi on Khamenei assassination: ‘A dictator has been taken out’

Amid the growing unrest IranianGerman actor Elnaaz Norouzi speaks exclusively with midday about the global turmoil her stance on assassination and the deep emotional impact of the conflict Iranrsquos Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was reportedly assassinated on February 28 in a joint strike by the US and Israel dramatically escalating tensions across West Asia In response Iran launched retaliatory attacks on US bases in the region intensifying the crisisExcerpts from the interviewYou recently mentioned how it is unsafe for you to go back to IranThe freedom of speech never really existed in Iran and that is why we have so many political prisoners in Iran as well Thousands of innocent people have been imprisoned tortured and raped because they have spoken against the government Women have almost no rights in Iran Yoursquore not allowed in stadiums and a womanrsquos statement in court is half as worth of what a man says Women arenrsquot allowed to travel without the husbandrsquos permission and one cannot ask for a divorce easilyDo you think the USIsrael strikes to eliminate Khamenei were fairAs an Iranian born in Iran who has lived under his real leadership and has family and friends living under his leadership I will tell you that a dictator has been taken outhellip a terrorist who has taken many peoplersquos lives has been taken outhellip a person who has chanted and has made millions of Iranians chant death to America for 47 years has been taken outhellip a person whorsquos been building nuclear bombs in hiding This is a big win for the whole world The world doesnrsquot understand it but we understand because wersquove lived with it and we know it Unfortunately people just look at it through one lens and that is ldquoOh he was a religious leaderrdquo But being a religious leader doesnrsquot make you right when you do wrongWhat is your take on Iran being an Islamicstate vs a democracy debateI receive a lot of death threats and many people disagree with me but that brings us back to freedom of speech and the idea of live and let live Thatrsquos all the Iranian people are asking for We want to live the way we choose and we are okay with letting others live as they wish The problem is that a narrow mindset is forcing everyone to follow one way of life This is not against religion I have many Muslim friends whom I love and respect Everyone simply wants equal respect and the freedom to decide for themselvesDo you think women will feel free under Mojtaba Khameneirsquos leadershipMojtaba the son of Ali Khamenei is another person who was not elected by the Iranian people He supports the same barbaric thoughts that his father had Iranians would like to choose their leader We donrsquot want supreme leaders and certainly not someone we havenrsquot chosen In a democratic world in 2026 people of a country of over 90 million should be deciding for themselves and they want the crown prince Reza Pahlavi backWhere do you think is the end to this conflictThe end of the wars in the Middle East will come with the end of the Islamic Republic of Iran This regime has created unrest across the region by funding proxies like Hamas Hezbollah and the Houthis with billions taken from Iranrsquos oil and tax money Iranians donrsquot benefit from their own resources When people protested against high gas prices in 2019 it was because wealth was being diverted to Hamas So once you remove the Islamic Republic of Iran this regime the Ayatollahs once you remove the clerics there will be peace all over the Middle East because all the funding is going to be gone and all of those terrorist groups will crumble because theyrsquoll not have any resources