Transcription
What is up guys? We are accompanied with Mune Rahimi who has become the poster child for Iranian women celebrating. What has your experience been like going viral online?
Mune: Actually, this is my first time, by the way, getting like viral. And, um, this is kind of like strange, you know? When you get viral, you get like so many comments, good ones, bad ones. Like for me, especially for me, I'm getting like so much positive energy, good vibes, which just, uh, give me more energy to do like, keep up with what I'm, I'm doing right now. Yeah.
So, this is like a very great feeling.
Great. So, if you guys don't know what I'm talking about, Monet posted a video dancing to the YMCA song. So, here is that video. I absolutely love it. And so you were telling me that you were getting ready to go out, right?
Mune: Yes. Um, so this was the first night that, um, the Ayatollah Khamenei officially, like, all the news channels officially, they said that Khamenei got killed, uh, eliminated. And we, like, me and my friends, there were like a bunch of friends. I live in Vegas, so my friends were, uh, coming here to like celebrate. And we were so happy. And this is kind of odd because I had this in my mind to like do this, like Trump dance. Um, but that night something happened. Like, um, so I got an Uber and then I was waiting for Uber. And then Uber canceled on me. And then the next Uber that I was, uh, arriving was like 15 minutes. So I was thinking, okay, so I have time. Maybe just like record a video or something. Just like,
Just like, just record a video, not to like, having expectation of getting viral or something like that. Yeah. This huge, um, I just did it in like five minutes. So I just recorded that video. Sounds good. I posted it and then I went into the nightclub that I was supposed to.
And when I got out, oh my god, the time that I, I got out of the night, I was checking my phone. I was like, what's going on? That was that was insane.
Yeah, that's amazing though. And people love your energy. And so it sounds like you've been a supporter of Donald Trump. I'm just wondering because originally it seemed like you may be an Iranian woman living in Iran, but it sounds like you left. And so would you explain how come you left and what was it like to live as a woman in Iran?
Mune: Yeah. So first of all, talking about the women's situation in Iran, um, under this like dictatorship, which the main guy got eliminated. Thank God. Thanks to Donald Trump for that. Um, so they get, they're getting like oppressed every day. They cannot choose what to wear. They cannot choose what to eat, what to drink, what to do. Um, they, they were banned from like getting even to the stadiums. They couldn't like watch football, soccer, like in person.
That's insane. And then, um, it all started, I don't know if you heard of the revolution, Woman, Life, Freedom.
Okay. So it all, it all started like about five years ago, four years ago. And, um, it, it started with a girl who got killed by police forces in Iran just because she was showing like some bangs, like some hair in front of, uh, her head. That was insane. And then from that, this started from now. And, um, right now, women in Iran, they're fighting for their freedom. They're going to the street. They're like so brave. They know if they go to the street, there is a very high possibility that they cannot go back home. And they still do it. They still go to the street. There were like millions of people, millions of women, men, even kids, even 16-year-old kids. Like they went to the street. And, um, like about, like three, four weeks ago, in, uh, when like 2026 started, and so many of them got killed by the Islamic Republic. So many of them got arrested by the Islamic Republic. They took women to jail and then they tortured them. They raped to death and they burned them at the end, just to eliminate the proof, just to eliminate the proof that they did to the woman. And this is the situation that's happening. And it's even really more difficult for a woman. It's also difficult for everyone. There is like a, like a kid, like a two-year-old kid, three-year-old kid that, uh, they were in, like their parents' arms in a street. Um, the Islamic Republic forces, they shot those kids when they were in their parents' like arms. They killed. I don't know why.
I just, yeah. It's just like so huge. When I even when I'm talking about it, I get so emotional and I get so angry at the same time that that's just makes me like, I don't know, like it's, it's, it's a very, it's a ve, it's very, very, oh my god.
It's shocking.
It, it is. And when I think about it, it's just like paralyzes me to, you know. And the fact that the main guy that got eliminated, especially by President Donald Trump with the help of Benjamin Netanyahu, is just like so, uh, heartwarming to like people even inside of Iran. There's like widows. I don't know if you saw those widows. Uh, people, people were in the street. Same time, um, they were like, uh, bombing, like some organization, like some government organization. And by the way, they're not bombing like innocent people. I haven't heard any innocent people that got killed by those bombs, only government people. Um, so, uh, there were like, uh, bombs and sounds like a very, like a great, huge, loud sounds of like a bomb in the background. At the same time,
People were in the street dancing.
That's like a, that's like a most surreal, like scene that like anyone can see. Like they're even not afraid. They like trust President Donald Trump so much that even though like President Donald Trump told like the people of Iran, stay in a home, stay safe, do not come out, they come out to celebrate. That's like insane because they're so done with this government. They, more than 100,000 of the people got killed. Like more than 30, uh, 30, 350,000 people arrested. So many got executed in the past month. They were so done that they, they didn't care. Okay, there's bombing, but they're bombing like government, like Islamic Republic, like, um, people. So we're going to the street to celebrate there. That, that was like the most surreal thing that I ever seen.
And yeah, it's hard to understand as Americans, and we're not exposed to this danger every single day. And I mean, here people are able to go to the protest. I'm sure you've seen the way that the people protest here. I mean, going as far to threaten the life of the president because they believe that's their free speech. I mean, people have the right to protest here so much so that they believe that it's okay to block ICE agents, etc. I'm just wondering what do you think about the people on the left who are going out with their signs right now saying to stop the war in Iran?
Mune: So, I have a very, very strong opinion on this. And it's just not me. It's coming from the Iranian that lived inside. And by the way, I lived in Iran pretty much my whole life. Like I moved to the US about like two years ago. So,
Wow.
I still can, I, I still can talk about it as like an Iranian who can talk about the inside problems.
Yeah.
I were in the street. I used to be in the street when there were protests in Iran. I've seen like so many scenes in my eyes. I've seen like my friends getting tortured and raped. Like I've seen it in my eyes. So,
I know there are a lot of like lefties, pro-Palestines coming to my socials like, and saying, "Oh, you're not Iranian. You live in USA." Or I don't know, you're Zionist. Like you're Zionist puppets or something.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry to those who like call me this, but I mean, that's a big compliment, but I'm not.
Yeah.
So, um, I just want to say they need to shut their mouth because they didn't get to live in those situations that I live, that my people live, that the woman inside of Iran is living right now. So, they didn't experience any of those. They don't have any idea what it's like to live in a situation that you get oppressed every single moment of your life. You're getting killed, your loved ones getting killed. I don't know if you saw those videos of, uh, people that got killed, but it's like the most sad thing that anyone can see. So I just want to say, please shut your mouth to all lefties, to all pro-Palestine, please shut your mouth because you don't know anything. You don't get to decide what is good for us, what is bad for us. Um, and by the way, a month ago, there was a massacre happening in Iran, as I like just said, hundreds of thousands of people just died. You were silent. You didn't say anything. Why? Why are you talking right now? Is it because like Jews are involved? Is it because like Israel is involved? I don't know.
Wow. And, uh, the action speaks volumes right now. I don't know. I was going to show you. There's a lot of people that are celebrating all across the country right now in, uh, this is coming out of Times Square. Maybe you've seen some of these videos. Um, also in Los Angeles, just all around, people are celebrating. Would you still have family in Iran? It doesn't seem very easy to travel or visit them if you do?
Mune: No, it's not.
Um, I have some, like, some friends. Most of my friends, they already like moved to other countries, but I have like a little bit of like relatives and, um, people that I know in Iran. But yeah, it, this is like really difficult to travel. Like most of the people that go out of Iran, they're going to like, just like me, or other cases. I'm, I'm here in USA to study my PhD program. Other people might do different things, but in general, it's really difficult for them to come back. And this is like a huge risk for them. If they come back, they take this risk to like be not be able to like get out of the country or getting arrested, like getting like into the jails or something. So, very, very risky, very difficult. And yeah.
So it sounds like that guy had been in power probably your entire life. And, uh, I believe that one of the reasons why America is so happy and so happy to see somebody like you doing the YMCA dance is because we support Donald Trump and we don't want Islamic rule to spread. We don't want Sharia law in our country. Would you say that?
How do you think it's looking in America? I mean, there are some places that have a growing Islamic population. Uh, what do you think about the state of America?
Mune: I actually don't have a positive opinion on this one, especially that I really love USA. I really love this nation. Um, the freedom that this country gives me, which I said it like so many times, I wish for my people in Iran. That's why we like chanting for our king, uh, Reza to come back. But anyway, um, I think most of the people of USA, especially those people that, um, supporting, uh, President Donald Trump, they need to get educated well enough on this religion because this is not only a religion. This is a way that those people getting in power and get advantage of like situations, just like situations like freedom of speech. Um, they come to the street, they vandalize, they harm people, and they call it under the name of their God, or their religion, which is ridiculous. Um, so they need to get educated. Me, I live, as I said, like most of my life under this situation, like Sharia, and I know every single thing about it. Like if, if, like you put a person in front of me and then say, "Okay, explain." I can just like talk days of things that could happen to this nation. But all I want to say right now, as like a brief explanation, this is, this, this kind of feels like a virus, like a very bad virus. So, uh, people should get educated on this religion. And, um, there are so many off things about it. Like the main prophet of this religion married a six-year-old kid. And, um, they are allowed to like marry four women at the same time. Or that they say in their book, Quran, that anyone that is not in their religion, like anyone that is not Muslim, they call Kafir, which they can fight them. And the God, their God, allows them to like kill and eliminate those people. So it's, it's not, as I said, just get educated. Just decide that which way, I mean, I'm pretty much sure that if anyone gets educated on this religion well enough, they know what they should do. So,
Yeah.
What was it like living under Sharia law? Would you just need to literally stay inside the house all the time? You couldn't go to school? You couldn't, or how did they enforce? Would you have to wear a head covering?
Mune: Yeah. Um, so we could go outside. Um, we had like some rights, thanks to the before, uh, like 50, thanks to, to before, like this previous revolution. We had like some things left, uh, from, um, the previous king. But we, like kids starting the age six years, when they wanted to go to, like schools, they have to like cover their head, their body, everything in a very extreme way. Not just like covering it with like a shirt or something. No, very extreme way. And there are like police forces, um, in the street every day that if they see someone is not covering enough, they beat those women. They arrest those women, and they took them to like those places that they keep like women that they don't have like enough hijab. So, and also, uh, most of the rights are like, most of the women in Iran, when they get married, they need their husband's, um, they need their husband's, um, actually, uh, permission to get out of the country. So if a woman marries a man inside of Iran, and if the man does not like, like his wife to get out the country, they can just ban their wife. Like, isn't it like the most objectifying of a woman in history? Like,
Yeah. Yeah. I cannot believe that this is happening in 2026, you know? It sounds like something from, I don't know, the year 700 or something. And, uh, we do see that too, because these men flee the country and women get left behind. And so then we get a bunch of male young male refugees in our country, and the women are left behind. They come here to supposedly make money and they're sending money to who knows where they're sending it abroad. So yeah, it's just complete corruption in so many ways. And, uh, yeah, I don't want to see Sharia law ever in my lifetime, and we should never allow it in any American city because like you said, it's a virus and it's seems like it can spread so fast. And so hopefully we're shutting it down. And Mune, honestly, you have a future in this realm of conversation if that's something you're willing and wanting to tackle because of your experience, everything you've lived through. You're obviously passionate about it. And so we hope you keep fighting because you're a great voice for freedom.
Mune: Yes. And also I just wanted to mention something here which is really, really important for us, for all of us, like as Iranians right now, that these attacks are happening. The government, the Islamic Republic, people getting eliminated, and all the people are happy. Um, we're just chanting, all of us inside of Iran, outside of Iran, any country, any Iranian all around the world. We just call for one person, which is King Reza, to be our leader. If you see the videos of people in the street, while there are fires, there are like shot, like shotguns, snipers, machine guns, they're having the, um, King Reza Pahlavi pictures in their hand, and they're calling, uh, for him to be the leader of Iran. So this is very, very important to, uh, reach the voice of the Iranian to the world that we call for him. We want, uh, King Reza Pahlavi to be our leader, and we want this to be happen, um, in Iran.
I hope everything will be peaceful again and that women will be able to have their rights. So thank you, Monet. Make sure you guys follow her on X. It seems like you're the most active there, right? Mune Rothme, any other socials that you're active on?
Mune: I'm actually active on Instagram as well.
Okay.
Um, yeah, I just put a link, a Linktree link to, uh, my bio on X, which I linked my TikTok, Instagram, X, everything that people want, if they wanted to follow, I would be happy.
All right. Thanks, guys. Goodbye.