Actor Mandana Karimi has been expressing her frustration with the current situation in India amid the US-Iran conflict. It all started after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint strike by the United States and Israel last week. The assassination of Ali Khamenei in missile strikes from the US and Israel has plunged the Middle East into a full-blown conflict. Born in Iran, Mandana has now taken to her Instagram account to clarify her interview statements to state that she will not move to Iran because she was banned there a decade ago.
What Mandana said
In the reel, Mandana spoke directly to the camera, saying her interview had been trending on social media and that she wanted to clarify some statements she had made in a recent interview. Mandana said that many media channels have been asking her for interviews. But too often, a few words are taken without context, conversations are cut short, and suddenly it becomes a dramatic headline. So she would want to be specific about what she says here on her account.
She said, “I have been banned from Iran 10 years ago. I cannot go back to Iran. Yes, I am leaving India; I am moving out of India, but I am not going back to Iran. I am upset at India because for the past few months, I didn’t get any support in India, and suddenly, when Khamenei is dead, when Israel and America’s name has come into the picture, everyone has an opinion in India. Everyone is on the streets, and they can actually mourn for Khamenei, which I couldn’t do it, and I still cannot do it.”
She went on to add, “Because of the security reasons, I have been stuck at one place, and none of my even closest friends have my location because of safety reason, and still I am trying to talk to the media to amplify the voices of Iranians the ones who are still getting killed. The last thing… I haven’t been acting in movies for the past six years. That was my decision to stop acting in movies. So many of you guys are saying why do you have an opinion? I have an opinion because I am Iranian. I know what is happening in my country, I was born and raised there and I left at the age of 18.”
In the caption, Mandana added, “But it should be obvious to anyone with basic understanding that I cannot return to Iran right now — there is war, there is danger, and I am banned. This is not complicated. But many prefer not to listen, because listening does not create sensational headlines. What matters is the truth about the Islamic Republic and why this regime must end. What matters is the voice of Iranians who are risking everything for freedom.”
About the US-Iran conflict
Following the US-Israel strikes, Iran launched a wave of strikes, using drones and missiles targeting multiple Arab countries in the region, as a retaliatory action by the Islamic Republic. Iran is observing 40 days of public mourning following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Along with Khamenei, several senior figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other military leadership were killed in the attack.
Meanwhile, massive explosions were reported on Thursday in Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas. Reports said the blasts occurred near Bandar-e Bahonar in the First Naval Zone of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Iran reported a fresh wave of strikes beginning around midnight. Loud explosions were heard in eastern Tehran, with shockwaves felt across parts of the capital, though the exact targets were not immediately clear.
