Iran just sent Americans a letter, and it's a long one.
On September 29, Iran's letter to the American people was released. It’s a 26-page open letter addressed to "the honorable people of the United States of America” from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — with a special shout-out to scholars, students, and journalists.
It came out in English and Persian, and Guards spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi presented it at a press conference in Tehran.
The timing wasn't subtle. The letter was delivered five weeks before the November 3 midterms and one day after the U.S.-Israel war on Iran hit the seven-month mark.
That same day, Iran's foreign minister met with Qatari mediators to discuss ending the war.
"We share the same pain"
The letter is centered around one main idea: the American people and the American government are not the same.
It says Iranians and Americans are both victims of "corrupt politicians" in the White House, and tells readers, "We share the same pain."
It even takes a shot at explaining "Death to America," calling the chant a prayer against the "diabolical ruling elite" in the White House, not against ordinary people.
Then comes the ask. The letter reminds Americans that their votes put their government in power and that they can change it. "Now is the time," it says, "as the American political system is at its weakest."
It finishes by urging Americans to push Washington away from Israel, promising that the two nations can live together in "peaceful coexistence."
Mohebbi told reporters that Americans just don't know what's really happening in this war, and if they did, "they would definitely think differently." He also said the Guards will write back to Americans who respond and will publish a mailing address for them.
It starts where the friendship ended
If you read our history of the US-Iran friendship before 1953, you'll recognize where this letter begins.
It traces all the bad blood between the two countries back to 1953, when the CIA helped overthrow Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. The letter even calls him "the Americanophile prime minister."
Think about who's saying that. The military force of a government that has led "Death to America" chants for 47 years is admitting that the leader America toppled actually liked America. Iranians didn't start out hating the United States.
Washington gave them reasons to.
From there, the letter runs through the Shah's secret police, U.S. support for Iraq during its eight-year war on Iran, the 1988 downing of Iran Air Flight 655, the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, and the war happening now.
It says more than 3,600 Iranians have been killed since February 28, most of them civilians, including 400 children. The U.S. says it has lost 18 troops.
True half, false half
A lot of what the letter says about this war is real. The school strike in Minab, U.S. aircraft losses, and the debt and oil figures it cites all check out and mostly come from U.S. sources, according to an analysis by Treadstone 71, a firm that tracks Iranian influence campaigns.
We've covered much of the war's toll in our Iran war hub.
Other parts fall apart. The same analysis found that the letter's 9/11 aside doesn’t hold up.
And its boldest claim is flat-out false. The Guards say there is "not a single verifiable instance" of them committing violence against civilians.
This month, Amnesty International documented 377 deaths, 56 of them children, in Iran's 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests. It named 87 officials, including senior Guards commanders, who it says should be investigated for crimes against humanity.
A UN fact-finding mission found unlawful killings, torture, and forced disappearances during Iran's January 2026 crackdown.
There's another irony. The group telling Americans to vote their leaders out answers to a supreme leader no one voted for. In Iran, an unelected council screens every candidate before they can run.
This isn't Iran's first attempt to reach Americans directly, either. Since the war began, Iran-linked networks have been using AI to churn out Lego-style videos and memes in English.
As of Tuesday, the White House and the State Department hadn't responded to the letter.
People aren’t their governments
The letter gets one big thing right: people are not their governments. Ordinary Americans didn't start this war.
But that goes both ways. The Iranian people aren't the Revolutionary Guards. They're the students who marched in 2022. They're the families still looking for loved ones who disappeared in January.
They're the workers whose monthly minimum wage is now worth about $66 because Iran's currency has collapsed.
Americans don't need a foreign military telling them how to vote. What's worth holding onto is what the letter admits almost by accident: Iranians once saw America as a friend.
Ordinary people forged that friendship, and governments broke it. If it ever comes back, ordinary people will have to rebuild it.
Iran’s letter to the American people
Follow our ongoing coverage in the Iran war content hub.
