In a tragic incident on June 22, 2025, Parnia Abbasi, a 23-year-old poet and English teacher, lost her life when an Israeli missile struck her apartment in Tehran. The catastrophe claimed the lives of her family as well. Abbasi had penned a haunting final poem which reads:
In a thousand places,
I come to an end.
I burn
I become a fading star
that in your sky
turns to smoke.
The collapse of the building made retrieving her body extremely difficult. This incident raises poignant questions about international advocacy, especially among those who identify as feminists. Iranian academic and politician Zahra Rahnavard described these losses as “civilian victims of…Israel’s woman-killing, child-killing regime.”
Amid public outcry, one wonders if high-profile human rights activists and celebrities will rally in Abbasi’s memory, similar to how Meghan Markle promoted the ‘Woman. Life. Freedom.’ movement. It remains uncertain whether figures like Juliette Binoche will engage personally, even as they typically advocate for women’s issues—especially when the source of oppression is linked to Western forces.
Furthermore, many prominent feminists in the West have yet to vocalize their support for victims in Gaza or those affected by Israeli military actions. The complex dynamics of international politics reveal that the joint Israeli-U.S. agenda is multi-faceted, involving not only military force but also media narratives that fabricate consent for military interventions. These narratives often obscure the implications of such actions, as evidenced by false claims regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and exaggerated fears surrounding Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
This situation illustrates a broader issue where genuine efforts to uplift women are sometimes co-opted into justifying illegal invasions, a phenomenon not unique to Iran in the realm of so-called imperial feminism. The exploitation of feminist ideologies to support military goals raises critical ethical questions about the intersection of feminism and international politics, particularly when the consequences disproportionately affect women and children in conflict zones.
