LONDON — A woman in Canada has become a global symbol of defiance against Iran’s crackdown on dissent with a video showing her lighting a cigarette with the flame from a burning photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s highest cleric.
Viral Video Sparks Protests
The video, which has gone viral in recent days, shows the woman, who identified herself as an Iranian refugee, setting fire to a photo of Khamenei. She then uses the flame to light a cigarette, taking a drag before letting the remains of the image fall to the pavement.
Whether staged or spontaneous, the video has become a defining image of protests against the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy, as the United States considers military action in the country again.
Symbolism and Spread
The gesture has spread from social media to real-life protests, with opponents of the regime lighting cigarettes on photos of the ayatollah in countries including Israel, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States.
In the 34 seconds of footage, the woman defies several of the theocracy’s laws and norms. She wears no hijab, three years after the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests against the regime’s required headscarves. Burning an image of Iran’s supreme leader is a crime punishable by death in the Islamic republic, and lighting a cigarette is considered immodest.
Information Warfare and Disinformation
In 2026, social media is a central battleground for narrative control over conflicts. Protesters in Iran say the unrest is a demonstration against the regime’s strictures and competence, while Iran casts it as a plot by outsiders like the United States and Israel to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
Iranian state media has announced waves of arrests, targeting those it calls “terrorists” and searching for Starlink satellite internet dishes, the primary means of getting videos and images to the internet. Activists report at least 2,615 people have been killed in the crackdown, a figure that dwarfs the death toll from any other recent unrest in Iran and recalls the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Questions of Authenticity
The authenticity of the video has been questioned, with some wondering if it was filmed inside Iran or elsewhere as a show of solidarity. Concerns were raised about the background and the realism of the flame. Some have speculated it could be an example of “psyops,” a deliberate attempt to influence public opinion.
The U.S. Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group even released a recruitment video last year referencing “PSYWAR.” The Gaza war also featured a battle of optics, with Hamas forcing Israeli hostages to pose for photos and Israel broadcasting reunions with families.
The Woman Behind the Image
The woman, who goes by the screen name Morticia Addams on X, has spoken to other outlets but did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. She described a harrowing journey from being a dissident in Iran, where she says she was arrested and abused, to obtaining refugee status in Canada.
She said she was first arrested at 17 during the “bloody November” protests of 2019, after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal. She was arrested again in 2024 after sharing her story following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, and fled to Turkey before reaching Canada.
“All my family members are still in Iran, and I haven’t heard from them in a few days,” she said in a recent interview. “I’m truly worried that the Islamic regime might attack them.”
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