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A Canadian woman’s puff of a cigarette turned her into a powerful symbol of resistance to Iran’s brutal crackdown on dissent, drawing global attention.
A video that quickly gained attention online shows the woman claiming to be an Iranian refugee using a lighter to set fire to a photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As the image burned, she lit a cigarette with the flame, took a drag, and let the smoldering remnants fall to the floor.
Whether it was a carefully planned act or a spontaneous outburst of defiance — a topic that has generated much discussion — the video has become a defining image of the ongoing protests in Iran. The demonstrations are driven by the Islamic Republic’s struggling economy and US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering new military action against the country.
The powerful gesture has transcended the digital realm, inspiring regime opponents around the world, from Israel to Germany and Switzerland, to burn the ayatollah’s images in kind.
In the 34-second shot, many cross-platforms like X, Instagram and Reddit Seeing one man defy a host of theocratic laws and norms in a fascinating act of autonomy. Three years after “Women, Life, Freedom” protested against the regime’s requirement to wear a headscarf, she did not wear one.
She burned an effigy of Iran’s supreme leader, a crime punishable by death in the Islamic republic. Her curls cascaded down – another violation in the eyes of the Iranian government. She lit a cigarette with a flame – a move considered impolite in Iran.
In those few seconds, she was transmitted and amplified a million times, and walked into history.
2026, social media It is the central battlefield for conflicting narrative control. protester Those in Iran say the riots are a demonstration of the regime’s limits and capabilities. Iran has long viewed it as a conspiracy by outsiders such as the United States and Iran. Israel Destabilize the Islamic Republic.
Both sides are competing to tell this timeless story.
Iranian state media has announced a wave of arrests by authorities targeting so-called “terrorists” and is apparently also looking for Starlink satellite internet dishes, the only way to transmit videos and images to the internet. Evidence emerged Thursday that the regime’s bloody crackdown, which activists said has killed at least 2,615 people, has partly silenced dissent. The figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protests or riots in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos of the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
Social media has been flooded with photos of the Iranian leader showing people lighting up cigarettes. “Smoke if you have it. #Iran”, posted republican United States Senator. Tim Sheehy of Montana.
In an era of artificial intelligence, misinformation, and disinformation, we have good reason to question emotionally and politically charged images. So when “Cigarette Girl” appeared online this month, many users did just that.
For example, it’s unclear whether she lit it inside Iran or somewhere with free speech protections in a show of solidarity. Some people found a background that seemed to be Canada. She confirmed this in the interview. But does her collar line up correctly? Are the flames real? Would a real woman let her hair be so close to fire?
Many people wonder: Is “Cigarette Girl” an example of “psychological warfare”? This is not clear either. It’s a feature of warfare and statecraft as old as human conflict, in which images or sounds are deliberately spread by those with a stake in the outcome. There are many examples of this throughout history, from false radio broadcasts by the Allies during World War II to nuclear missile parades during the Cold War.
The US military doesn’t even hide this. FT Psychological Action Group 4. Bragg, North Carolina, released a recruiting video last year called “Ghost in the Machine 2” that was filled with “PSYWAR” references. Gaza The war was characterized by a fierce battle of optics: Hamas Forcing the Israeli hostages to publicly smile and pose before being released, Israel also broadcast their joyful reunions with family and friends.
Whatever the answer, the Iranian woman’s actions were symbolic enough to spread quickly around the world on social media and inspire people to follow suit at real-life protests.
The woman did not respond to repeated attempts by The Associated Press to identify her. But she has spoken to other media outlets, and the AP confirmed the authenticity of those interviews.
On “The
For security reasons, she is not allowed to have her real name published. She said it had been a harrowing journey from Iranian dissident, where she said she was arrested and tortured, to safety. turkey. She told The Objective that she obtained a Canadian student visa there. Now in her twenties, she says she has refugee status and lives in Toronto.
She filmed a video dubbed “Cigarette Girl” there on Jan. 7, a day after the Iranian regime imposed a near-total Internet blockade.
“I just want to tell my friends that my heart, my soul is with them,” she said in an interview with India-affiliated network CNN-News18.
In the interview, the woman said she was first arrested when she was 17, during the “Bloody November” protests of 2019 that erupted after Trump withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and imposed tough sanctions.
“I am strongly opposed to the Islamic regime,” she told The Objective. Security forces “arrested me with Tasers and batons. I spent a night in a detention center and my family didn’t know where I was or what happened to me.” Her family eventually secured her release by providing bail pay slips. “I was under surveillance from that moment on.”
In 2022, during the protests following Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, she said she participated in a YouTube show opposing the mandatory hijab and began receiving threatening calls from blocked numbers. In 2024, after the President of Iran Ibrahim Lacey She died in a helicopter crash, shared her story and was arrested at her home in Isfahan.
The woman said she was questioned and “severely humiliated and physically abused”. She was then released on high bail without any explanation. She fled to Türkiye and embarked on a journey to Canada that would ultimately lead to her notoriety.
“All my family is still in Iran and I haven’t heard from them for several days,” she said in an interview published on Tuesday. “I’m really worried that the Islamic regime might attack them.”