Organization for Support of the Surviving Families of the Unsung Heroes

Members of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces
and
A Letter to My Countrymen: The Pain of Exile Renews Itself with the Loss of Ambassador

Fereydoun Hoveyda and Mrs. Shalaa Samii

November 9th, 2006

To Beloved Iranians in Oppression and Exile:

It is not long ago that I was speaking with my friend, Mark Dankof, the American Lutheran pastor, writer, and radio broadcaster. Our conversation concerned the future of Iran, and the pain of exile for those of the Persian Nation who now reside elsewhere in the world, or at home under the iron-fisted rule of the IRI regime.

Mr. Dankof told me he had discovered a quotation from an 11th century Pope of the Roman Catholic church, Gregory VII (1020-85), which must certainly apply to the pain of the expatriates of my Beloved People. It is as follows: "I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile."

These words from a man of the 11th century, representing a religion other than my own, speak to my heart now as I contemplate the latest heart wrenching losses to the Persian Nation in the passing of Ambassador Fereydoun Hoveyda, and Mrs. Shalaa Samii. As one who knows the pain of losing my beloved Mother over 2 1/2 years ago in an adopted homeland, I extend my love and my own identification with the fellowship of suffering to the family of Ambassador Hoveyda, and the children of my dear friend Shalaa, Ali and Golnaz.

These passings remind me of my mother's final wish, that I would one day be able to insure her final resting place in Tehran next to my father, General Ali Neshat, Commander of the Imperial Guard of His Majesty Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. I am overcome with emotion now as I contemplate the fact that this may never be possible, and that it may well be that my own exile of 28 years may in a brief instant evolve into a lifetime outside my beloved homeland. Will this be the fate of the other exilic figures of the Persian Nation, and their children and grandchildren? What will become of us in these long sun less days and endless nights of perpetual darkness? Will the light of dawn ever arrive for us, and Iran again?

Only God and the ongoing unveiling of world history know the answer to this question. But on this dark night in Los Angeles in the United States, I again cry out on behalf of my people and their desire for deliverance and restoration. And on behalf of my people, and the now-stilled voices of my beloved Father and Mother, brothers Amir Abbas and Fereydoun Hoveyda, and Mrs.Shalaa Samii, I pledge to the depths of my eternal soul before the Great God of the Universe, Creation, and History that my love for Iran will never die, and that I and the Persian Patriots of Sarbazan, dedicated to the memory of the martyrs of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, will rededicate ourselves to the reclamation of our Land, the defeat of the dark evil that has enshrouded our Land since 1979, and the Day when the Spirit of King Cyrus the Great and the Divine Favor that rests upon him, again resides in our Nation's capitol and in the heart of every Persian who awaits the dawning of a new day---the re-establishment of the good and divine, the comprehensive eradication of every form of evil, and the re-institution of justice as the foundation of the rule of our Nation as it was 2500 years ago.

We can, we must, we will prevail.

Payendeh Iran,

Shirin Neshat
Sarbazan
Los Angeles, CA
United States of America