It is often said that the worst evils are committed not by monsters or sadists, but by people who are terrifyingly ordinary.United States “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth recently remarked with disarming composure in a media interview: “The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians who think they’re going to live.” Words spoken without hesitation, as if the prospect of death for millions were merely a strategic calculation.In southern Iran, before the sun rises over the coast, a familiar sound travels quietly through the villages: the sound of lenj boats preparing for the sea. Their weathered wooden hulls creak against the tide, sails unfold slowly, and fishermen pull their ropes in the stillness of the early morning. In the south, there is a saying: “A lenj that does not know the sea, will be broken by the first wave.” For the people of our coast, the lenj is more than a vessel. It is a symbol of life itself — of perseverance against the sea, against the storm, against a fate that has rarely been gentle.I am a son of that same south, where the sea has long taught its people how to stand against the waves. Yet on the mornin …
