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An Iranian refugee who was held at gunpoint at a school before fleeing Iran during the 1979 revolution is seeking hope, democracy and prayer for his homeland as the US joins Israel in targeting Iran’s ruling clerical regime.
David Nasser, now an American pastor, spoke to Fox News Digital six days after the launch of Operation Epic Fury in Iran – an event that brought back painful memories for him even when he was 9 years old.
“As a child, my family and I were forced to flee Iran and flee with our lives,” recalls Nasser, President and CEO of David Nasser Outreach.
“We have found a safe harbor as the refugees have been granted political asylum here in the United States,” Nasser said, before explaining that his father was a senior officer in the Iranian military, meaning “his family became victims when the government fell.”
“One of the things I remember very well, realizing that nothing will ever be the same again, was at a school meeting at a military base – a soldier called out three names and mine was called out first,” he said.
David Nasser fled Iran at the age of 9 during the 1979 revolution.
“When I got to the front, the soldier threw away the paper, took out a gun from its holster and put it on my head and quoted the Quran. He told me that he was sent to make an example of me,” said Nasser.
The principal even intervened, but the message he conveyed was not ignored. Nasser remembers.
“They are killing everyone and anyone. They are trying to make an example of people like our family, and they are using fear,” he recalled hearing at the time.
“That’s one of my first memories of transition, but really I’m just completely scared for my life.”
Soon after, Nasser’s family hatched a plan to escape. They would pretend that Nasser’s mother needed emergency heart surgery in Switzerland and buy round-trip tickets to avoid arousing suspicion.
“We bought round-trip flight tickets as if we were going back and forth but not coming back, we were running for our lives,” he said.
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David Nasser remembers a school assembly at a military base where a soldier shouted his name and put a gun to his head.
At the airport, Nasser remembers holding his father’s hand tightly and hearing words he will never forget.
‘If they find out we’re escaping, they’ll kill us on the spot,’ said my father as his hands shook, holding mine. “The last time I was in Iran, I was a 9-year-old boy running for my life,” he said.
Now, watching the events unfolding in Iran from the safety of the US, Nasser said his heart goes out to the millions of desperate Iranians facing uncertainty.
“We see them – I see them, I hear them. My heart beats for them right now, I have hopes and prayers for their protection and provision,” said Nasser.
“Protection. I pray for them to be protected. I want to be part of their arrangement. If Iran changes from a democracy to a democracy,” he said, “I want to help rebuild.”
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Pastor David Nasser, fled Iran as a child and pleads for hope during the American military campaign in Iran.
“If this time really comes, and they go from democracy to democracy, I want to be part of the solution – for that 9-year-old boy that I was. I want to do this for him.”
Aside from the political changes, Nasser, who is also a Pastor who teaches at New Vision Baptist Church, said he takes comfort in what he described as a spiritual change that is already happening, which he called “the fastest growing church in the world right now, or the underground church in Iran.”
“We know that there are at least 4 million, at least 8 million Christians right now in Iran,” he said.
“In Iran, if you convert from Islam to Christianity, that would be a death sentence. If they enter your home and you are gathering for Christian worship, they will take title from your home, you will lose your home.”
“They are arrested. They are tortured. They are mocked, they are laughed at,” he added.
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“Above all, I came to America, and it was a land of opportunity, and I was given the gift of democracy, so I would like to see democracy in Iran, where all boys and girls are given what I got when I was able to escape.”
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