Kari Lake, President Trump’s senior advisor for the U.S. Agency of Global Media which includes Voice of America, responded to reports of Iranians protesting in the streets and demanding a regime change from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to exiled King Reza Pahlavi.
Lake wrote on social media: “So many brave souls and courageous people in Iran are protesting and standing up. Please keep them in your prayers as they fight for their freedom.” She added, “Free the people of Iran.”
توییت کاری لیک رئیس رسانەهای دولتی آمریکا:
— Ali Javanmardi (@Javanmardi75) January 5, 2026
این غمانگیز است. بسیاری از افراد شجاع و دلیر در ایران در حال اعتراض و ایستادگی هستند.
لطفاً آنها را در دعاهایتان برای آزادیشان به خاطر بسپارید. https://t.co/nr1Im9Pfim
After the recent appointment of Iranian-born reporter Ali Javanmardi as head of VOA Persian, The Times of Israel published an op-ed on Saturday by Iranian-born human rights advocate and journalist Shabnam Assadollahi, who wrote: “The appointment of Ali Javanmardi as head of VOA Persian and other departments is not simply a misstep—it is a scandal that threatens the very soul of the outlet. This decision is a betrayal of the Iranian people who depend on VOA Persian for independent, regime-free journalism.”
Note: Assadollahi, who now lives in Ottawa where she helps newcomers and refugees resettle in Canada, was arrested by the Islamic Republic Guards Corps and imprisoned at age 16 for 18 months in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. (While she was incarcerated, her parents were told she had been executed.)
Assadollahi added: “VOA Persian was created to bypass Tehran’s propaganda machine, to provide Iranians with unvarnished truth without fear or interference. Its purpose was clarity, not calculation; honesty, not political convenience. Javanmardi’s appointment jeopardizes all of that.
“He is an untrusted figure, previously flagged in The Times of Israel blogs, yet now placed at the helm of a platform whose credibility depends entirely on integrity.
“This is a dangerous signal: a shift from independent reporting to one that may serve political agendas. It is not conjecture—this is a predictable consequence of compromised leadership.”
Note: During the first Trump administration, in 2019, The Intercept called the VOA reporter Javanmardi “a Trump administration PR machine.”
پرزیدنت ترامپ خطای راهبردی دولت اوباما را تکرار نمیکند؛ خطایی که در مقطعی حساس، هنگامی که مردم ایران در خیابانها خواهان تغییر بودند، بهجای حمایت از مطالبات مردم، به تعامل و توافق با جمهوری اسلامی تن داد. ترامپ در کنار مردم ایران ایستاده است. pic.twitter.com/WvqxhOpEet
— Ali Javanmardi (@Javanmardi75) January 4, 2026
On Saturday, as seen above, Javanmardi criticized the Obama administration (for “yielding to engagement and agreement with the Islamic Republic”) and praised Trump for “standing alongside the people of Iran.”
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