A student, Iman Dashti, put Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on the spot during a town hall at the University of Michigan.
Dashti recounted the horror his family had been through in Iran, and then nailed El-Sayed over the past positions he had taken. You can see Dashti's passion and his concern for what's happening to his family and others.
Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed responds to a visibly upset Iranian-American student at the University of Michigan, telling him that U.S. military interventions, sanctions, and regime-change wars often advance corporate interests and harm civilians, rather than promote… pic.twitter.com/NwUlCJQVsP
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) September 23, 2026
"My cousin was hunted in the streets of Iran by the IRGC because her hijab wasn't on right," Dashti said. He also alleged that her uncle was sentenced to death and received 50 lashes under the Iranian government.
Dashti then confronted El-Sayed over leaked audio from earlier this year in which he said he did not want to comment on the death of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because "there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today."
"That silence had a gaping hole in our community," Dashti told El-Sayed Wednesday.
Dashti asked El-Sayed if he regretted his silence, if he would renounce people supporting Khamenei, and if he stood "unequivocally against the IRGC" and the Iranian regime.
El-Sayed's answer was atrocious.
First, he never even answered the question about his comments regarding Khamenei and the people in "Dearborn who are sad today." He just completely blew off that passionate kid's question. He never condemned Khamenei or the IRGC, which was disgraceful. That should be a baseline requirement — that you can condemn such evil — in order to serve in the United States Senate.
What he did do was answer the question he wanted to answer — a question which was not really asked — about how we have too often acted as "the world's policeman," and we don't want to jump into regime change. D'uh. That, of course, is all true. He wanted to give the no-harm, no-foul answer he thought would appeal to the other people in the audience. He claimed he supported democratic movements.
But where is the condemnation of what the kid is talking about? Where is the condemnation of Iran for the things they've done to the United States and their neighbors in the region? He's all about attacking Israel, but notice not so much when it comes to Iran here. He doesn't address Iran's terrorism or its nuclear threat, which was why we acted, not for "regime change," although obviously we want the Iranian people to overthrow the regime and we're hoping our actions will lead to that. Unfortunately, the regime tends to kill them when they try. His response basically comes across as more of a criticism of the U.S. response than any criticism of Iran.
It was funny that Dropsite, a leftist outlet, posted it, thinking it made El-Sayed look good, when it made him look so bad.
People noticed.
Alas, the question was not about U.S. military interventions, sanctions, or regime-change wars. It was whether he would condemn the regime. https://t.co/2u1EoZrtoS
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) September 24, 2026
This is painful to watch. @AbdulElSayed tap dances for 2 minutes but won’t say he supports the Iranian people against their regime. He won’t take back his decision not to offend supporters who held vigils for Khamenei after he was killed in the opening of the war. https://t.co/6T13LZYcru
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) September 24, 2026
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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