Ali Hafizi was a fifth-grade student.
He dreamed of becoming a pilot and serving Iran. But he reached the skies before he could reach his dream.
His mother, with remarkable dignity and faith, said:
“America thought that by grieving mothers and families, the Iranian nation would retreat. But it was mistaken. With all our being, we stand by Iran and by our children.”
Ali’s dream belonged to the sky: the dream of a child who wanted to fly, to serve, and to grow into a future larger than himself. War did not allow him to become the pilot he imagined. It took him from the classroom before that dream could take form.
But his mother’s words remain beside his name: grief did not break her faith, and the loss of her son did not make her step back from the country he had wanted to serve.