After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in the spring of 1978 , Monte traveled to Iran , where he taught English and participated in the movement to overthrow the Shah . He helped organize a teachers ' strike at his school in Tehran , and was in the vicinity of Jaleh Square when the Shah 's troops opened fire on protesters , killing and injuring many . Later , he found his way to Iranian Kurdistan , where Kurdish partisans made a deep impression on him . Years later , in southern Lebanon , he occasionally wore the uniform of the Kurdish peshmerga which he was given in Iranian Kurdistan
Jaleh Square
Black Friday (1978)
Monte Melkonian