Iran International
Iran’s foreign ministry reiterated Monday that ongoing protests in the country are an internal issue and others should not use the situation for political ends.
Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani in his weekly briefing on Monday lashed out at the United States and other Western countries for proposing to expel Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
US Vice President Kamala Harris said in early November that Washington will try to remove Iran from the 45-member CSW over the government's denial of women's rights and its brutal crackdown on protests. Some European countries have joined the effort as part of their reaction to Iran's mistreatment of women.
The Islamic Republic is just starting a four-year term on the commission, which meets annually every March and aims to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Kanaani attributed all such attempts, including a UN Human Rights Council resolution passed last month calling for an investigation into Tehran’s violations during recent protests, as politically motivated actions by the West.
Iranian officials have been linking criticism of their human rights record to the stalled nuclear negotiations, trying to argue that any human rights censure is simply an attempt to put pressure on Tehran.
However, the unrest since mid-September and the deadly use of force against civilians has pushed the US, its European allies and Canada to unprecedented vocal criticism and limited new sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The fact that protests started following the brutal killing of a 22-year-old woman arrested by the notorious ‘morality police’, and the leading role of young women in the ensuing protests, galvanized support not only in the West but also in other countries such as Turkey.
International criticism further weakens the clerical regime’s status inside the country because it comes as yet another sign of its isolation that has hurt the economy and impoverished tens of millions of its citizens.
This is why Kanaani on Monday tried to argue that criticism of Islamic Republic’s human rights record has not weakened its foreign relations. He claimed that Iranian foreign ministry and other officials are visiting different countries and receiving the appropriate reception.
He told reporters, “You follow news events and developments and are aware of various diplomatic trips of foreign ministry officials at different levels,” and the contacts of various typed with foreign governments.
In particular, he mentioned the recent regional travels by deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani to Russia, Qatar and India as a sign that the regime is not internationally isolated.
Kanaani also defended Iran’s bilateral relations with China, that has come under the spotlight of critics after Beijing signed a $60-billion gas deal with Qatar, while Iran’s production is decreasing due to lack of investments and technology.
Both countries share the same underwater gas reserves in the Persian Gulf, where Qatar has been expanding production in cooperation with Western oil giants, while Iran has lagged suffering from isolation.
“Islamic Republic’s ties with China constitute a relationship between that is growing,” he said, but admitted that US sanctions do pose limits om Tehran’s ability to broaden interactions with other countries.
The Islamic Republic is holding more than a dozen French and other Western citizens on trumped-up charges of espionage or working against its security.
Macron in an interview with Le Parisien said that after the arrest of some French nationals “a lot of lies have been told.”
He stated that some French compatriots went to Iran for academic or other reasons adding that “there is nothing that justifies their imprisonment, it is unacceptable in our view,” assuring that French diplomacy would continue to “fight to free them.”
The Islamic Republic has detained at least seven French nationals on different charges including “spying for foreign intelligence services.”
Human rights organizations accuse Iran of a systematic policy of hostage taking over four decades from the earliest period of the Islamic republic after the ouster of the Shah, starting with the 1979-1981 siege at the US embassy in Tehran.
Tehran denies any policy of hostage taking and insists all foreigners are arrested and tried according to legal processes, while all such trials are held without transparency and due process. In addition, it has frequently shown readiness for prisoner exchanges and participated in swaps in the past.
In another part of his interview Macron said “I put very firm pressure on the Iranian president so that their rights are respected and that consular visits are possible. But above all, that we see them released as soon as possible.”
In early October, France accused the Iranian regime of “dictatorial practices” after Iran’s state TV aired the forced confessions of two French nationals arrested by the clerical-military government controlled by its 83-year-old anti-Western ruler, Ali Khamenei.
In the video of the forced confessions, one of the two French nationals - Cecile Kohler - said they were in Iran to “prepare the ground for the revolution and the overthrow of the regime of Islamic Iran.”
Iran’s state media are infamous for purported confessions by prisoners in politically charged cases. Such prisoners are held without due process of law and usually cannot choose their own defense attorney.
Deadly government violence against protesters in Iran has triggered a wave of tough criticism in the West in recent weeks. Germany and France, two powers are also signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran have adopted a strong stance against Tehran’s human rights violations.
Tensions mounted further between Tehran and Paris after Iran summoned the French ambassador November 30 over comments made by the country’s foreign minister in the National Assembly against the Islamic Republic.
Nicolas Roche was summoned to Iran’s Foreign Ministry over what Tehran called “unacceptable” remarks by Catherine Colonna which led to approval of a resolution in the assembly on human rights violations in Iran.
On November 28, the French National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution offering “support for the Iranian people” and condemning the restriction of women's freedoms and rights.
President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party deputy Hadrien Ghomi, himself a descendant of Iranian immigrants, said the 149 votes in favor of the motion in the National Assembly “sent a strong message” to the world. The resolution condemns in the "strongest terms the brutal and widespread repression" against "non-violent demonstrators".