The women’s rights campaigner had tough talk for the U.S. and other democracies over their tepid reactions to the poisoning of Iranian schoolgirls.
Iranian opposition figure Masih Alinejad panned the White House’s response to the widespread poisoning of schoolgirls across Iran, saying last week that Washington’s request for Tehran to investigate “means that you’re asking criminals to investigate their own crimes.”
Alinejad, a prominent women’s rights campaigner, made the comments last week to an audience on the sidelines of an annual U.N. women’s rights summit, which included U.S. and European diplomats. Her comments reflect her no-holds-barred campaign to get Western countries aligned with stronger efforts to counter the Iranian regime in the wake of the widespread protests that erupted starting last year. No small part of this effort has involved calling out the White House.
Over the past several months, hundreds of girls at schools across Iran have fallen ill in apparent poison-gas attacks in what human-rights groups have described as a campaign against education for girls. A recent report by the Media Line found that over 1,000 girls at more than 26 schools have been injured in the attacks, which began in November of last year but became the focus of international attention this month. The Iranian authorities said earlier this month that over 50 schools have been targeted. More recently, Iranian law enforcement has arrested over 100 alleged culprits.
“Recently, I asked the leaders of democratic countries to have an open investigation on this chemical attack on the schoolgirls. In response I heard from John Kirby from the United States of America asking the Islamic Republic to do an investigation,” she said. “It means that you’re asking criminals to investigate their own crimes.” Alinejad said that, instead, an independent U.N. probe should look into the matter, adding that the “Islamic Republic systematically kills people” and covers up its crimes.
Kirby, the White House national-security communications coordinator, responded on March 2 to reports that the Iranian government is investigating, calling that “the right course of action.” A National Security Council spokesperson responded to National Review’s questions about Alinejad’s criticism by pointing out that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre backed exactly such a U.N. investigation on March 7. Alinejad had initially slammed Kirby’s response during a CNN appearance on March 3, though it’s not clear whether those comments prompted Jean-Pierre’s comment.
Either way, Alinejad’s continued criticism of the White House last Friday is worth noting. The prominent activist has been outspoken in her criticism of democracies that she believes aren’t acting decisively enough to support the anti-regime protests that erupted in response to the murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old taken into custody over the way she wore a hijab.
That was not the first time that Alinejad spoke out against the Biden administration for failing to move swiftly enough on an Iran-related matter.
After the FBI dismantled a 2021 Iranian kidnapping plot against her that sought to take her from her home in Brooklyn to Venezuela by boat — likely to force her return to Iran to face a sham trial and execution — Alinejad said in an interview with CNN that, while the FBI did a great job, the administration had not yet “taken strong action.”
Eventually, she was granted a meeting with Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national-security adviser, after which she tweeted that she was disappointed with the administration’s “tepid response to the regime’s plot to kidnap me.”
After a second plot targeting Alinejad was revealed, she again hit the White House for continuing to hold discussions with the Iranian regime. She said that, while she wants to meet Biden to thank him for protecting her, she also wants to urge him to take a tougher stance toward Iran.
Throughout her remarks at last week’s event, hosted by the watchdog group U.N. Watch, she repeatedly took aim at Western countries for not going further to support the anti-regime protesters.
She began her remarks imploring Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador to the U.N., who had just delivered remarks predicting the collapse of the Iranian regime within his lifetime, to pressure Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on his country’s terrorism list. “You can pass this message to him. Thank you,” she said, leading to applause from people in the audience.
Alinejad also took a swipe at other Western ambassadors, saying that their governments should cut their ties with the Iranian regime — and that the governments who supported Tehran’s election to the Commission on the Status of Women in 2021 should come clean about their votes. Iran won election to that panel, which is the U.N.’s foremost women’s rights body, through a blind ballot. Based on various countries’ public statements about their votes, U.N. Watch concluded that the Iranian delegation received support from several Western democracies. After the demonstrations began last fall, Iran was expelled from the commission in a U.S.-led push.
“I know that Swedish diplomats are here. I know that United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, many other democratic countries have representatives are here, right next to the United Nations,” Alinejad said.
She added that those countries “must be accountable and take the lead,” starting with securing Iran’s expulsion from the U.N. Alinejad warned that failing to counter the regime now would enable continued threats across the world, including international terrorism.
“There is a famous thing here in America that what happened in Vegas, is gonna stay in Vegas, but believe me what happens in the Middle East is not going to stay there. The Islamic Republic is deadlier than coronavirus, and they will infect the rest of the world.”