Behind the Headlines/October 1

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines we will look at:

What are the consequences of the condemnations of Islamic republic at the UN for Iran?

The possible confrontation between US and Iran in the Persian Gulf;

Continuation of human rights abuses in Iran;

And other news of the Islamic Republic;

Our guests tonight to discuss these topics are journalist Camellia Entekhabifard, and human rights activists Afshin Afshinjam and Hassan Nayeb Hashem.

Camellia Entekhabifard:

Mr. Zarif is still in New York and talking to the media and foreign leaders andpoliticians, mainly from the European countries.

I think the main aim of the Iranian delegation at this year’s UN gathering was to rally an international support against the imposition of the US oil and gas sanctions on Iran, which starts on November 4. Iran is trying to stop these sanctions or at least delay them.

It is true that many countries have criticised the US departure from the nuclear deal, but at the same time with the issue of Iran’s ballistic missiles, no country could have defended Iran’s actions in the region.

You cannot ask for support for one issue from the international community whileother contentious issues are related to it.

It is not only Iran’s military presence in Syria and Yemen that has led to the current sanction by US. Iran’s regime simply does not respect the peace and security of its neighbours and thAfshin-jamuntries by interfering in their internal affairs.

Afshin Afshinjam:

The Iranian delegation at the UN, led by Rouhani, had hoped to hold a meeting with president Trump or Mike Pompeo to discuss the oil and gas and SWIFT sanctions, which are the life line of the regime.

They were hoping to find a new diplomatic channel for this through the European Union and at the same time save the nuclear deal.

However, Iran’s ambassador to France has left his post after the foiled terrorist attempt on the Mujaheddin’s gathering in Paris and the relations between Tehran and the European capitals are not as rosy as they may seem to be.

I believe the Iran situation is going from bad to worse in the coming days and Europe will also decide to side with US policy on the regime.

Hassan Nayeb Hashem:

The UN Human Rights Council discussed the issues of Syria, Yemen and Israel in its sessions and naturally the Islamic republic regime’s representative was present at the meetings where we raised the issue of human rights violations in Iran.

You are aware that the US and Saudi Arabia have also been accused of war crimes in Yemen and the Houthis have also massacred many civilians.

We have argued that Iran’s missiles supplied to the Houthis are causing death and destruction and the Iranian regime is also to be blamed for war crimes in Yemen.

However, the regime’s representatives at the meeting did not like our presence and disrupted our speech and insulted us. All in all, the Iranian regime does not have any credibility in the UN Human Rights Counicl and come March, the council will issue a damning resolution on the continuation of human rights violations in Iran.