Christiane Amanpour of CNN postponed an interview with the Iranian president when he requested that she don a hijab during public turmoil in Tehran.
Wednesday, the Chief International Anchor, age 64, was scheduled to interview President Ebrahim Raisi, age 61, at the United Nations in New York when he requested she wear a headscarf.
Amanpour, who is Iranian and was raised in Tehran, denied the request, remarking on Instagram, “We are in New York, where there is no rule or tradition respecting headscarves.” I mentioned that none of the prior Iranian presidents I’ve interviewed outside of Iran had requested this.
She did not wear a headscarf during her interview with former President Hassan Rouhani. However, the journalist does wear one while reporting inside Iran since ‘else you couldn’t operate as a journalist,’ she explained on CNN’s New Day.
Iran has required all women, even tourists, to wear a headscarf since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Christiane Amanpour, 64, announced on Instagram that she canceled an interview with the Iranian president after he ordered her to wear a hijab during social disturbances in Tehran.
Amanpour, who is Iranian and was born and raised in Tehran, denied the request, remarking on Instagram, “We are in New York, where there is no rule or tradition respecting headscarves.”
The veteran broadcaster stated that an assistant asked her to fulfill Raisi’s request forty minutes after the interview was scheduled to begin, citing the ‘holy months of Muharram and Safar’ (pictured: Raisi at the UNGA on September 21)
An assistant reportedly asked the seasoned presenter to fulfill Raisi’s request 40 minutes after the interview was scheduled to begin, citing the ‘holy months of Muharram and Safar’
“The assistant made it obvious that the interview would not take place until I wore a headscarf.” Amanpour stated on Instagram that he claimed it was “a matter of respect” and referenced to “the situation in Iran,” alluding to the protests sweeping the country.
She stated, “I reiterated that I could not agree to this unique and unanticipated condition.” ‘And so we walked away.’
Raisi was to be interviewed on American soil for the first time. He was in New York for the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Amanpour was scheduled to speak with the Iranian president on the escalating tensions in Tehran, where women are burning their hijabs following the 22-year-death. old’s
When Mahsa Amini died after being imprisoned by the Islamic Republic’s morality police for wearing “inappropriate clothes,” riots broke out.
She interviewed former President Hassan Rouhani without a headscarf previously.
Police claimed she died of a heart attack and had not been mistreated, despite reports by specialists that she had been badly battered.
In an open defiance to the totalitarian leadership, women on the streets have removed the mandatory headscarves, while others have released films of them breaking the harsh clothing restrictions.
As violence engulfs the republic, at least 10 individuals have been slain.
Today, the United States placed penalties on the Iranian morality police, accusing them of brutality and abuse against Iranian women as well as the violation of the rights of nonviolent Iranian protestors.
The US Treasury also said that sanctions had been placed on the chiefs of the Iranian army’s ground forces and morality police, as well as on Iran’s intelligence minister.
Netblocks, an organization that monitors internet access, described Thursday’s restrictions as the strictest since 2019 in an effort to prevent the spread of protests. Iran’s largest telecom provider largely shut down mobile internet access for the second time on Thursday.
According to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw, three protesters were killed on Wednesday, increasing the total number of protest-related deaths to ten.
An anchor on Iran’s state television speculated on Thursday that the dead toll from the major rallies could reach 17 without elaborating on his reasoning.
“Unfortunately, 17 persons including police officers who were present at the scene of these events perished,” the Iranian anchor reported, adding that official data would be provided later.
Mahsa Amini, 22 years old, from the Iranian province of Kurdistan, went into a coma and died while being held by the morality police alongside other women. It is reported that she was murdered by violent beatings.
In solidarity with Mahsa Amini, more Iranian women are recording themselves chopping off their hair and burning their hijabs.
A woman holds a handful of her newly-shaved hair during a protest against the death of Amini in front of the Iranian Consulate.
People struggle with police during a demonstration in Tehran following the killing of Amini.
J.K. Rowling has previously commended Iranian women who are protesting Iran’s draconian clothing code.
While demonstrators tore down posters of the Supreme Leader, an elderly woman removed her hijab and screamed “Death to Khamenei.”
In footage from Sari, the provincial capital of northern Mazandaran, activists can be seen tearing down posters of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Khamenei from a municipal building.
At least three Shno residents, including Amin Marafti, 16, Milan Haghigi, 21, and Sadruddin Litani, 27, were shot dead by government authorities during the city’s demonstrations, Hengaw stated in a statement.
“I’m just glancing out the window of my apartment. Ashskan, a resident of Tajrish in the heart of Tehran’s city, told MailOnline, “It’s utter mayhem.”
“[The cops] shot tear gas here, a residential area where children reside. ‘There is a great deal of smoke, and people are suffocating,’ he said.
The majority of demonstrators are women without head coverings. They’re in conflict with the police. Sometimes the police chase the people, and sometimes the people chase the cops,’ he continued.
As violent protests continued to erupt around Iran, a defiant elderly removed her hijab and screamed “death to Khamenei,” while protestors tore down posters of him while screaming “death to the dictator”
It’s quite crowded. They released tear gas in our parking lot. They are also yelling “Death to the dictator.” Additionally, I heard gunfire,’ he continued.
Thursday, Iran disabled Instagram and WhatsApp and imposed severe limits on internet access.
According to the semi-official Fars news agency, it is no longer allowed to access Instagram or WhatsApp in Iran as a result of a decision made by government officials on Wednesday evening.
Since Monday, there has been a near-total loss of internet service in areas of Kurdistan province in western Iran, while Tehran and other parts of the country have also experienced outages since Friday, when protests began.
After the blocking of other platforms in recent years, including Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, YouTube, and TikTok, these two applications became the most popular in Iran.
This comes after thirteen Iranian legislators urged the government to use stronger actions against the demonstrators.
Officials have denied that security forces had killed protestors, stating that they may have been slain by armed rebels, while video footage shows police troops firing directly at individuals.
22 September 2022, in Bojnurd, Iran, an overturned police cruiser is spotted ablaze.
In further footage from Sari, the provincial capital of northern Mazandaran, activists tore down posters of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Khamenei from a municipal building.
Thursday morning, demonstrators in Tehran and several other Iranian towns set fire to police stations and vehicles.
The sixth day of unrest caused by the death of a lady held by the Islamic Republic’s morality police worsened.
The death of Amini sparked the worst protests in Iran since 2019 due to widespread public outrage.
Many Iranians, especially the young, have come to view Amini’s death as an example of the Islamic Republic’s repressive policing of dissent and the morality police’s increasingly harsh handling of young women.
Some female protesters have defiantly removed their hijabs and burned them in bonfires or symbolically chopped their hair, as evidenced by video footage that has gone viral on social media.
The majority of the protests have occurred in the Kurdish-populated northwestern areas of Iran, but they have expanded to the capital and at least 50 other cities and towns around the country, with police employing force to remove the demonstrators.
Some female protestors have defiantly removed their hijabs, torched them in bonfires, or chopped their hair as a symbolic gesture.
Officials have denied that security forces had killed protestors, stating that they may have been shot by armed rebels, but MailOnline has received video showing police personnel firing directly at individuals.
A video shared on the Twitter account 1500tasvir, which focuses on Iran protests and has approximately 100,000 followers, shows protestors chanting “We will die, we will die, but we’ll get Iran back” near a police station that had been set on fire in the northeast.
As the rioting extended from Kurdistan, Amini’s native area, another police station was burned down in Tehran.
Iran’s leaders fear a resurgence of the deadliest protests in Islamic Republic history, which occurred in 2019 in response to fuel price hikes. According to Reuters, 1,500 people were slain.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was also the target of protesters’ rage.
In Tehran, a throng was heard yelling, “Mojtaba, may you die and not become Supreme Leader,” in reference to Khamenei’s son, who some say could follow his father at the top of Iran’s political establishment.
Crowds armed with batons and rocks attacked two members of the security forces on a motorcycle in northern Iran, according to a video that Reuters was unable to independently verify.
A Twitter account associated with the ‘Anonymous’ hacker organization claims to have conducted cyber attacks against the Iranian government and websites affiliated with it.
The organization distributed screenshots of websites of Iran’s government portal, a government spokesperson’s office, and the central bank that had allegedly been hacked and taken offline.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Vice President Joe Biden stated that the United States will support the courageous Iranian women who are currently demonstrating for their basic rights.
He responded after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi rejected Western nations’ requests to protect the rights of women.
The ultraconservative leader of Iran has deflected criticism of his government’s response to the protests and following bloodshed.
As the disturbance moved from Amini’s native province of Kurdistan to the capital Tehran, a second police station was torched.
Iran’s leaders fear a resurgence of the deadliest protests in Islamic Republic history, which occurred in 2019 in response to fuel price hikes. According to Reuters, 1,500 were slain.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was also the target of protesters’ ire.
He stated, “The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the double standards of some regimes regarding human rights.”
“Human rights belong to everyone, but unfortunately many governments violate them,” he added, referring to the finding of unmarked graves of indigenous people in Canada, the agony of the Palestinians, and photos of migrant children being held in cages in the United States.
Wednesday, Iran’s Minister of Telecommunications Issa Zarepour warned of internet limitations, citing “current security challenges.”
Musk stated that he wishes to be exempt from Iranian sanctions in order to offer the country with his Starlink satellite broadband.
Monday, a Twitter user with the handle ‘erfan kasrale’ tagged Musk in a tweet with the following question: ‘I’m sure you won’t answer this, Mr. Musk, but is it technically feasible to offer Starlink to Iranians? It could be transformative for the future.
Iranian government have vowed to investigate Amini’s death and have accused unnamed foreign nations and exiled opposition parties of using it to stir unrest.
Women have played a key role in the protests, waving and burning their veils and cutting their hair in public, among other actions.
NetBlocks also reported a “nationwide loss of connectivity” on the networks of Iran’s primary state-owned mobile phone operator and another company.
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