Outspoken Politician Says Iran Involved In Killing Half A Million Syrians

Iran’s domestic and foreign policies are "irrational, Taliban-style, and propaganda based,” outspoken former lawmaker and presidential daughter, Faezeh Hashemi has said.

Referring to the sizable number of security and military officials working for President Ebrahim Raisi as top managers, she said, "Raisi is just a front man. There are others who puppeteer him from behind the scenes and influence his decision-making." She said, "I hope I am mistaken, but if this is true, Raisi is going to be blamed for his aides' mistakes."

Faezeh hashem is the daughter of Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was a close collaborator with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but later fell out of favor whne he supported protesters in 2009.

Meanwhile, Hashemi said Iran has been involved in killing some 500,000 people in Syria. Pointing out Iran's involvement in killing Muslims in Yemen and elsewhere, she said it is highly unlikely that Israel has killed 100 to 200 thousands Palestinians. "We have killed more Muslims than Israel with our wrong policies," she said.

In an interview with the news website Didehban-e Iran [Iran Monitor], published on Monday [January 10], she said IRGC officers who have joined the Raisi administration as his provincial governors-general cannot help him solve the country's problems. She also charged that Basij militia and IRGC officers are placed in cabinet ministers' offices to control them. She warned Raisi that in this way, he is going to have more problems in the future.

Hashemi, who spent time in jail as a political prisoner, shocked many in April 2021 when she praised Donald Trump and Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah.

Hashemi criticized the government's economic policies and said that Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, who has been working in an organization confiscating people's properties throughout his career, cannot understand the importance of privatization and economic reforms as the leader of Raisi's economic team. "There is no bright prospect for Iran's economy," she said.

She further criticized the appointment of inexperienced officials to key posts and said, "Corruption is not limited to financial corruption and astronomical salaries. Appointing incapable individuals to key posts will lead to corruption."

Hashemi’s criticisms of Raisi’s appointments are shred by many observers and politicians, some even from the country’s conservative camp.

Speaking about some government officials who usually suggest that people should tolerate hardships, Hashemi said: "OK. We will tolerate, but first we need to know where we are going. Are we tolerating the hardships to reach freedom? Good economy? Justice? Development? Or what? Unfortunately, there is no prospect ahead of us."

Criticizing Khamenei's policy for increasing Iran’s population, she said, he should have first assessed why there is a decline in population growth. Perhaps people do not want more children because of economic hardships. She added, there is nothing wrong with men and women living together without getting married, but she said she detested the idea of some men getting married to more than one woman.

To hardliner lawmakers who wish to impose an ideological lifestyle on Iranians, she said: "They are reckless. Iran is not North Korea." Speaking about other ideas such as only female doctors being allowed to treat female patients at hospitals, Hashemi said "these are Taliban-style policies."

In another part of the interview, Hashemi said the presidential election that brought Raisi to power was odd. "Everything was pre-planned for his election and anything that could possibly prevent his election was taken out of the way."

Speaking on the impact of sanctions on the Iranian economy, she said: "Sanctioned have caused essential problems, but the impact of mismanagement is bigger. If it were not for mismanagement, we would have not been sanctioned in the first place."