Opposition Figure Says World Enabling Iran's Hostage-Taking

Iranian-born actress and political activist Nazanin Boniadi has criticized the international community for showing leniency towards the Islamic Republic on numerous occasions.

Boniadi is a prominent voice amongst the opposition and has been critical of the United States (US) and European countries for allowing Iranian authorities to use international platforms for spreading propaganda and furthering their malign activities in the region.

Iran’s foreign Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke at the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Thursday about brokering a deal regarding the release of the hostages who are being held by Hamas.

Iran’s foreign minister said Hamas is ready to release hostages to the Islamic Republic, and he said the international community must take responsibility for releasing 6,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

In a post on X, Boniadi went on to criticize the fact that Iran’s foreign minister has been given a platform to talk about hostages when Iran is a well-known practitioner of the hostage-taking crime.

“The international community has incentivized hostage diplomacy and the Islamic Republic and its proxies will continue to use this heinous crime to achieve their political goals as long as the world lets them,” said Boniadi.

In September, the US and Iran made a deal through which five Iranian- American hostages kept in Iran were released in exchange of $6 billion of frozen assets now held in Qatar. The agreement received wide condemnation from US lawmakers and Iranian opposition figures including the former Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi.

“Unfortunately, the billions of dollars that the Biden administration will reportedly release to the regime as ransom for five hostages will not reduce the suffering of my countrymen,” said Pahlavi on X.