Iran rejects UN probe into protests

Iran rejected the United Nations' investigation into the ongoing protests taking place across the country. Officials said Tehran does not intend to cooperate with the UN’s fact-finding probe citing the “political” nature of the investigation.

During a news conference Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani said Tehran does not plan on cooperating with the UN’s fact-finding investigation into the unrest that has become the largest show of opposition to the clerical establishment since 1979. Kanani accused the UN of launching a politically-motivated investigation under the pretense of being a fact-finding probe.

Kanani cited that Iran already launched its own local investigation last week, the investigators making up members of the country’s judiciary, parliament, and other government representatives. Kanani said that with the local fact-finding mission, there was no need for the UN to launch a probe of its own. Kanani said that the UN was launching such a probe to “exert political pressure on independent countries.”

The UN Human Rights Council also last week voted to launch a fact-finding mission to potential human rights abuses in Tehran’s crackdown on the protests that are taking place across the country. 25 out of 47 voted in favor of the resolution that demands that Tehran cooperate with the probe with the council’s special rapporteur on Iran, such as granting access to locations on Iranian territory and potentially places where people were arrested.

The UN has said that over 300 people have died in Tehran’s crackdown on the anti-government protests since September, with almost 14,000 arrested. The demonstrations were sparked by the death of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s dress code for women. Tehran has accused its enemies, particularly the United States, of using local agents to incite the unrest.

The protests have also spilt over into the ongoing World Cup. Iran’s football federation has filed a complaint to FIFA over the removal of the word “Allah” from the country’s flag on social media posts by its counterpart in the US ahead of an upcoming match between the two countries. Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported Sunday that the modified flag was “an unprofessional act” by the US.

The US Soccer Federation said in a statement that it would forego the official flag on social media in a show of solidarity with the protests.