CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said Thursday Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi declined to show up at a preplanned interview with her in New York after she refused to wear a headscarf upon Raisi’s request.
In a series of tweets, Amanpour said, “This was going to be President Raisi’s first ever interview on US soil, during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. After weeks of planning and eight hours of setting up translation equipment, lights and cameras, we were ready. But no sign of President Raisi.”
She added that 40 minutes after the interview was due to start, one of Raisi’s aides came over and asked her to wear a headscarf, “because it’s the holy months of Muharram and Safar,” to which she declined, pointing out that “no previous Iranian president has required this when I have interviewed them outside Iran.”
“The aide made it clear that the interview would not happen if I did not wear a headscarf. He said it was “a matter of respect,” and referred to “the situation in Iran” -- alluding to the protests sweeping the country, Amanpour elaborated. "Protests are sweeping Iran and women are burning their hijabs after the death last week of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by the "morality police,” she said.
“I couldn’t agree to this unprecedented and unexpected condition,” she emphasized, saying that “The interview didn’t happen. As protests continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would have been an important moment to speak with President Raisi.”
The hacking group targeted Ali Khamenei’s website on Thursday a few hours after it said it hacked more than 300 street surveillance cameras.
While the government has cut internet access in the country, the group is also trying to raise awareness about the ways Iranian protesters can keep using the net to make their voices heard in the world, mainly through Tor, short for The Onion Router, a free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication.
The group started its cyber operations against the Islamic Republic in solidarity with the ongoing protests across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini who died following repeated blows to the head reportedly by hijab enforcement patrols.
If Iran government blocks the people from accessing the internet, Anonymous will block the government from accessing the internet, the group said.
During the past few days, the group hacked the website of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also claims that it obtained the database of Iran’s Forensic Research Center.
On Tuesday and Wednesday some state-owned websites, including the website of the Central Bank of Iran, were also targeted by group. A member of the group posted a message to the Iranians on Twitter on Tuesday, saying, "We are here with you. The operations against Iran began. wait for us."
Central Bank spokesman Mostafa Ghamarivafa denied that the bank itself was hacked, saying only that the website was “inaccessible” because of an attack on a server that hosts it.
At least two main websites of the Iranian government and some state-affiliated media sites as well as the state broadcaster IRIB were among the targets, some of whom were back online after a few hours. One of the websites of the government hosts “smart services” and another is dedicated to publishing government news and interviews with officials.
A video was also released early on Wednesday showing footage of protests in several Iranian cities that have erupted since Mahsa Amini died in custody of the hijab enforcement patrols. “This was the last straw,” an altered voice on the video said of Amini’s death. “The Iranian people are not alone”.
Following large anti-government protests in Tehran and Mahsa Amini’s hometown as well as a couple of other cities in the Kurdistan province, demonstrations expanded Tuesday to many Iranian cities and towns, with several people killed, hundreds arrested, and thousands injured.
Since protests over the death of Amini started, the government significantly slowed down the internet connection speed, a strategy it usually uses during protests in Iran to hamper communication and sharing of images and news by protesters.
Authorities disrupt the Internet to prevent news of unrest reaching the rest of the country and abroad, and to prevent protesters from galvanizing support in nearby regions.
The death toll began to rise with around ten confirmed civilian casualties, although military force has not been used nationwide as was the case in the bloody protests of November 2019.
Some believe the authorities were caught off guard and are preparing a fierce crackdown. But with the geographic spread of the protests and the determination seen on the part of a new generation of protesters, the use of military force can be extremely costly in human lives.
In large cities such as the capital Tehran, protests are no longer held just in the central areas, but they have mushroomed in multiple districts and suburbs. This would inevitably make a military response harder, but the regime also has its local forces in the form of Basij paramilitary, commanded by the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
Some of these local “thugs” as the people see them, have already tried to intervene in the protests by mixing up with the crowds and then grabbing a key figure from among the protesters and shoving him or her toward the police or anti-riot forces who then arrest the person.
There are multiple videos showing people attacking these elements once they are identified and beating them up. Protesters are also much more brazen than in past rounds of unrest, by advancing toward security forces with rocks and sticks and in many instances forcing them to retreat.
This creates a situation where only direct gunfire can stop protesters, who appear to be a mirror of society, with women having a major presence and even older people pitching in and helping the younger, front-line protesters.
The Islamic Republic has proven time and again that it would use military weapons against protesters. In November 2019, at least 1,500 unarmed people were killed in less than a week. Whether this time it would be willing to shed so much blood, is not clear yet.
Popular anger and frustration have increased since 2019 because of more social restrictions and unprecedented economic hardship triggered by United States’ sanctions. The killing of a 22-year-old woman in custody last week was all it took for pent-up anti-regime sentiments to boil over and lead to perhaps one of the biggest opposition challenges the clerical regime has ever faced.
Speaking of clerics, people on social media point out that they are nowhere to be seen, staying put at home to avoid angry protesters. Attacks and public insults against clerics in the streets had already increased even before the protests.
Some believe that the regime has held back on using military force because President Ebrahim Raisi is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and they do not want a public relations fiasco during his trip. He already carries the baggage of a human rights violator, having been a member of a death commission in 1988 that ordered the killing of up to 5,000 political prisoners serving their sentences.
It is also predictable that if the Islamic Republic resorts to military weapons and kills hundreds or thousands of people, it can damage chances of a nuclear deal with the United States, or at least make it harder for Tehran to try to get more concessions. Washington might also impose more sanctions for human rights violations in such a case.