Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi pulled out of a much-scheduled interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday after declining a last-minute request to wear a headscarf.
About 40 minutes after the scheduled start of the interview and with Raisi running late, an aide told Amanpour that the president had suggested she wear a headscarf. Amanpour said she “politely declined.”
Amanpour, who grew up in Iran’s capital Tehran and speaks Farsi fluently, said she wears a headscarf while reporting in Iran to comply with local laws and customs, “otherwise you wouldn’t be able to function as a journalist.” But she said she would not cover her head to interview an Iranian official outside a country where it is not required.
“Here in New York, or anywhere else outside of Iran, I have never been asked by any Iranian president – and I have interviewed every single one of them since 1995 – either inside or outside of Iran, I have never been asked to wear a headscarf. ,” he said on CNN’s “New Day” Thursday.
“I very politely declined on behalf of myself and CNN, and women journalists everywhere because it’s not a requirement.”
Iranian law requires all women to wear head coverings and loose clothing in public. The rule has been imposed in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is mandatory for every woman in the country – including tourists, visiting political figures and journalists.
Amanpour said Raisi’s aide made it clear that the interview – which would be the Iranian president’s first on American soil – would not take place without her wearing a headscarf. He referred to it as a “matter of respect” given that it is the holy months of Muharram and Safar, and referred to the “situation in Iran”, referring to the protests sweeping the country, he added.
Anti-government protests erupted across Iran last week over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody after she was arrested by Iran’s morality police on charges of violating the headscarf law.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets, with some women cutting off their hair and burning their hijabs in protest against the law. Human rights groups said at least eight people were killed in the protests, which were met with a sharp crackdown by authorities, according to witnesses and videos shared on social media.
The protests appear to be the most large-scale displays of defiance against the Islamic Republic’s rule, which has grown stricter since the election of Raishi’s hard-line government last year. After eight years of moderate rule by Hassan Rouhani, Iran elected Raishi, an ultraconservative chief justice whose views align with the thinking of the country’s powerful cleric and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In Iran, the headscarf is a powerful symbol of a set of personal rules imposed by the country’s clerical leaders that govern what people can wear, watch and do. Over the past decade, protests have flared as many Iranians resent these restrictions.
Amini’s death sparked an outpouring of lingering anger over restrictions on personal freedoms. Surveys and reports in recent years have shown that a growing number of Iranians do not believe that the hijab, or headscarf, should be compulsory.
Iranian officials claimed Amini died after suffering a “heart attack” and falling into a coma, but her family said she had no pre-existing heart condition, according to Emtedad news, a pro-reform Iranian media outlet. Skepticism about officials’ account of her death has also sparked public outcry.
CCTV footage released by Iran’s state media showed Mahsa Amini collapsing at a “re-education” center where she was taken by morality police to receive “guidance” on how to dress.
Amanpour had planned to probe Raisi about Amini’s death and the protests, as well as the nuclear deal and Iran’s support for Russia in Ukraine, but said she had to go.
“As protests continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would be an important time to speak with President Raisi,” he said in a Twitter thread.
