Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman carried a gas mask in a reference to Germany’s alleged supply of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war as he denounced the UN investigation. Tehran, Iran – Iran has said it will not cooperate with a United Nations fact-finding mission on its response to ongoing anti-government demonstrations due to what it calls the investigation’s “political” nature.
Tehran will have “no form of cooperation with this political committee which has been framed as a fact-finding committee”, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told reporters during a news conference on Monday. Last week, Iran announced it had formed a local fact-finding mission, comprised of representatives from the government, the judiciary, the parliament and others, to investigate “events, riots and unrest” during the past few weeks.
According to Kanani, this constituted a “responsible” act by the Iranian state and refuted any need for a UN investigation.
“[The UN investigation was] taking advantage of human rights mechanisms to exert political pressure on independent countries,” Kanani said.
The UN Human Rights Council last week voted to establish a fact-finding mission to investigate potential abuses in Iran’s handling of anti-government demonstrations that have erupted across the country. The protests began after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September, following her arrest by morality police for allegedly not adhering to the country’s mandatory dress code.
Of the 47-member council, 25 voted in favour of a resolution that demands Tehran cooperate with the council’s special rapporteur on Iran, including by granting access to areas inside Iranian territory, such as locations where people have been arrested.
Source: aljazeera.com
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
