Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi gets a stage at the WEF.Image: keystone
Just days after the regime massacred thousands of protesting people, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is invited to the WEF in Davos. This causes outrage and sharp criticism.
01/19/2026, 04:4401/19/2026, 04:46
At least 3,000 people have been brutally killed in protests against the Iranian leadership in recent days. Human rights organizations assume the number of victims is much higher, with estimates ranging up to 20,000.
For those responsible for the WEF in Davos, which begins today, Monday, there is no reason to exclude Iranian regime representatives from the event – on the contrary, the WEF offers one of them a stage. A panel discussion with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was arranged at short notice. On Tuesday, for half an hour, he answered critical questions from Financial Times editor-in-chief Roula Khalaf, such as this official program of the WEF can be seen. At the same time, the appearance is also a stage to put the regime’s brutal actions into perspective.
The conversation between Khalaf and Araghchi is expected to last half an hour.Image: screenshot available
This causes sharp criticism. The US group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is calling on WEF officials not to allow representatives of the Iranian government Fox News reported. Araghtschi was also recently allowed to appear on the conservative US news channel and downplay his government’s violent excesses, which caused criticism.
Mark Wallace, former US ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and now CEO of UANI, sharply criticized the WEF in a letter to CEO Borge Brende, Fox reports.
“Just this month, the Iranian regime carried out what some consider to be the largest massacre in its history.”
Mark Wallace sharply criticizes the WEF.Image: www.imago-images.de
Foreign Minister Araghchi is a member of the Iranian Security Council, which gave the order to kill civilians. Wallace:
“Inviting Iranian regime officials like Araghchi to whitewash this history is deeply offensive and completely inappropriate for a forum whose theme this year is ‘A Spirit of Dialogue.’ Instead of dialogue, the Islamic Republic offered these brave Iranians bullets.”
The WEF has not yet responded to a request from the US media for comment.
There were major protests in Iran around the turn of the year over the collapse of the currency, which increased the economic hardship of many people in the country. There is also discontent among large parts of the population due to the extremely repressive regime.
The Iranian government reacted extremely brutally to the protests, first blocking the internet and then starting to shoot at people. US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Iran with intervention if the killings continued. However, he then refrained from doing so, but is still said to be in favor of deposing the Iranian government. Fears that a military escalation could occur remain. (con)