US resorting to ‘information terrorism’ – Iran

President Ebrahim Raisi has noted a switch in Washington’s approach to pressuring Tehran

After failing to change Tehran’s policies through sanctions, Washington has been using other approaches to achieve its goals in Iran, the country’s President Ebrahim Raisi told Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday. He also called the emergence of a multilateral world “unstoppable.”

“Information terrorism is the biggest problem,” Raisi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies. He referred to the latest wave of mass protests in the country as an example of US meddling in Iran’s internal affairs.

The demonstrations were triggered by the mid-September death of a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini, after she was taken into custody by the Iranian morality police for allegedly dressing improperly. The Iranian authorities have said she suffered from a pre-existing medical condition, whereas some of her family members claimed she was beaten to death.

The US and EU imposed sanctions against Iranian law enforcement agencies, including the Gasht-e-Ershad, or Guidance Patrol, police force that detained Amini, for alleged human rights violations.

READ MORE: EU sanctions Iran’s ‘morality police’

In the interview, the Iranian president also stated that the US and its allies are trying to cling on to their dwindling power as a new multilateral world order emerges. He called this global shift “unstoppable.”

“Western nations are the only ones that act against the creation of a multipolar world,” Raisi added.

The president praised the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional integration bloc that counts Iran and Russia among its members, as one of the vehicles of the transition. He also pledged Iran’s support to all “freedom-loving nations” opposing American pressure.