In March, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt met Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. This meeting caused a great stir. In the Debate on Thursday, the reactions do not wait either. – The dialogue has not led to anything. People are raped and killed. Anniken Huitfeldt must stop fooling around with the mullahs, says Iranian-Norwegian Michelle Majedi to news. In the Storting, Anniken Huitfeldt said that it was her “damned duty” to talk to the regime. Now she is being defended by Christiane Amanpour, one of the world’s most renowned journalists. The CNN reporter is the channel’s international face and has conducted interviews with several renowned heads of state. She has covered several areas of conflict. Recently, she interviewed the foreign minister of Iran and asked him several critical questions. Guest Debate She is positive about dialogue with extreme regimes. – I believe in dialogue and I think your foreign minister has done the right thing. I think you can chew gum and walk at the same time if you are an adult, says Amanpour in an interview with Debatten presenter Fredrik Solvang. Norwegian-Iranians strongly disagree with the government meeting the Iranian minister. Recently, Amanpour interviewed an American citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2015. Siamak Namazi is imprisoned in Evin in Tehran under section 508, which is about being an American citizen. Here he talks about how he is treated and that he is taking a huge risk by conducting the interview. – I sleep on the floor and am fed like a dog, says Siamak Namazi, who is imprisoned in Tehran. Afterwards, an official from the Iranian regime indicated to Al-Monitor that Tehran approved the conversation between the hostage and CNN. It has generated criticism of Amanpour’s portrayal of the interview – and speculation that the regime allowed the conversation to speed up a prisoner exchange deal with the US. Amanpour has also previously been criticized by long-time political prisoner and human rights activist Hossein Ronaghi, who has suggested that she is among those misleading people about the situation in Iran. Legitimates the regime In the debate, leader of the Progress Party, Sylvi Listhaug, proposes that Norway cut all political ties to the regime in Iran. She is supported by activist Milicia Javdan, who also asks the minister to cut diplomatic ties with the regime. She believes the photos Huitfeldt takes with the Iranian foreign minister are being misused by the regime to legitimize its policy of repression. – They abuse it to gain legitimacy. For 44 years they have killed and massacred their own people. When they also have the nation of peace Norway in conversation, they feel that they get recognition and legitimacy from Norway as a nation of peace. The panel also includes journalist Mina Ghabel Lunde, who criticizes Huitfeldt for being one of the few countries that participated in the celebration of the Islamic revolution in January. But Huitfeldt does not think that means she legitimizes the regime’s policy. – We had not been told that the EU would not participate. – But isn’t it allowed to think for yourself? – That can be discussed. But I believe that isolating the country rather than talking to its leaders would make Iran an even more dangerous place. Political scientist Joseph Salomonsen has an objection to that. Last autumn, he wrote a pessimistic column in which he predicted that the regime would survive the demonstrations. Now that the mood has calmed somewhat in the country, he fears he was right. – But when Norway’s foreign minister meets the Iranian foreign minister, does that mean that she also believes that the regime will survive? – If we think that the regime will stay, and the purpose is policy change, we have no other goal than to hold talks with them. But – if we think that it is appropriate for this regime to go, it is inappropriate to conduct diplomacy with them. According to Salomonsen, diplomacy contributes to the regime gaining legitimacy, if not for its policies, then for its basis for existence. Password The broadcast also features several Norwegian-Iranians who have fled to Norway. They describe a brutal regime that forces the population of the country to take many precautions to be safe. Zarah Meshkat communicates with code words so as not to endanger her family. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen / news Zahra Meshkat is 60 years old and says that she talks to her family in Iran through code words in Persian. She shows a message she received today from an anonymous person, where a “customer who has received two tattoos” actually means a “patient who has received two gunshot wounds”. That “the customer needs laser” means that “she needs surgery”. The same insecurity is described by Michelle Majedi, who came to Norway from Iran as an eleven-year-old. She is in contact with her family in Iran, who tells about everyday life in the country. – They tell of a society on the way to collapse. There are chemical attacks against school children and systematic terror against the entire population to scare them away from the streets where they are demonstrating for their own freedom. Dialogue can work In the conversation with Amanpour, the American hostage asks for help from President Biden. – Let’s face it, the US must get its citizens back. There are many areas where the world disagrees with Iran. For example, terrorism, Russia, the ongoing war in Ukraine, Syria and human rights violations, she says and adds: – But there are other problems where dialogue can work, as your foreign minister says. For example, in matters of security, and for foreign nationals who are imprisoned in other countries, she concludes. Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. Since you are logged in to other news services, you do not have to log in again here, but we need your consent to our terms of use for online dialogue
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– You have to be able to chew gum and walk at the same time – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
