As the saying goes “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” and nowhere is it more relevant than Iran’s reactions to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 2022 Annual Report, scolding its neighbors for the same criticisms Iran faced in the report. 

• June 8: Shia News reported, “In the Religious Freedom Report, the U.S. Department of State … documents grave violations in the Arab states, and in particular the countries in the Persian Gulf region and in Egypt.” According to the news agency, these violations “include disappearances, torture, cruel, inhumane, and humiliating behavior toward the detainees, harsh and threatening conditions of the prisoners, random arrest and incarceration, and intimidation of the opposition in the countries and abroad.” 

Conveniently, Shia News did not make any reference to Iran in the report, which is listed among “countries of particular concern.” The report documents the arrest of followers of the Bahai faith, demolition of their homes without warning, and auctions of their farms and land. Converts to Christianity are also targeted by the regime, which keeps pastors as religious prisoners of conscience on charges of “promoting Zionist Christianity,” the State Department reported. The report also documents persecution of Sunni Muslim religious leaders on charges of engaging in “propaganda against the state.” 

AGSIW’s Iran Media Review monitors, translates, and reviews critical Persian-language media sources identifying important developments and trends in the Islamic Republic of Iran.