A top Iranian cleric who represents the regime’s Supreme Leader in the Quds Force attacked UNICEF today for “promoting Western culture” in Iran.
In a piece published by the IRGC affiliated Tasnim News Agency, Ali Shirazi slammed the UN children’s fund for “destroying families” in the country.
“Changing the Islamic way of life to a western lifestyle is one of the special tasks of UNICEF in Iran,” he wrote yesterday.
He claimed that the organization got its budget from the “United States Agency for International Development” adding that the Agency was “trying to take advantage of international organizations to carry out its own plans” in Iran.
Shirazi also accused UNICEF of “promoting Westernization while planting Western values into children’s minds” under the “beautiful banner of children’s rights”.
“UNICEF is America’s puppet and has no other goal than promoting Western culture,” Khamenei’s representative wrote.
“We should not allow any kind of influence to international organizations that defend Western Culture so they can easily carry out their evil plans in the Islamic Republic of Iran with our participation,” Ali Shirazi concluded.
This is not the first time the senior cleric makes controversial remarks.
In 2015, he was quoted as saying that “we would not rest until we raise the flag of Islam over the White House”.
His recent stance echoes that of the regime’s during the country’s COVID-19 crisis.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has refused international help despite the very high rate of fatalities.
Though the regime has underreported the number of deaths, the National Council of Resistance said today that at least 26,200 people had died from the virus, making Iran the worst-hit country in the world.