Iran Minister Cancels India Visit, Tehran Upset Over Protest Video: Report

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has reportedly cancelled his visit to India over a video that showed Iranian women cutting their hair in anti-government protests.

The Iranian Foreign Minister was to visit India next month to join the Raisina Dialogue, an event organised by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.

Iran has told the organisers that their minister will not attend the event, the Indian Express reported today.

The Express said Tehran was upset about the promotional video for the Raisina Dialogue, which included a shot of Iranian women cutting their hair, along with an image of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

The video was put out about a month ago to announce the 2023 edition of the Dialogues.

The Indian Express quoted sources as saying that the Iranian Embassy reached out to the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the foreign ministry and objected to their President's image alongside protesters. They reportedly asked the organisers to delete that part of the video, but that did not happen, according to the newspaper.

Protests erupted in Iran in September after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in custody after being arrested for wearing what the authorities called "inappropriate attire". Iran denied allegations that Amini died after being attacked in custody, and claimed her death was caused by illness.

India has been silent on the protests. In November, India was among the countries that abstained on a resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council to set up a fact-finding mission into the alleged human rights violations in Iran.