Rafsanjani’s Daughter Defends Remark that Trump was Good for Iran

Faezeh Hashemi, Ensaf News
Faezeh Hashemi, Ensaf News
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Rafsanjani’s Daughter Defends Remark that Trump was Good for Iran

Faezeh Hashemi, Ensaf News
Faezeh Hashemi, Ensaf News

Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, slammed a number of figures and parties in Iran for being “more dangerous bullies” than the outgoing US President Donald Trump.

Hashemi accused those she addressed of placing the country on the “verge of destruction.”

In an open letter, she responded to harsh criticism she had received from members of her family and fellow comrades in the Executives of Construction Party.

Hashemi had made highly controversial statements earlier in support of Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran and said that chances for reform in the cleric-led country are diminished now that US President-elect Joe Biden will rise to power.

Responding to her brother, Mohsen Hashemi, who had asked her to apologize, Hashemi on Tuesday accused him of “mapping a future for himself” and seeking to “protect his interests,” an apparent reference to plans beyond his current position as Chairman of Tehran’s City Council.

She reiterated that Iran’s leaders had pursued policies wasting resources and leading the country to a dead-end.

The war of words between Hashemi and her brother on the fourth anniversary of their father’s death has made headlines in Iranian newspapers.

The official newspaper affiliated with the Executives of Construction Party ran a front page displaying a picture of Hashemi and her brother under the headline “Brother Slams Sister.”

“In Iran, there are individuals and entities that are far more dangerous than Trump in bullying and failing to abide by rules and regulation. They have put the country on the slippery slope of ineffectiveness, mismanagement and inefficiency, dogmatism and even taking it to the point of collapse at times,” Hashemi said in defense of her statements.

In an implicit reference to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is considered a moderate reformer, Hashemi said: “These days we are witnessing deviations that are much deeper than that caused by Ahmadinejad.”



India and Bangladesh Leaders Meet for First Time since Revolution

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in Thailand. Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Office of Interim Government/AFP
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in Thailand. Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Office of Interim Government/AFP
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India and Bangladesh Leaders Meet for First Time since Revolution

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in Thailand. Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Office of Interim Government/AFP
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in Thailand. Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Office of Interim Government/AFP

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Friday with the leader of neighboring Bangladesh, the first such meeting since a revolution in Dhaka ousted New Delhi's long-term ally and soured relations.

Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, took charge of Bangladesh in August 2024 after India's old ally Sheikh Hasina was toppled as prime minister by a student-led uprising and fled by helicopter to India.

India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina's government, and her overthrow sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit last month to China -- India's biggest rival.

Tensions between India and Bangladesh have prompted a number of tit-for-tat barbs between senior figures from both governments.

New Delhi has in the past has repeatedly accused Muslim-majority Bangladesh of failing to adequately protect its minority Hindu citizens -- charges denied by the caretaker administration of Yunus.

On Friday, Yunus posted a picture on social media showing him shaking hands with Modi, and his press secretary Shafiqul Alam later said the "meeting was constructive, productive, and fruitful".

Their meeting took place on the sidelines of a regional summit in Thailand.

Yunus also shared a photograph of the two men smiling as he handed Modi a framed picture of themselves a decade ago -- when the Indian leader in 2015 honored the micro-finance pioneer with a gold medal for this work supporting the poorest of society.

There was no immediate statement from New Delhi.

Yunus, according to his press secretary, also raised with Modi the issue of Dhaka's long-running complaint at what it says are Hasina's incendiary remarks from exile.

Hasina, who remains in India, has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh to face charges including mass murder.

Dhaka has requested that India allow Hasina's extradition to face charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government.

Yunus also raised concerns of border violence along the porous frontier with India, as well as issues of the shared river waters that flow from India, as the Ganges and the Brahmaputra wind towards the sea.

The caretaker government of Yunus is tasked with implementing democratic reforms ahead of fresh elections slated to take place by June 2026.

Modi and Yunus had dinner on Thursday night -- sitting next to each other alongside other leaders from the BIMSTEC bloc in Bangkok -- but the bilateral sit-down on Friday was the first since relations frayed between the neighboring nations.