Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has shocked everyone by acknowledging the “effectiveness” of the maximum pressure policy adopted by the US President Donald Trump against the regime in Tehran.
Her controversial comments, made in an interview conducted on the fourth anniversary of her father's death, have put her under fire from both reformists and hardliners in Iran. Some of her relatives even demanded that she apologizes for the statements she made.
In the interview, broadcast last week by the Ensaf News website, Hashemi said that a second Trump term would have led to positive changes in Iran.
“People try to carry out reforms, but the situation remains the same and nothing will happen. On the contrary, people are being suppressed. Perhaps if Trump's pressure continues, we would eventually be forced to change some policies,” she said.
Hashemi said that “If I were an American, I would not vote for Trump,” but for Iran, his re-election would have been good because he put pressure on the current leadership in Tehran that could bring about positive change.
Nevertheless, Hashemi spoke of a "similarity" between Trump and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, her father's most prominent opponent in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.
Hashemi also revealed her rejection of Iran's intervention in Syria, and considered that the behavior of the late Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani in the region “did not solve any of the country’s problems nor did it open a path for development.”
The pro-reform politician and an advocate of human rights refused to blame US sanctions solely for Iran’s economic woes, saying that protests against deteriorating conditions had taken place in December 2017 and November 2019.
Rafsanjani criticized Iran’s policy in the region, saying that it “led to us losing our friends, and our foreign policy became similar to domestic politics, as supporters turned into critics, then critics changed into opponents.”
It is worth noting that her brother, Mohsen Hashemi, who is the mayor of Tehran’s council, demanded an apology from her and warned that she could be discrediting her father’s legacy with her statements.
