World Economic Forum Reportedly Invites Iran’s Foreign Minister To ‘Rebuild Trust’ At Davos

(New York, NY) – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has been invited to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 15-19, according to Swiss and German media reports, where the theme of the conference is “Rebuilding Trust.” In response, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace and UANI Advisory Board member and member of the Swedish Parliament Alireza Akhondi are calling upon the Swiss Foreign Ministry to deny his visa request and for the WEF to clarify whether Abdollahian was invited to attend the elite gathering.

In letters sent today to the Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF, Dr. Klaus Schwab, and the Head of Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, Wallace and Akhondi detail Abdollahian’s status as a representative of the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism and an active card-carrying member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Basij paramilitary force with the rank of colonel. The IRGC is itself a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization that routinely uses beatings, torture, rape, and mass executions as means of suppressing the Iranian people. 

To read Ambassador Wallace and Swedish MP Akohndi’s letters to the WEF and the Swiss Foreign Ministry, please click here.

The Basij was in charge of Iran’s violent response to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” revolution which began in September 2022. Their blatant disregard for human rights resulted in injuries and deaths of women, men, and children – and an honorable decision by Davos organizers to invite Iranian dissidents to attend and participate rather than regime officials during last year’s World Economic Forum. These Iranian activists called on the Western world to tighten the screws on the regime amid its crackdown on protestors. However, with a potential invitation extended to regime members, their calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears – a regrettable irony in view of the conference’s theme of “Rebuilding Trust.”

Wallace and Akhondi wrote, “In the past 12 months, domestic repression in Iran has only worsened, while Iran has likewise escalated its terrorist operations regionally and worldwide. It would be utterly wrong to now send a message that Switzerland and the World Economic Forum believes that Iran has served its temporary “time-out” and may be welcomed back into the fold at a major conference that confers a great deal of legitimacy and prestige to participants. By inviting Abdollahian, Bern and the World Economic Forum are signaling that it is now back to a “business as usual” paradigm with Iran. To the contrary, the world should be isolating the regime rather than emboldening and legitimizing it.”

Abdollahian has not yet been confirmed on the official Davos program as a speaker.