Spokesman Rejects US Claims of Human Trafficking in Iran

In a statement on Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi categorically rejected the recent accusations levelled against Tehran in the US State Department’s annual report on global human trafficking.

Qassemi said Washington lacks the competence and legitimacy to issue such reports on other countries.

He said such reports are biased, politically motivated and based on double standards, and only aim to tarnish the image of Iran.

“The groundless accusations are levelled against Iran by the US State Department at a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with Islamic teachings, has one of the most modern constitutions in terms of respecting human dignity, and the Iranian parliament has also approved a law on fighting human trafficking in all shapes and forms, and ratified punishments for it,” said Qassemi.

“The root causes of human trafficking lie in unilateral, interventionist and aggressive policies as well as the wars of attrition, terrorism and ethnic cleansing in which the military and security forces of America and some of its allies are involved,” he noted.

The spokesman said the international community expects those behind anti-human policies which have caused and fuelled human trafficking in the world to be identified and dealt with.

“Undoubtedly, the US government is responsible in this regard, and cannot shirk its responsibility for that by playing blame games and levelling unfounded and false accusations against other countries,” he added.