Iran's State Newspaper 'Iran' Attempts to Refute VOA Report on Voting Pressure on Jews in Recent 'Government Elections'

While the English section of Voice of America reported on August 8 about the coercion of Iran's Jewish minority to participate in government voting, the state newspaper 'Iran', the official news outlet of the Islamic Republic, labeled this report as a 'lie' and attempted to refute it. In an interview with Sameh Yah, 'the representative of Jews in Iran in the Parliament', the newspaper tried to imply that 'no pressure was exerted on the Jewish community in Iran to vote.' The 'Jewish representative' claimed in this conversation that 'the community leaders themselves encouraged people to participate in the elections willingly, and not only did the Jewish community in Iran wish for their people to participate, but other religious minorities in Iran, including Armenian, Assyrian, Chaldean Christians, and Zoroastrians, also followed this trend and encouraged their communities to participate in the elections.' While the newspaper and its interviewee speak of encouraging the Iranian community to participate in elections, official claims from the Islamic Republic, which have always been questioned by informed observers, indicate that the Iranian people showed the least participation in at least four past government votes and elections, facing widespread boycotts. The state newspaper Iran also, in another part of its interview, referred to a part of the VOA report that stated that Islamic Republic officials, in an unprecedented move, organized a meeting between representatives of presidential candidates and members of the Jewish community at the main synagogue in Tehran two days before the first round of elections to choose a successor to Ebrahim Raisi. The representative of Jews in Iran in Parliament responded that 'the program held at the Yusuf Abad synagogue was organized at my suggestion as a member of Parliament, and representatives of all candidates were invited to explain their programs, especially in relation to the religious minority community. We were suggested to introduce areas for holding elections in Jewish community places in Tehran. Incidentally, we introduced places with less density of the Jewish community! That is, we chose schools that were not close to the residential centers of the Jewish community, and we did not want it to be so! The district office did not oppose this issue either.' The U.S. State Department confirmed on August 8 in a statement exclusively provided to Voice of America that reports of coercion of Iran's Jewish minority to participate in the recent presidential elections were accurate, describing this action of the Islamic Republic as 'regrettable.' In an unprecedented move during the voting to elect a successor to Raisi, exclusive polling stations for Jews were designated in five Jewish centers in Tehran. The Tehran Jewish Association, the main organization defending the interests of Jews in the Islamic Republic, also confirmed in a Telegram post on June 31 that this was the first time that special polling stations were allocated to Jews for the presidential elections. The five polling stations for Jews for the presidential elections listed by the Tehran Jewish Association were located in public school synagogues and educational complexes of Jews, including Musi Ben Imran High School, Abrishami Synagogue, Ettehad Synagogue Educational Complex, Fakhr Danesh Girls' School, Rouhi Shad Boys' School, and the Union of Zargarian Synagogue. George Harounian, an Iranian-American Jewish activist, stated in an interview with Voice of America that this action of the Islamic Republic for the 'Iranian presidential elections' poses new dangers for the Jewish minority, and the establishment of polling bases for Jews provides government officials access to data showing how many Jews voted and which presidential candidates they voted for. Voice of America also reported in November 1402 on the Islamic Republic's actions to force Jews to demonstrate against Israel, which the U.S. State Department described as 'disgusting.'