Iran minister cancels India visit over 2-second clip of Mahsa Amini-linked protest in promo video: report

Iran's foreign minister has cancelled his upcoming visit to India over a 2-second clip in a promotional video, according to an Indian Express report.

Iranian minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was scheduled to visit India for the Raisina Dialogue event on 3 and 4 March 2023. A promotional video for the event had a 2-second clip showing Iranian women cutting their hair in protest, juxtaposed with a photograph of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi.

The protests, aimed at Iran's theocratic government, were sparked in September 2022 by the murder of Mahsa Amini allegedly by the country's morality police for violating draconian hijab laws.

The Iranian embassy had asked the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), which organises the Raisina Dialogue, to delete the sequence, as per the Indian Express. When ORF did not agree, Tehran decided to cancel the minister's visit.

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