Iran

India has condemned comments made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the treatment of Muslims in the South Asian nation, calling his remarks "misinformed and unacceptable."

"We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place," Khamenei said in a social media post on Monday.

In response, India's foreign ministry said it "strongly deplored" the comments.

"Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others," the foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The two countries have typically shared a strong relationship, and signed a 10-year contract in May to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar.

India has been developing the port in Chabahar on Iran's southeastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan.

Khamenei, however, has been critical of India in the past over issues involving Indian Muslims and the troubled Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement Monday marking the second anniversary of the death of the young Kurdish-Iranian activist Mahsa Amini.

Amini died on September 16, 2022, just days after she was taken into police custody for allegedly violating Iran's law requiring women to wear a hijab.

Amini’s death sparked nationwide protests in Iran that persisted for months. Hundreds of people were killed in the protests, while thousands more were injured or arrested.

The diplomats said human rights organizations report “Iran is one of the foremost executioners of women globally.”

The ministers’ statement said a renewed hijab “crackdown” that requires women and girls to wear headscarves “has spurred a fresh round of harassment and violence” from the country’s newly strengthened “surveillance infrastructure” that can “arrest, detain and in some cases torture women and girls for their peaceful activism.”

“We call on the new Iranian administration to fulfill its pledge to ease pressure on civil society in Iran and to end the use of force to enforce the hijab requirement,” the diplomats said.

The ministers said a “recent surge in executions that have largely occurred without fair trials has been shocking, and we urge the Iranian government to cease its human rights violations now.” They warned that their countries “will continue to act in lockstep” to hold Iran accountable for its human rights violations. Actions against Iran could include sanctions and visa restrictions.

The ministers said Amini’s death “sparked a nationwide protest movement, led by women and girls, which was unwavering in its demand for a better future. ... We stand with women and girls in Iran, and Iranian human rights defenders across all segments of society, in their ongoing daily fight for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

On Sunday, a group of at least 34 female prisoners in Tehran’s Evin Prison initiated a hunger strike to mark the anniversary of Amini’s death and the protests that followed.

U.S. State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching and VOA’s Persian Service contributed to this report.