On Thursday, Christian Amambour shared on Twitter that he had decided to pull out of an interview with the Iranian president in New York on Wednesday evening.
The journalist explains in the thread of his tweet that he intended to ask the president a question Death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian was arrested for not wearing her veil properly. would have been”First interview with President Roissy on American soil“, explains Christian Amanpour.”After weeks of planning and eight hours of setting up translation equipment, lights and cameras, we were readyThe journalist explains. But there was no sign of President Raisi.
40 minutes after the scheduled time for the interview, the President’s aide arrived and writes: “President, he said, He advised me to wear veil as it was the holy months of Muharram and Safar“, she explains.
“I politely declined She continues. We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding the veil. I pointed out that no Iranian president had ever requested this before when I interviewed them outside of Iran“.
However the aide insisted: “He made it clear to me that the interview would not take place if I did not wear the hijab“, explains Christian Amanpour, and the assistant is a “A matter of respect“and provoked”“The Situation in Iran”. However, the journalist maintained his denial, telling the aide that it was a “An unprecedented and unexpected situation“.
In a Twitter thread, Amanpour described how his scheduled interview with Raisi Wednesday night in New York fell through, calling the aide’s request an “unprecedented and unexpected situation.”
Christian Amanpour concludes by explaining that the interview didn’t happen: “We’re gone“, she wrote, “With protests continuing and people being killed in Iran, this would have been an important time to speak with President Raisi.”
CNN said in a statement of support “Christian and his team’s decision to politely decline an interview with President Raisi“.
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