Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded in strong terms to a post by his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.

Addressing Barrot on his X account, Araghchi said, “Stop the crocodile tears.” The Iranian minister argued that France remained silent when the United States was killing children in Iran.
Araghchi also referred to France’s colonial period in Algeria, claiming that 1.5 million Algerians were killed during the war of independence. He said Paris recorded fewer than one-tenth of that figure in official records and noted that France has still not apologized for its colonial-era practices.

In a message published on the anniversary of Amini’s death, Barrot accused Iran of repression and said that Amini “was killed for demanding freedom.”
Twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini died on September 16, 2022, three days after she was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating mandatory headscarf rules. Protests began across Iran following Amini’s death.