Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-03-12 Thursday

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

Democracy Now! Thursday, March 12, 2026

Angeles, this is Democracy Now. A little excursion, we had to take this little, a couple of weeks, a few weeks, excursion, but it's been incredible. Our military is unbelievable. The job there daily. As President Trump calls the war on Iran a little excursion, Iran is escalating its attacks on ships in the Gulf upending global markets as the price of oil soars. Meanwhile, a preliminary Pentegon report confirms the U.S. was responsible for the strike on an Iranian girl school that killed 168 children and 14 teachers in southern Iran. We'll speak to Johns Hopkins University professor Nargis Bajogh.

And we remember the life of the Iraqi feminist Yonar Muhammad, recently assassinated in Baghdad. The story that does not reach to this part of the world is how the women are treated in the post-war Iraq. What happened to us, how our, let's say, destinies were totally devastated by this war. We all speak to Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Kalamar about Yanar Mohammed, the U.S. war on Iran, and a major U.N. meeting taking place this week to promote gender equality. all that and more coming out. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

The United States and Israel are continuing large-scale bombings across Iran, where officials say nearly 1,350 civilians have been killed in 12 days of attacks. Among the dead are at least 40 people, most of them civilian, killed in their homes when an airstrike ripped through a residential neighborhood in eastern Tehran. Survivors said three residential buildings were bombed simultaneously while a missile struck a nearby police station. Iran's health ministry reports over a dozen hospitals and clinics across Iran have suffered damage, including the Gandhi Hospital in Tehran. Meanwhile, U.S. and Israeli strikes have damaged some centuries-old locations designated by the United Nations,

as world heritage sites, including the Chachal-Sotun Palace in the city of Istafan. The Guardian is reporting Iran's new supreme leader, Lachdipa Hamani, was injured in the first February 28th attack that killed six of his family members, including his father, Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hamene. The Guardian cited Tehran's ambassador to Cyprus, who said Hamini, was a mani, lucky to survive the strike, which left him hospitalized with injuries to his legs, hand, and arm. On Capitol Hill, Pentagon officials told lawmakers Wednesday the cost of the first six days of war against Iran has exceeded $11.3 billion, a figure that does not include the cost of the

massive buildup of military forces in the Middle East ahead of the strikes. Meanwhile, a preliminary assessment from the Pentagon has determined the U.S. was at fault for the missile strike and an Iranian girls school on February 28 that killed 168 children and 14 teachers. President Trump's repeatedly blamed Iran's military for the bombing. On Wednesday, he told reporters he was unaware of the mounting evidence that the U.S. was responsible. Trump's latest denial came as 46 senators, all of them Democrats or independents, signed a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef demanding answers. They write, quote, The United States and Israel must abide by U.S. and international law, including the law of armed conflict.

There must be a swift investigation into the strikes on this school and any other potential U.S. military actions causing civilian and harm, and the findings must be released to the public as soon as possible, along with any measures to pursue accountability, unquote. The Washington Post reports, the elementary school building was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site. It's not clear whether artificial intelligence tools were responsible for targeting it. The U.S. and Israel are relying on software developed by Palantir to select thousands of of targets across Iran. The software relies partly on Anthropics clawed AI systems. This week,

Anthropics sued the Trump administration for designating the AI company as a supply chain risk, after Anthropic refused to allow Claude to be used for autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance. Iran's military says it targeted Israeli air bases at the Shibet headquarters in Tel Aviv, as drone and missile attacks from Iran and Hezbollah triggered air raid sirens across northern and central Israel. Iranian drones also struck at Middle Eastern nations that host U.S. military bases. Iraq and Oman shut down oil terminals after attacks on two oil tankers sparked massive fires and killed one person. Strikes also hit oil storage facilities in Oman. A third ship was struck off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. In Dubai, an Iranian drone

struck a residential building sparking a fire, while four people were injured by attacks on Dubai International Airport. In Bahrain, smoke rose over the capital, Manama, after an Iranian drone strike on fuel storage tanks at Bahrain International Airport. Kuwait International. airport was also hit by several drones. Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack Saudi Arabia's eastern oil fields and targeted Prince Sultan air base with ballistic missiles that Saudi officials say they successfully intercepted. The International Energy Agency has agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves as the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran's Royals energy markets. That's more than double the amount of oil released in 2022 after Russia's

full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It comes as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, says it will not allow, quote, a leader of oil through the strait of Hormuz with an IRGC spokesman warning, quote, expect oil at $200 per barrel, unquote. Saudi Arabia is ramping up crude oil flow. through its pipeline from the Kingdom's eastern coast to a port on the Red Sea. But oil production experts say that will not address fuel shortages if Iran targets the pipeline, or if Yemen's Houthis resume attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson called the spike in gas prices temporary. I think the mission is being achieved,

is nearly completed. And the commander chief himself said, in the last 24 hours, it will come to a close. So gas prices will readjust after that. This is a temporary blip in an extraordinary trend of a return to American energy dominance. Israel is continuing its relentless bombardment of Lebanon, where authorities say more than 630 people, at least 91 of them children have been killed over the past week. More than 816,000 people have been registered as displaced due to Israeli forced evacuation orders and air strikes.

Among the latest attacks was an overnight double-tap strike on Beirut's beachfront, targeting a tent camp housing displaced Lebanese families. At least eight people were killed and 21 injured by the Israeli strikes, which came without warning at three in the morning. In southern Lebanon, mourners gathered Wednesday for the funeral of the Lebanese Red Cross volunteer Yusuf Asaf, who was killed in an Israeli strike. What happened was that we were present in an area trying to evacuate wounded people, and a bomb fell among them. Two of our young men were targeted. One of them is still in the hospital, undergoing treatment and surgeries.

In Gaza, Israeli forces have continued deadly attacks. on Palestinians over the past 24 hours in the latest violations of the U.S. broker to October 10th ceasefire agreement. Palestinian reporters say two women were killed and seven others were injured, including three children, after Israeli forces targeted tents, sheltering displaced families in the New Sadat refugee camp. In western Gaza City, health officials say one Palestinian was killed and others were wounded when an Israeli drone fired a missile on a market.

This is a Palestinian survivor of the attack. What is the fall of children? Children are gone, women are gone, elderly people are gone. Why us? What do they have to do with this? We are peaceful, but the Israelis don't know peace. They don't want peace in the Middle East. They want to fight the whole world.

In Sudan, a drone strike in the village of Shikeri killed 17 people, most of them girls. The Sudan Doctors Network said the paramilitary group rapid support forces, RSF, was responsible for the strike. The village reportedly had no presence of the Sudanese military. The civil war in Sudan erupted in 2023 as fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese killed more than 40,000 people and forced nearly 15 million people to flee their homes. U.S. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas has reversed disposition on the filibuster in order to pass President Trump's Save America Act. The bill would require proof of citizenship for voter registration, require photo ID to cast a ballot, and require states to run voter rolls through a federal database kept by the Department of Homeland Security. Senator Cornyn is currently locked in a tight runoff election for his Senate seat with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and is seeking President Trump's endorsement.

The Save America Act was passed by the House, but Senate Democrats have vowed a filibuster to defeat the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has refused to change the Senate's rules to force a vote. On Wednesday, President Trump criticized Thune. saying he's got to be a leader, unquote. President Trump has vowed to not sign any other legislation until he's signed the Save America Act into law. In New Hampshire, Democrat Bobby Bowdoman won a special election for a statehouse seat on Wednesday beating the Republican, Dale Fincher, and flipping a Republican district. President Trump carried easily in 2024. Tuesday's election saw 16-point swing in favor of the Democratic candidate, the latest sign that Republicans

could face huge losses in November's midterm elections. According to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Democrats have flipped 28 seats since President Trump won in 2024. Republicans haven't flipped any seats currently held by Democrats. On Wednesday, President Trump traveled to the Kentucky district of Republican Congressmember Thomas Massey to campaign against him. Massey's a co-sponsor along with Democratic Congress member Ro Khanna of the Epstein-Files Transparency Act and voted in favor of an Iran War Powers resolution. You know what the name is? He is the worst person.

His name is, what the hell? How did he ever end up in Kentucky? His name is Thomas Massey. Richard Kahn, the longtime accountant of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, appeared for a closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Democratic Congress member James Walkenshaw, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, said, quote, Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring would not have been possible without Richard Kahn.

who managed Epstein's money for years authorized payments, including payments to victims and survivors, unquote. Khan claimed he was unaware of Epstein's sexual abuse and had not seen any of his victims. Meanwhile, lawmakers are seeking to interview Tova Noal, one of the prison guards on duty when Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, a death ruled a suicide by the New York chief medical examiner. According to the New York Post, FBI records suggest Noel had twice run a Google search for the phrase latest on Epstein in jail in the hours before Epstein's body was discovered. Chase Bank also flagged cash deposits in Noel's bank account in a suspicious

activity report to the FBI in November 2019 with a $5,000 cash deposit 10 days. days before Epstein's death. And in immigration news, there are disturbing new details about Egyptian mother, Haim El Gamal, and her five children who've been imprisoned at the U.S. family detention center for more than nine months, the longest-known family detention under President Trump's second term. In 59 pages of declarations that include handwritten letters and pictures drawn by the five children, The family details abhorrent medical care, inedible food, and a disregard for their religious freedom to practice Islam at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dili. The documents were first published by the Texas Tribune.

In one note, El Gamal's 16-year-old son writes, quote, this prolonged detention has and continues to destroy our lives. It's slowly killing us on the inside. Our mental health is at great risk. It's rapidly deteriorating with every day we spend here. Our lives are without purpose. We are just waiting for this nightmare to end, he writes. Under a federal 1997 settlement agreement, parents and children can generally not be in prison for more than 20 days in immigration jails, although the Trump administration suing to reverse that ruling and is violated it many times at the ICE family jail in Dilley, Texas.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in Los Angeles. Coming up, Johns Hopkins University professor Nargis Bajogh. Stay with us. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. As the U.S. and Israel war on Iran enters its 13th day, the war is escalating on a number of fronts.

Iran's accused the U.S. and Israel of targeting civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. Attacks have reportedly forced 12 Iranian hospitals to halt services. Earlier today, Israel announced it had hit a nuclear site outside of Tehran that Iran has long claim was used for civilian purposes. Meanwhile, a preliminary Pentagon report confirms the U.S. was responsible for last week's missile strike on Iranian girls' school that killed 168 children and 14 teachers. The Pentagon said outdated data from the Defense Intelligence Agency likely led to the strike. The Pentagon's also investigating whether the mistake was connected, to the military's use of artificial intelligence.

The Washington Post recently revealed the military is relying heavily on a system created by Palantir designed to help with real-time targeting and target prioritization. The system, known as Maven, uses the AI tool clawed made by Anthropic. On Wednesday, President Trump was asked about the school strike. says that the military investigation has found that the United States struck the school in Iran. As Commander-in-chief, you take responsibility to that. That is what? As Commander-in-Cief, do you use for the strike on the school in Iran, a new report says

the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school. I don't know, though. Later on Wednesday, President Trump held a rally in Kentucky in the District of Republican Congress member Thomas Massey, a vocal Trump critic. Trump claimed the U.S. has already won the war in Iran. And we've won. Let me say we've won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the bet. In the first hour, it was over. Despite Trump's victory claim, Iran's attack three more ships in the Gulf,

including two tankers off the coast of Iraq. Iran's also targeted fuel to, tanks at a facility in Bahrain. The attack sent the cost of oil back over $100 a barrel up over 30 percent since the war began. We're joined now by Nargis Bajogli, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, or SACE. She's the co-author of How Sanctions Work, Iran, and the impact of economic warfare. Professor Bajogli is also the author of Iran Reframed Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic. Thanks so much, Professor, for coming back on Democracy Now. Why don't you start off by talking about your latest New York Magazine piece in which you talk about the new divisions among Iranians that no longer fall along the old political lines of Iranians.

monarchists versus leftists. Yeah, so what has been happening among Iranians, whether within Iran or in the diaspora, has been an extreme form of polarization that has been occurring over the past, I would say, a year and a half to two years. Much of this has to do and came under the umbrella of the maximum pressure sanctions and policy that the Trump administration first imposed on Iran in his first presidency. that was not just a package of severe economic sanctions, but also millions of dollars poured into media infrastructures,

media warfare, and psychological operations. Part of what that money went towards was funding huge amounts of social media and satellite television stations, some of which are very pro-monarchy, one of which is Iran International, which beams into Iran and has a very robust social media apparatus. The best way to describe Iran International is kind of like Fox News in the United States,

where the same ways in which Fox News has helped really polarize this country in ways that are quite significant. Iran International has done the same. And over the past couple of years, it has been pushing a very pro-monarchy line. And it has really done a lot to erase a lot of the diversity within the Iranian political imagination and sort of Iranian political society. Today, what we have is now a very fragmented and very divided political sphere in which the only options are you are either pro regime or you are pro-Pathia and want the Israeli-American invasion of Iran in order to liberate

the country. And when you say pro-Palevi, explain first who the Shah was, who the U.S. stalled after they overthrew the democratically elected leader, Mohamed Mousadegh, who was elected in 1953, and take us through that right to his son. Sure. So when Mohamed Moseyadr was deposed in 1953, it was the first covert operation of the newly established CIA, and they worked alongside British intelligence in order to do that coup.

They reinstated the Shah, and he became increasingly autocratic in the 16 years that he continued to, rule the country. He had very close relationships with the Americans and the Israelis. And the resentment began to brew in Iranian society. And the narrative began to form that the Shaw was a puppet of the United States. And many people were very opposed to the sort of very autocratic way in which he was ruling inside of Iran. That led to the 1979 revolution. And the 79 revolution at its heart was a claim and a desire for independence and sovereignty from great powers. What ended up happening in the power plays after the revolution gave rise to the Iran,

to the Islamic Republic. And it's sort of then fast forwarded until today. You have a lot of different people within Iranian society, as well as in the diaspora, who either fought during the revolution and desired something, different than the Islamic Republic, or who throughout the years have been really trying to transform this system within the country. Reza Pahlavi is the son of the former Shah of Iran, who was deposed in 1979. He's been living in exile since 1979. And he, throughout these 47 years that he's been in exile, he hasn't really built anything. We can't point to any businesses he's

had any organizations he's really helped lead, any even sort of broad-based coalition building of the diaspora or opposition groups. He's always been there in the background as the son of the former king, but he really began to come into the foreground of what is happening in the diaspora really over the past couple of years. And in many ways, he's been pushed into that by very pro-Israel elements in the United States and within Israel itself. what we see sort of play out is not just pushing him forward, but also a concerted effort to heavily silence anyone who does not agree with him or who offers alternative viewpoints of what should be the path forward for Iranian politics and Iranian society.

And the significance of the Savak, the role that they played, the Shah's secret police, terrorizing the population? Yes, so the Savok was a secret police during, the Shah's time in Iran. It was helped formulated by the CIA and the Mossad. And it was really sort of one of those massive organizations that Iranians really despise. And it was one of the sort of key elements that helped lead to a lot of the resentments that then led to the 79 revolution. I was just looking at a tweet of Tariq Ali, who wrote his secret police. Sevaq was one of the most innovative of the time back fully by the CIA. They tried out new

forms of torture and boasted about their man-sized toaster. Political prisoners were put in this toaster one at a time and it was switched on so that human brunts and backs could be toasted at one go. Professor Bajogli. Yes, the Savak was a very vicious secret police. And again, heavily trained by the CIA, had very close relationships with the Mossad. And so, you know, this entire apparatus and sort of this way of understanding Iranian politics as either being, you know, it either has to be completely pro-Western and not even just pro-Western, but sort of under the yoke of America and what America wants in the region.

I mean, at the time, before the revolution, Iran was seen as being. the policemen of the Persian Gulf region. It was one of the United States' biggest allies, especially during the Cold War, because of Iran's long borders with the Soviet Union at the time. And so in that way, the Savok and the entire apparatus of the monarchy at the time suppressed all kinds of domestic dissent heavily, especially the leftist, but all across the political spectrum,

the only ones that they did not suppress, mostly because they could not, was the religious establishments in the country. And so one of the reasons you also have the emergence of the Islamic Republic and the aftermath of the 79 revolution is because one of the only sort of social groups that could continue to organize in the 1960s and 1970s were those who were tied to religious organizations in the countries because all other forms of dissent had been pushed out. I want to go back to President Trump speaking yesterday. We get a little excursion. We had to take this little, a couple of weeks, a few weeks of excursion, but it's been incredible. Our military is unbelievable, the job there dealing.

I would say to put it mildly way ahead of schedule. We've knocked out their Navy, their military in all forms. We've knocked out just about everything that is, including their leadership. twice. We've not yet twice for the Asia, but now they have a new group coming up, let's see what happens to them.

Do you have any questions, Peter? Yes. You just said it is a little excursion, and you said it is a war. So which one is it? Well, it's both. It's both. It's a excursion that will

keep us out of a war, and the war is going to be, I mean, for them it's a war. For us, it's it turned out to be easier that we thought. Professor Nargis Bajogli, your response to President Trump calling, the U.S. Israeli attacks on Iran a little excursion. This coming out at the same time that the Pentagon's own preliminary report, in one case, the bombing of the girls' school in southern Iran, that it, they're saying that it was a U.S. Tomahawk missile, right?

168 children killed and 14 teachers. As an Iranian, Iranian American now, your thoughts? I mean, this entire war went from the strike on that girl's school to the strike that happened last weekend of the oil depots around Tehran, which caused a massive poisoning event of black rain and acid rain falling across a six of over 9 million people, Trump talking about the desire to alter Iran's map. This is all being read inside of Iran as a war on the Iranian people and on the Iranian nation. The Islamic Republic has not crumbled, even though they took out the Supreme Leader.

And just yesterday, Reuters reported that U.S. intelligence has concluded that the Islamic Republic is not even close to buckling under this kind of pressure. So this is being read inside Iran as a war on the nation and on the civilian population because of the way that it is being carried out. And it is increasing the sense of nationalism. On the other hand, the United States is receiving, you know, Iran cannot militarily go head to head with the United States. Instead, what Iran does and has been doing is asymmetrical warfare. And in that regard, the U.S. military and the U.S. architecture across the Gulf countries is receiving a major blow. And this is something that is causing a lot of political damage across the Gulf region for the American. So this is not something that just because President Trump says he wants to switch it off can actually function in that way.

This is going to have very long-reaching repercussions. On Wednesday, an Iranian military spokesperson warned the price of oil could reach $200 a barrel. We will not be able to keep oil and energy prices artificially low through economic life support. As we have already warned, if the war spreads across the region, expect oil to reach $200 per barrel. Oil prices will follow the level of security in the region, and the source of that insecurity is you. Our hands are full of stronger and more powerful blows. As we continue the previous enemy crushing operations, we will avenge the pure blood of our martyred leader,

our beloved nation, the innocent women and children, and the innocent angels of Minab who were killed. That's an Iranian government spokesperson, Professor Bajogli, your response. So Iran has been under pretty significant sanctions for many decades now, and maximum pressure sanctions for about eight to nine years now. It has been pushed out of the global economy. So one of the things that Iran is doing in this war is hitting at the global economy that itself has been isolated against.

And it knows that the only way to actually change the terms of debates when it comes to Iran and to have to not go back to a status quo ante, meaning to not go back to where things were before this war started where, again, there was a ceasefire, but Israel and America are able to violate that. We have 10 seconds. And so they will continue to target the oil markets in order to pressure the Americans and others to back away from this war. Nargis Bejogh.

I want to thank you so much for being with us. Associate Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. We thank you so much. for being with us. When we come back, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Kiamar, about the assassination of the Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed, the U.S. war on Iran and more. Palestinian youth choir performing in New York City. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org,

the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. On Sunday, tens of thousands of women around the world marked international. Women's Day by demonstrating against gender-based violence and calling for an end to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. A Monday, a major United Nations summit, the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women began. This all comes a week after Iraqi human rights defender and feminist advocate Yanar Muhammad was assassinated in Baghdad in Iraq. She was killed in an attack on her home. She just reportedly returned to Iraq from Canada a few days before her murder. She was killed by two unidentified gunmen who opened fire as she stood outside her home.

Yanar Muhammad was the co-founder and president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq. In 2003, she founded the first women's shelter in Iraq to protect women from trafficking and so-called honor killings, becoming the target of death threats over her activism. She was a frequent guest on Democracy Now following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. This was Yanar speaking on Democracy Now in December. of that year. The story that does not reach to this part of the world is how the women are treated in the post-war Iraq. What happened to us, how our, let's say, destinies were totally devastated by this war. What is told to everybody is that we got rid of a bloody dictator,

which is a true story. But the part that nobody knows about is that we did have sort of a secure life. We did have our jobs. We did have some stability that we totally lost with the first day of the war. Now, our everyday life has abductions for women. We cannot go out in the streets safely. We are immediately a moving target on the streets, and we qualify for kidnappings, for rape and for killing, just because we are women. And on top of all of that, what the coalition did was hand over part of the authorities to religious fundamentalists that turned our lives to push us hundreds of years back in time. That was Yanar Muhammad, speaking on democracy now in 2003, shot dead last week in Baghdad, Iraq when she returned to Iraq. On Monday, I spoke to

Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnes Kalamar. I asked her about, her reaction to the killing of Yanar Muhammad, a woman she knew well. Lots of emotion to see her because I met her. I was not as close to her as some of my friend in the field, but she was very, very important for us. She was an icon. She fought so hard. I met her in Iraq. I actually met her organization there. She was, you know, she she was so strong and so determined. And she fought in the most incredibly cruel and violent environment. And she kept going and she kept going.

You know, for all of us, we feel that she is one of the victims of the current war because she became the symbol of, you know, this westernized. person, which she wasn't, because as you know, she took very strong position against all wars of aggression, as she took position against patriarchy and violence in Iraq. You know, it's so interesting. You see her as a victim of this war, because you think of the similarities of the U.S. invasion of Iraq back in 2003, when I think it was the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying they were. greet us with flowers. And you see what President Trump is saying, you know, we are there to

protect the protesters in Iran. And of course, what's happening now is hundreds. Well over a thousand people have been killed so far in Iran. And civilians. Look, I think we really need to reject any kind of binary proposal being brought to us. I would want to be very clear that the regime in Iran is responsible for massive human rights violations. Probably thousands of people were slaughtered in January for protesting it. Women in Iran being denied some of their basic rights. So that is a reality of the regime in Iran. But making it clear that this is a regime.

and a government that is responsible for crimes against humanity should not lead us, of course, to see in this act and these attacks anything else but an act of aggression, which will also victimize people and civilians. Right now, there are hundreds of people who were arrested in January in the context of probably the most violently repressed. protest. They are held in prison. Those prisons are either directly targeted by the bombing or are near areas where their bombs are falling. And we are very worried about what's going to happen to these prisoners. We know what happened during the 12 days war that Evan prison was targeted. that during times of war like this one, the Iranian government increases the repression.

It has imposed an internet blackout, and there is likely to be more repression against anyone wanting to raise the alarm about the situation. So at all level, people are the victims. And let's make no mistake. These attacks, the Israeli-U.S. attacks on Iran are doing nothing to protect the Iranian protesters and those who have been at the forefront of fighting the government. Well, I wanted to ask you about those prisoners a little more like Nargis Mohamedi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was just taken back into custody as she protested the death of yet another Iranian believing at the hands of the Iranian government. And what happens to her and the others do of any word?

I mean, it's hard to get word out of what's happening on the streets, let alone in these prisons like the notorious Indian prison. The words are alarming. First of all, she has been moved out of the prison where she was held to another location. She is unwell. She has many health problems. Which is why she was released the first time.

for medical reasons. And then she spoke out again and was re-imprisoned. Reimprisoned, moved to a new facility. And according to people who are close to her and to information that she managed to provide, she has been denied medical treatment and she is under severe, I will say, circumstances. So whether or not she's being ill-treated or tortured, it's hard to know, but the denial of medical services and medicine amounts to an inhuman and degrading ill-treatment. You're here in New York for the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Women around the world are fighting for gender justice, which is so much under attack.

Can you talk about what this session is about and who attends it? and what you're calling for? Look, it could not be coming at a more urgent time. So who comes? First and foremost, those who can get a visa. So let me be very clear that it will be a smaller commission on the status of women because either people are afraid of coming to the United States or are not getting visa. It is a privileged few, like people like me, who are making it to the commission this year.

Well, wait, just one second. Can you explain this? Because I think a lot of people in this country may not understand the level of denial of visas of people from around the world. And here, the United Nations is. And there's a whole question of whether it will be pulled from New York and, you know, brought to another country because of these restrictions. As you know, the Trump administration has basically imposed visa vetoes on a large number of countries, mostly in Africa. So anyone coming out of these countries cannot get a visa to enter the United States. And it is most of Africa. So already you are denying a large number of advocates and activists access to the United States. we cannot minimize the fact that for many activists, the United States is becoming a scary place to come to. So in addition to the fact that they cannot get visa, for whatever reason, including the fact that they originate from a country from which there is no visa, a number of them are not coming for fear, fear of eyes, fear of being targeted, fear of being arrested, fear, just fear. Why would you put yourself into such a situation when you don't have to?

So the first thing to say about the commission this year is that it is going to be smaller in terms of the number of people or in terms of the number of diverse people coming from around the world. That being said, it is a crucially important commission. It's coming at a peak, the peak of the war against women. the war against gender. It is amusing the word war because it is coordinated, it is organized, it is well-funded, it has its national component and it has its international component. Internationally, every CSW, every commission, there is a statement that is being released.

Usually it is released with consensus. So for this year, consensus seems very unlikely and a number of countries are using the environment and the fact that they are being emboldened by the Trump administration to argue over language, particularly in relation to gender rights, in relation to reproductive rights, in relation to human rights defenders, they are trying to eliminate such language or to weaken. it. Of course, there are, luckily, other countries that are pushing back, but it is a battleground. Those political statement, and that particular political statement, is going to be a battleground. It is also happening, CSW, at a time when we've been receiving all these information coming out of the Epstein files. And let's not minimize what it means for our, global society. It is an international criminal network that was present at all level of governments, of finance, of culture, and at heart it is about violence against women. That is the context

within which CSW is taking place. This is why it's so important. This is why we're coming. This is why we're marching, we're rising and we're saying, no way. We're going to stand up and we're going to say and push back. We're going to resist the onslaught against women's rights and against gender rights. We don't have a choice. We've got to fight and we've got to resist. What about women's rights being used as a pretext to go to war? I remember when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, the first time the presidential radio address, was given over to the First Lady. In that case, it was Laura Bush, the wife of George W. Bush,

and she said we're coming in to save women. And you think about this U.S. Israeli attack on Iran, one of the first acts, and it looks like from various investigations, as a U.S. strike on a girls' primary school, and 175 people died, the majority of them we believe, little girls. Look, I think no one is that naive. You know, there is a clear instrumentalization of women's rights. I think we all know that this government could not care less.

For the last 12 months, the Trump administration has done everything in its power to weaken the domestic protection for women's rights. It is now moving to impose a global. gag rules over sexual and reproductive rights around the world. It is attacking any kind of narrative related to gender. It is erasing the notion, the principle of equality between men and women. There is no doubt that this government does not care about women's rights, whether they are Iranian or, frankly, American.

And then, of course, non-Iran, not the U.S., looking at, for example, what's happening in Gaza, what's happening in Sudan, for example. And as you say, so many people were denied visas from Africa, so they can't even frame their own stories. Yeah, absolutely. Look, we are at a critical moment for women's rights for the fight against racial discrimination, for the fight for LGBTIQI around the world. What the Trump administration has done is not creating the anti-right agenda, but it has emboldened it to a level that we have. had not seen before. It is using the seeds that have been planted now for a few years,

and it is using them for its own advantage and its own purpose, which is to get rid of any kind of normative guardrails around the world to suggest that the rule-based order that we took 80 years to create, to build, including around women's rights. It is now trying to pretend that this is an illusion and that there is no such thing as a rule-based order. That is what is at stake. And fighting for women's rights, including internationally, is how we demonstrate that the rule-based order is not an illusion. That over the last 80 years, women's activists, feminist, and a number of governments have worked together to, adopt a convention for the protection of women against discrimination, for their protection

against violence. This is what is at stake right now. And this is why we must resist this organized, coordinated onslaught against women's rights. Before you were Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnes Calamar, you were a UN special rapporteur, an extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions. I want to ask about another UN rapporteur. I wanted to ask you about Francesca Albinasi and what it means when she reports on genocide in Gaza being sanctioned, how investigators like her can get at the truth when they are then personally attacked. Persecuted. It's a form of persecution. It is a clear attempt. attempt by this administration to make international scrutiny, international justice a battleground.

They went after ICC judges. They are going after, they went after Francesca, and they went after Palestinians organizations. It is an attack on justice. It is an attack on international scrutiny. It is sending a chilling message to everyone who dare stand up. It is a potentially harming the entire international justice system. This is why resistance must be driving all people of conscience right now. Some governments have spoken against those sanctions, but too few have done so. Francesca's own government. Italy is doing nothing to protect her. In fact, most of European recently, the French government has also gone after her on the basis of what was clearly a truncated video. So governments that have the political and the economic backbone to resist the United States.

Those are the government that should stand up. Personally, I don't think we should expect governments that are already battered by an equal economic system to then stand up and say no to Donald Trump. But there are others. The European market is the biggest economic market right now, or one of the biggest in the world. Those countries, together or some alone, have the capacity to say no. Indeed, Spain is saying no. But where are the others? Where are the others?

So, you know, it is really crucial that European people call on their government to stand up and say no to the onslaught against the international order, against international law, against women's rights that is being driven right now by the Trump administration. we've got to stand up and say no. At many levels, it's very simple. It is very simple. Just say no. I want to end by asking you about what's happening Iran being framed as a holy war and what exactly that means for women. Mikey Weinstein, the founder and president of Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

He said his organization has gotten over 200 calls from members of the military regarding religious comments made by U.S. commanders. One combat unit commander reportedly said the war is part of God's divine plan that President Trump's been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and Mark his return to Earth. And then you have Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth inviting this controversial Christian nationalist pastor, Doug Wilson, to lead the Pentagon's prayer service. he opposes.

Muslims holding public office does not believe women should be allowed to vote. When you have these attacks framed as a holy war, how this disproportionately affects women? Well, first, I want to say that a month ago, during the Munich Security Conference, Marco Rubio, in the speech he delivered, called on an alliance of Christian white people led by the United States. So it has been in the making, this notion of a holy war, Christian war.

We also hear it a lot in Israel in a different context. Religion has never been a friend of women's rights. Religion has been the primary driver. through which women's rights have been violated and the violations have been justified in the name of a higher godly principle. So the comments that we are hearing right now, the incredible images that we have seen

should send shivers through the spine of every woman. And I think we cannot but escape wandering how can they then accuse the Iranian government of being led by God? Because clearly that's also what they are trying to portray. It is a terrible moment for our global society. That is why Amnesty International is here at CSW. here with a very clear message. We got to resist what is happening. That is Agnes Calamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. That does are for our show on Friday and Saturday I'll be

in Mexico City at Festival Ambilante for two screenings of the new documentary about democracy now. Steal this story, please. I'm Amy Goodman.