September 21, 2018
Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif has drawn a social media backlash from Iranians for saying the pressures they face in Iran are a result of the life they have chosen to live.
Zarif made the comment while appearing August 26 on a live state television talk show. At one point during the program, show host Reza Rashidpur asked Zarif why Iran appears to face more global pressures than other nations.
“We have chosen to live in a different way [compared to other countries],” Zarif replied. “We do not want someone telling us how to live. We want to secure our people’s rights based on our laws. We want a system of government that we prefer.”
Within 24 hours, Twitter users posted at least 5,000 tweets with hashtags rejecting Zarif’s assertion that Iranians “chose” to live in an Islamist theocracy that has pursued nuclear and other activities that have sparked international criticism and economic sanctions.
A VOA analysis of internationally-trending hashtags using the online tool Trendsmap showed more than 1,000 tweets posted with the Farsi equivalent of the hashtag #I_didn’t_choose, and more than 4,000 tweets with the Farsi equivalent of #We_didn’t_choose.
Among those criticizing Iran’s top diplomat was a Farsi-speaking Twitter user with 24,000 followers who goes by the female name Sadaf. In her tweet, she wrote, “We haven’t chosen that, Mr. Zarif. Our parents and people like you decided for us some 40 years ago, and now they are very regretful. We young [Iranians] are dreaming about having normal and friendly relations with the world.”
Iran-based journalist Amir Abbas Kalhor responded to Zarif with a tweet saying, “Neither my parents chose you, nor myself and others in my generation, who have not had a referendum or free elections to decide [how we want to be governed].”