Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian President, refused a
scheduled interview with American broadcasting network CNN after the
interviewer, Christiane Amanpour, refused to wear a headscarf at the United
Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Wednesday.

Raisi was running 40 minutes behind schedule when
an aide of the Iranian President told Amanpour that she needed to wear a
headscarf for the interview. “I politely declined on behalf of myself and CNN,
and female journalists everywhere because it is not a requirement,” Amanpour
said.

Christiane Amanpour, who grew up in Iran capital
Tehran and is a fluent Farsi speaker, said she wears a headscarf only in Iran
in keeping with local laws and customs. But she refused to wear a headscarf for
an interview with an Iranian official in a country where there is no such law.

“Here in New York, or anywhere else outside of
Iran, I have never been asked by any Iranian president – and I have interviewed
every single one of them since 1995 – either inside or outside of Iran, never
been asked to wear a headscarf,” Amanpour said on CNN’s ‘New Day’ programme.

According to Iranian law, women are required to
wear headscarves and loose-fitting clothing in public. The 1979 Islamic
Revolution brought the rule and every woman in the country is obliged to follow,
including visiting political figures, journalists and tourists.

Amanpour said Raisi’s aide, while asking her to
wear a headscarf, referred to it as a matter of respect given it is the holy
months of Muharram and Safar. The aide also referred to the situation in Iran,
where protests are sweeping the nation, Amanpour said.

Protests erupted in Iran after a 22-year-old girl
named Mahsa Amini died in custody after Iran’s morality police arrested her for
violating the law on headscarves. Iran’s law enforcement officials say Amini
died due to a hear attack and falling into a coma, but her family claims she
had no existing heart condition, according to an Iranian pro-reform media
outlet.

CNN journalist Amanpour sought to ask questions to
Raisi on Mahsa Amini’s death, she said, but had to walk away. “As protests
continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would have been an important moment
to speak with President Raisi.”