UN human rights rapporteur says US has no Iran strategy under Biden

A top United Nations human rights official attacked the Biden administration’s supposed lack of a broad strategy for dealing with Iran and its various actions across the Middle East during a congressional briefing on Tuesday.

The organization’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, Javaid Rehman, was on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning for a briefing with staff members from two bipartisan House caucuses. He spoke to The Independent afterwards, and denied that the Biden administration had laid out a coherent strategy to deal with Iranian support of militant groups such as the Houthis and Hezbollah.

“No, I don't think so,” said Rehman when asked directly if such a coherent vision had been presented to the US’s international partners. “I think if they had [a strategy],I don't know what the State Department is saying. But from what I've been seeing, it hasn't. That’s why the Iranian regime has been taking advantage.”

“I think you need to be consistent as to what are you going to do to address a regime which is persistently violating the rights of its own people, but is also a threat to the region and to the world. I mean, we had this issue with [Iran’s] support for the Russians in Ukraine, providing drones. So how can you trust the Iranians and deal with them?” he continued.

He also condemned the administration’s prisoner swap deal, which allowed for the release of five Americans detained in Iran in exchange for freeing up $6 billion of Iranian-held money in the US financial system as well as the freeing of an unknown number of Iranians held in US custody.

“Human rights values should take priority. The problem with successive US regimes is that they are willing to do deals with Iranians when it suits them,”