Iceland’s foreign minister rejects Iran’s use of her remarks

Iceland’s Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir says her position on Iran’s government has not changed after Iranian authorities used her image and remarks on a propaganda billboard in Tehran, according to mbl.is.

“I do not control who around the world quotes my words,” she said. Gunnarsdóttir said she stood by comments she made at the United Nations General Assembly, calling on leaders to negotiate a just and lasting peace, provide humanitarian aid to people in need and respect international law.

The billboard referred to her remarks about “moral cowards”. Gunnarsdóttir had said the term could apply to leaders who failed to try to negotiate a just and lasting peace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had used the phrase after dozens of representatives left the hall during his speech to the assembly on September 24.

Gunnarsdóttir rejected criticism from political opponents who, she said, were trying to suggest she sympathised with Iran’s government. She said Iceland had been among the countries on the UN Human Rights Council that had gone furthest in holding Iranian authorities accountable for serious human rights violations.

She said she was strongly opposed to the Iranian government’s policies, accusing it of using extensive violence against protesters and carrying out mass executions. She also said she hoped her comments on the rights of women, LGBTQ people and minorities had reached the authorities in Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not mention her speech at a meeting with her the previous day, she said.