The World Economic Forum is facing calls to freeze out members of the Iranian regime from a summit in Davos this week.
The Iran watchdog group United Against Nuclear Iran sent a letter to WEF President Borge Brende on Friday urging the group not to invite any officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The group tells Fox News Digital that WEF did not respond to the letter, and instead the forum added an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to the summit's schedule on Sunday.
WEF did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
UANI CEO Mark Wallace, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, cited human rights group reports regarding the mass slaughter of Iranian civilians by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime.
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"Just this month, the Iranian regime has carried out what some believe to be the largest massacre in its history," Wallace wrote to Brende. "Araghchi is a member of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which reportedly issued an order to use live fire on Iranian civilians protesting. Estimates suggest the regime killed at least 12,000 and up to 20,000 Iranians over the course of a few days in January as they exercised their fundamental rights to demonstrate against the Ayatollah and his tyranny."
"Hosting Iranian regime officials, such as Araghchi, who whitewash this record is deeply offensive and would be wholly inappropriate to platform at a Forum whose theme this year is 'A Spirit of Dialogue.' Instead of dialogue, the Islamic Republic offered bullets to these brave Iranians," Wallace continued.
Iran’s supreme leader publicly acknowledged for the first time Saturday that thousands of people were killed during recent anti-government protests, according to reporting from the BBC.
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Khamenei made the remarks during a public address Saturday, blaming the U.S. for the unrest and violence and saying some protesters died "in an inhuman, savage manner."
U.S.-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates that more than 3,000 people were killed over roughly three weeks of unrest, though Iranian authorities have not released an official death toll and other estimates have been higher.
Videos authenticated by BBC Persian and BBC Verify show Iranian security forces firing on demonstrators during the unrest.
Trump told Politico on Saturday that "it’s time to look for new leadership in Iran," after being read a series of hostile posts from Khamenei’s X account accusing the president of responsibility for the violence.
"What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before," Trump said, according to Politico. "Leadership is about respect, not fear and death."
Fox News' Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
