The Voice of Iranian Women: A Closer Look at the Amini Protests in Iran
Oct 27, 2022, 3:00PM
Just over a month ago, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being brutally beaten by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing a head scarf. Since then, Iranians of all walks of life, with Iranian women in the lead, have taken to the streets in nationwide protests the country has not witnessed in years. The protests have generated statements of support from around the world and actions to hold the Iranian regime accountable with new sanctions by both the Biden Administration and the European Union. However, Biden Administration officials have been criticized for lukewarm support for the protests and its reluctance to allow this violence to deter it from striking a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Where are the protests heading and what do they mean for the future of the Iran and U.S. policy?
To examine these and other questions, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is proud to host former Trump administration Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ellie Cohanim; Victoria Coates, Deputy National Security Adviser during the Trump administration and Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow, Jacob Olidort, the Director of AFPI’s Middle East Peace Project. The discussion will be moderated by Fred Fleitz, Vice Chair of AFPI’s Center for American Security.
Bios:
Ellie Cohanim served as the Trump Administration’s Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism and was the State Department’s first Iranian-born envoy. Ellie led diplomatic initiatives which resulted in forging groundbreaking partnerships in the Arab world to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism and was the State Department’s lead official creating and implementing policy on countering anti-Semitism in the Near East and Western Hemisphere regions. Previously, Ellie Cohanim was Senior Vice President & Special Correspondent for the Jewish Broadcasting Service
Victoria Coates is a Senior Research Fellow for International Affairs and National Security with the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. She served during the Trump Administration as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Middle Eastern and North African Affairs and a senior adviser to Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette.
Fred Fleitz is Vice Chair of AFPI’s Center for American Security. He served 25 years in national security positions at the CIA, the State Department, and the House Intelligence Committee staff. In 2018, Fleitz was Chief of Staff of the Trump National Security Council.
Jacob Olidort is the Director of AFPI’s Center for American Security and Director of the Center’s Middle East Peace Project. A historian of the Middle East, Olidort served as a special advisor in the office of Vice President Mike Pence and as a senior foreign policy advisor to two U.S. Senators.