The World Economic Forum drew fierce backlash for inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (who reportedly made recent threats to President Trump) to speak at its annual Davos meeting starting January 20, 2026, despite Iran's regime carrying out massacres of protesters, with thousands killed just since late December 2025.
Araghchi, a member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council who allegedly ordered live fire on demonstrators, was slated for an interview session on Sunday, January 19, even after advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran sent a letter on January 17 urging WEF President Borge Brende to exclude him.
UANI CEO Mark Wallace blasted the move as deeply offensive, given estimates of 12,000 to 20,000 Iranians slaughtered in just days during the uprising, completely contrary to the forum's theme of “rebuilding trust through dialogue.” It’s a mockery, a joke, and it’s on the people.
Iran's recent protests and riots (among the many over the years) erupted on December 28, 2025, triggered by a currency collapse and soaring inflation that exposed the regime's economic mismanagement and corruption under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Demonstrations spread to 186 cities across all 31 provinces, with crowds demanding freedom, dignity, and an end to the Islamic Republic's tyranny. Security forces responded with escalating violence, killing at least 540 by early January according to the Human Rights Activist News Agency, but the crackdown intensified around January 8 with mass killings.
Human Rights Watch documented security forces firing rifles and shotguns at protesters' heads and torsos, leading to thousands dead and over 10,000 arrested. Amnesty International verified videos of snipers on rooftops and troops gunning down unarmed crowds, calling it an unprecedented scale of unlawful killings. An internet blackout imposed on January 8 hid the full extent, but eyewitnesses reported bodies piled in morgues, makeshift graves, and hospitals raided to arrest the wounded.
From a business perspective, WEF's invitation reeks of hypocrisy, given that the event draws CEOs from Fortune 500 companies like JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Siemens to discuss global investment and trade. Iran remains under heavy US sanctions for its nuclear program, terrorism support, and human rights abuses, yet Araghchi's presence could open doors for backchannel talks on energy deals, given Iran's vast oil reserves and potential in renewables. This would likely not trickle down into any real benefit or saving for the people of America or Europe, but would boost the profits of the globalists.
European firms like TotalEnergies have historically eyed Iranian markets, and WEF sessions often facilitate such networking despite ethical red flags. Critics argue this "legitimizes" a regime that executes dissidents at record rates, over 800 in 2025 alone, including women for defying hijab laws, while funneling billions from oil sales to fund Hezbollah, Hamas, and attacks on Israel. The invitation ignores how instability from massacres could spike oil prices, disrupt supply chains, and deter ethical investors wary of blood money.
Iran also engages in dirty arms deals with Communist China, trading oil and strategic access for weapons, missiles, and dual-use technology that bolsters its military and proxies. On top of that, Tehran has allowed the CCP to build a massive highway and rail system across the country as part of broader infrastructure deals, facilitating the easier transport of goods and arms shipments, and extending Chinese influence right into the heart of the Middle East.
Araghchi himself downplayed the protests as "riots fomented by foreign enemies like the US and Israel," echoing Khamenei's claims that "savage elements" caused some deaths. But verified footage from BBC Persian shows security forces deliberately targeting civilians, including children, in a pattern Amnesty calls crimes against humanity. That is indeed what they are.
The regime's response included deploying Basij militias and Revolutionary Guards to crush uprisings in provinces like Kurdistan and Sistan-Baluchistan, where ethnic minorities suffered disproportionate killings. This follows years of abuses, from the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests that killed over 500, to ongoing executions of political prisoners.
This isn’t anything new for the WEF. They welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman right after the Khashoggi murder, proving that elite networking always comes before accountability.
Any business that deals with Iran is complicit in torture, gender apartheid, and terror against Israel and the West. Real leaders would refuse to shake hands with these butchers, not pose for photos to help them look respectable.
Any nation or company dealing with Iran's mullahs enables this evil, propping up a terrorist state that slaughters its own while plotting all the while against Christian and Jewish people, and the West in general.
The growing underground Christian movement in Iran may be the nation's only real hope. Secret house churches are spreading fast, with hundreds of thousands quietly converting to Christ despite the regime's torture and executions. These believers risk everything to follow the Prince of Peace, rejecting the endless violence and corruption of Islam. Ancient Persia once followed the peaceful Zoroastrian faith of truth and good deeds.
Now it is trapped in never-ending Muslim infighting and tyranny. Christianity can bring the moral clarity and peace needed to end that darkness and restore dignity to the land. The mullahs can kill thousands, but they cannot stop hearts turning to the light. That awakening may be Persia's last chance.