US officials blast Iran, accusing it of forcing its Jews to hold anti-Israel rallies

The US accuses Iran of coercing its Jewish citizens into staging protests against Israel.

It’s “truly abhorrent that Jews in Iran are coerced into staging anti-Israel protests. It is reprehensible that the Iranian regime continues to pressure Jews and other religious groups to advance their propaganda,” US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt tweets.

Five Iranian state news agencies have published photos and videos in recent days showing hundreds of Iranian Jews participating in anti-Israel rallies in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Yazd and Kermanshah. The rallies included speeches from local rabbis who vociferously condemned the “Zionist regime” for its actions in the war against the Hamas terror group.

“Iran’s apparent exploitation of this conflict to advance its repression and propaganda against its Jewish community is abhorrent,” a State Department spokesperson says in a statement first issued to Voice of America.