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The World Economic Forum (WEF) is under increasing pressure to exclude members of the Iranian regime from its upcoming summit in Davos. This call comes amidst growing concerns over Iran’s human rights record.
On Friday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a prominent watchdog group, issued a letter to WEF President Borge Brende. In this letter, they urged the organization to refrain from extending invitations to any officials from the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, UANI informed Fox News Digital that the forum did not respond to their letter. Instead, they proceeded to schedule an interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for the summit’s agenda on Sunday.
When approached for a statement, WEF did not immediately provide a comment to Fox News Digital regarding the matter.
Mark Wallace, CEO of UANI and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, emphasized the severity of the situation. He pointed to reports from human rights organizations that detail the large-scale killings of Iranian civilians orchestrated by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.
The founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, is set to speak at the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where these issues and others will undoubtedly be at the forefront of discussions. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)
“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.
People gather during a protest against the Iranian regime on Jan. 8, 2026, in Tehran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
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.
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.”
Protesters burn images of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally held in solidarity with Iran’s uprising in London Jan. 11, 2026. (Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images)
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.
Iran protests death toll spiked in recent days as human rights groups say thousands of people have been killed. (MAHSA/ Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“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.”
