Iranian reformist Rafsanjani: Iranian intervention in Syria has left hundreds of thousands dead

TEHRAN — Faiza Hashemi Rafsanjani, daughter of the late Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, criticized Iranian policy towards the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, stating that the intervention spearheaded by the late commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Cord Qassem Suleimani there has led to the death of 500,000 people.

Rafsanjani, who is a member of the reformist Construction Cadres Party, said in an interview with the Iranian website Ensaf News that her father advised Suleimani not to intervene in Syria, stressing that her father opposed involvement in the Syrian conflict.

Faiza Rafsanjani criticized Iran’s policy in the region, saying that it has “led to the loss of our friends, and our foreign policy has become like our internal policy, where supporters turned to critics and critics turned to opponents.”

In 2011, Rafsanjani, who is a reformist and former parliamentarian, was sentenced six months in prison on charges of creating propaganda against the Iranian regime. Her sentence suspended, she is banned from political, cultural, and journalistic activities.