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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA man reads a copy of the Iranian daily Sobhe Nou in Tehran on November 7 that features a cartoon depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and a headline reading: “Go To Hell, Gambler.”<\/span><\/div>\n In her interview, Hashemi suggested Trump\u2019s campaign of pressure could have brought policy changes from Tehran that would have benefited the Iranian people.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps it would have led to some change — as no matter what people do to push for reforms, nothing happens. Instead, [they] are repressed,\u201d Hashemi, a former lawmaker, said in an apparent reference to deadly crackdowns against recent antiestablishment protests.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe if Trump\u2019s pressure would have continued, we would have been forced to have change in some policies. And the change would have definitely benefited the people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hashemi described the approach of U.S. Democrats toward Iran\u2019s Islamic establishment as \u201ca bit lax.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said he is open to resurrecting the nuclear deal with Iran and lifting sanctions if Tehran returns to “strict compliance.”<\/span><\/div>\n She also questioned Iran\u2019s regional policies and the role played by General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the external Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is the result of [Qasem] Soleimani\u2019s performance? What problem did he solve for us?\u201d Hashemi asked in the interview.<\/p>\n Her comments brought widespread criticism from those who accused her of supporting \u201cthe cruelest\u201d sanctions that have hurt ordinary Iranians.<\/p>\n Others criticized her expressed support for Trump, the man who ordered the assassination of Soleimani, a military leader portrayed by Iranian state media as a selfless national hero who’d advanced Iran\u2019s regional interests.<\/p>\n Some Iranians have risen to Hashemi\u2019s defense, saying she expressed views held by many who are desperate for change and fed up with the clerical establishment.<\/p>\n \u201cShe honestly reflected the feelings of millions of her compatriots who see no light at the end of their country\u2019s dark political tunnel and were rightly or wrongly hoping that Trump\u2019s pressure would create [an opportunity],\u201d Tehran University professor Sadegh Zibakalam said on Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n Mohsen Hashemi: \u201cTrump did nothing but threaten, sanction, break commitments, assassinate, and insult Iran.” (file photo)<\/span><\/div>\n In contrast, her brother Mohsen Hashemi, who heads Tehran\u2019s City Council, said she must apologize.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that in recent years you, your family, and your child have faced mistreatment that may have led you to extremism and a departure from father\u2019s moderate stance. But this is not a reason to put your hope in the president of a foreign country and claim that you\u2019re independent,\u201d Mohsen Hashemi wrote in an open letter addressed to his sister.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump did nothing but threaten, sanction, break commitments, assassinate, and insult Iran,\u201d he said, referring to Trump as \u201ca gambler.\u201d<\/p>\n But Rafsanjani’s outspoken daughter refused to back down.<\/p>\n She responded to her brother\u2019s letter by saying he has always been \u201cconservative\u201d in his stances.<\/p>\n She also accused her brother of being controlling.<\/p>\n Replying publicly in an open letter, she reiterated that she would have preferred Trump to be reelected because of his policies on Iran.<\/p>\n She argued that some individuals and factions in Iran are \u201cmore dangerous\u201d than Trump due to their \u201cbullying\u201d attitudes and their \u201cnonadherence to laws and principles.\u201d<\/p>\n She said those individuals and factions have pushed the country to the brink through their \u201cinefficiency\u201d and \u201cmismanagement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot only do they not pay attention to public demands, but they go out of their way to silence them,\u201d she wrote in her letter.<\/p>\n Hashemi has faced pressure in the past for criticizing the system that her father helped establish.<\/p>\n In 2012, she was jailed for six months after being convicted of anti-regime propaganda.<\/p>\n She was also detained briefly in 2009 following the disputed Iranian presidential election that led to mass street protests and a brutal state crackdown.<\/p>\n In 2016, Hashemi came under fire for meeting the leader of the persecuted Baha’i faith with whom she had shared a cell in Tehran’s Evin prison.<\/p>\n In 2018, she said “intimidation” and “fear” were the main things propping up Iran\u2019s Islamic establishment.<\/p>\n\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/gdb.rferl.org\/f864808e-4a38-45da-950f-e1a09a5b8824_w250_r0_s.jpg\")
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