TEHRAN – Iran has condemned a “spiteful and politically motivated” move to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to an Iranian woman who has been convicted of committing criminal acts.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the Nobel Committee’s political move was in line with “interventionist and anti-Iranian policies of some European countries.”
He said the committee’s decision was “another link in the chain of West’s pressure against Iran” which would have no outcome but reinforcing the Iranian nation’s determination to pursue its independent policy.
Kanaani said the decision to award Muhammadi was a “disappointing deviation from its initial objectives.”
He also criticized the Nobel Committee for making “incorrect and false claims” about events in Iran, which indicated “some European governments’ approach to fabricate information and produce confusing and deviant narratives about internal developments in Iran.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded Mohammadi the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, claiming that she has been fighting “against the oppression of women” in Iran and fighting to “promote human rights and freedom for all.”
Muhammadi has been in and out of jail for much of her adult life and is currently serving a prison term in Tehran’s Evin prison.
In 2016, an Iranian appeals court confirmed the 16-year sentence for Muhammadi on charges of colluding to act against national security, engaging in propaganda campaigns against the government as well as forming and directing an illegal group.
She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021 on charges that include spreading propaganda against the Islamic establishment.
Kanaani said as one of the founders of the United Nations, Iran has always emphasized the “objective” realization of peace at the regional and global levels and has always made efforts to promote the culture of peace.
However, he added, Iran “never wants peace and its realization to be abused.”
He said Iran’s ideal is to establish peace and justice across the world through effective and friendly cooperation among nations and peaceful coexistence.
The spokesman called on the committee to stop playing an instrumental role in implementing the fraudulent policies of certain Western countries and award the Nobel Peace Prize to individuals or bodies that “sincerely seek to promote the culture of peace and justice in the world.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said, “The most deserving symbol of international peace was the self-sacrificing general, who fought terrorism and the most violent criminals for two decades, and guaranteed the region and the world’s security.”

He was referring to Iran’s top anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
Amir-Abdollahian said monumental attendance at his funeral by tens of millions of people across Iran and Iraq, and the international sympathy that followed his martyrdom “amounted to the most splendid and lasting peace prize in history.”
Iran’s top human rights official said the prize granted to Muhammadi had nothing to do with preserving and enhancing peace around the world, and promoting the sense of fraternity among nations.
“This political reward has rather turned into financial support for the illegal activities of some of its winners,” said Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights.
He said some of those who are really deserving of receiving a peace prize are the victims of the West’s unilateral sanctions -- namely the Iranian nation -- as well as the victims of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s Western-backed war of 1980-88 against the Islamic Republic.
“A criminal and a lawbreaker,” whose reception of the prize has been warmly welcomed by the MKO and the Israeli intelligence chief, therefore, does not deserve a peace prize, Gharibabadi concluded, referring to Muhammadi.