NEW YORK — The international legal action taken by South Africa against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) may have been financially orchestrated by Tehran, according to Dr. Sheila Nazarian. The Iranian-American physician alleges that the South African government, facing severe financial distress and unpaid workers, had its national debt cleared by Iran in direct exchange for bringing the ICC case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Dr. Nazarian, who fled Iran during the Islamic Revolution, detailed these claims while discussing the geopolitical underpinnings of the ICC’s criminal allegations. She asserted that the South African government was in “dire straits” and had failed to pay its employees for months. According to her account, Iran stepped in to pay off those debts specifically to secure South Africa’s role in prosecuting Israel and Netanyahu at the international court. “Iran is a thread through all of this,” Nazarian emphasized, suggesting a coordinated effort by Tehran to leverage international legal mechanisms against the Jewish state.
These geopolitical allegations surface amidst a fierce domestic debate in the United States, sparked by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent declarations regarding the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Mayor Mamdani announced that his administration had reviewed every available legal avenue to determine if the city could execute the international warrant. Concluding that the city lacks the legal authority to enforce it, Mamdani nevertheless declared that Netanyahu is “not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” adding that he refuses to meet with the Israeli leader.
The mayor’s posture has ignited a firestorm of criticism. Representative Mike Lawler condemned Mamdani as a “raging anti-Semitic defender of terror regimes,” pointing out that the mayor has not called for the arrest of Hamas leaders or spoken out against the Ayatollah and other adversaries of the United States. Similarly, Representative Nicole Malliotakis, whose family fled communist Cuba, joined the backlash. Critics highlighted that Mamdani previously attempted to meet with the ambassador of Iran—a nation designated as a terror regime by the U.S., Australia, Canada, the European Union, and the U.K. Mamdani’s implication that international law supersedes these terror designations, while activists remain upset over Iran’s funding for terror groups like Hamas and the Houthis, has only amplified the controversy.
For Dr. Nazarian, Mamdani’s rhetoric mirrors the very regime she escaped. She compared the mayor to the Ayatollah, accusing him of using “flowery words” and promising “free this and free that” to manipulate voters. She likened his political strategy to a student body president promising “free ice cream Fridays,” warning that “offering free things is never free.” Furthermore, Nazarian noted that Mamdani is a Shi’ite—the same sect of Islam as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). She argued that when he speaks against Jews and Israel, he acts as a “puppet” advancing IRGC propaganda. Online reactions have echoed these sentiments, with critics labeling him an anti-Semite who should face arrest for incitement.
Shifting the focus back to the realities of the Iranian regime, Nazarian recounted the harrowing human rights abuses that she argues are being ignored by Western politicians. She shared the personal story of a 17-year-old girl who was imprisoned for five years simply for handing out flyers. Upon her release, the young woman was holding the hand of a 3-year-old child, conceived as a result of rape while incarcerated. When her family sought dental care in the U.S., a dentist was shocked to discover the girl had no teeth and no fingernails due to severe torture.
“This is one story of the brutality of this regime, and there are thousands of them,” Nazarian stated. She noted that just two days prior, the regime publicly hanged a 19-year-old protester who simply desired basic freedoms, adding that an estimated 40,000 innocent protesters have been killed since the beginning of the year.
