Tehran has sharply criticised the United States for imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, while simultaneously extending a warm reception to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of war crimes.

Esmaïl Baghaï, spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, described the US actions as “blatant hypocrisy” in a statement posted on X. He condemned Washington for targeting Albanese merely for speaking out against what she termed genocide, occupation, and apartheid, while “rolling out the red carpet” for Netanyahu, whom an international tribunal has found guilty of war crimes.

The sanctions announced on 9 July accuse Albanese of attempting to pressure the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant over atrocities in Gaza. This move came amid Netanyahu’s visit to Washington and followed an earlier, unsuccessful bid to remove Albanese from her UN post.

Albanese dismissed the sanctions as “mafia-style intimidation tactics” and vowed to remain “steadfast and resolute in the pursuit of justice.” The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for the immediate lifting of these sanctions and urged an end to attacks against UN-appointed officials and ICC judges, who have also faced US sanctions.

In a recent speech to the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese called on countries to sever all commercial and financial ties with Israel, denouncing its economy as complicit in ongoing genocide. Her latest report names numerous companies implicated in supporting Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.

These US sanctions against Albanese and ICC judges mark a troubling pattern, raising serious concerns over the politicisation of justice and the obstruction of accountability for grave violations in Palestine.