Iranian activists warned the cut in US aid threatens to choke off information from inside country [Getty]
Iranian human rights groups and activists have raised the alarm over the risks posed by US foreign aid cuts, warning that the move could stifle information about human rights breaches in Iran from emerging, amid an increased government crackdown on dissent.
On 20 January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing all American foreign aid via the State Department and USAID for three months.
The decision, according to Trump, was driven by concerns that US foreign assistance agencies were not aligned with Washington’s interests and, in some cases, were counter to “American values”.
But the cessation has resulted in far-reaching consequences for Iran, where the government has escalated its repression of journalists, activists, and civil society groups.
Iranian human rights organisations operating abroad have been forced to scale back operations, lay off workers, and suspend key programmes. The cuts affected numerous groups, limiting their ability to monitor human rights abuses within Iran and support those advocating for civil liberties.
The freeze comes amid a deepening economic crisis in Iran, where the rial has plummeted in value, dropping from 32,000 to the US dollar in 2015 to 584,000 today. To exacerbate the situation, Iranian authorities have ramped up arrests, raising concerns among activists that further repression is imminent.
“Violators of human rights, you know, they’re like mushrooms. They grow in the dark. So if there is no light shed on what they’re doing, then they feel that they have a more open hand,” Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group (ICG), told The Washington Post.
The US-backed organisations monitoring Iran’s human rights record, including news outlets, civil society programmes, and democracy-promotion initiatives, are funded through the State Department’s Near East Regional Democracy Fund (NERD), which was established in the wake of the 2009 Iranian protests.
In 2024, the Biden administration requested $65 million for the fund, including $16.75 million for internet freedom, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Iranian officials have seized upon the funding freeze, with Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei claiming that the funds represented “America’s interventionist policy, particularly during Biden’s administration”, which “tried to pressure Iran and the meddle in its domestic affairs through financial aid”.
Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at London-based Chatham House, argued that such funding has “fuelled Iranian paranoia”.
 “The problem with this kind of funding in countries like Iran is that it’s interpreted at the highest level as a national security issue because the United States is effectively trying to transform the Islamic republic,” she added.
Security forces have targeted outspoken critics of the government, especially after a series of political setbacks, including the defeat of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad and the decimation of Hezbollah’s leadership.
One of the more high-profile cases is that of actress Soheila Golestani, who faces 74 lashes and one year in prison for her role in The Seed of the Sacred Fig, a film discussing social issues and the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
Golestani is facing trial at the Revolutionary Court for her portrayal of a family torn apart by the protests.
