The head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, made an interesting proposition to European countries during a speech Aug. 3 on the occasion of Human Rights Day in Iran. He said Iran is willing to hold talks on human rights as long as Europe is willing to also discuss the human rights situation in their countries.

“It cannot be that only Iran is questioned,” Larijani said. “It has to be two-way. We have questions for Europe, too.” He said that Iran wants to question Europe on the spread of Islamophobia, forced unveiling in schools and restrictions on discussing the Holocaust, specifically in France.

Iran, which has the highest number of people executed per capita in the world, has been on the defensive over the human rights reports issued by American and European organizations and the human rights sanctions issued by those countries. Iranian authorities, however, view this human rights pressure more as a political tool. “The West applies double standards with respect to human rights,” Larijani said. As examples, he raised the relationship of Europe and the United States with Bahrain despite its recent crackdown on clerics and dissidents. In regard to the recent scandal of removing a Saudi Arabian-led coalition from the child rights blacklist, Larijani said, “With their own dollars, they silence the secretary-general of the United Nations over the violation of children in Yemen.”

Addressing the United States and Europe, Larijani continued, “Today it has become clear to the world that your defense of human rights is a tool. Are there no human rights violations in the United States? In the 30-something years we have accepted millions of Afghan and Iraqi refugees while subjected to sanctions. European countries with all their wealth have [only] accepted a few thousand refugees.” Larijani also cited that Saudi Arabia beheads individuals in capital punishment, and that in the United States African-Americans are killed by the police, yet they are not punished on the grounds of human rights violations.