WASHINGTON, Jan 5: The US today warned Iran on crackdown against people who for the past several days have peacefully protested against the policies of the Iranian government.
A total of 21 people died in five days of unrest in Iran that began on December 28 as protests against economic grievances quickly turned against the regime with attacks on government buildings and police stations.
“We support these legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people, and call on the government to allow the free exchange of ideas and information,” said State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert.
“All of us should be able to enjoy the same basic economic and political freedoms, including the right to peaceful demonstration,” Nauert said.
The US, she said, condemns in the strongest possible terms the deaths to date and the arrests of at least one thousand Iranians.
“We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protestors, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran. To the regime’s victims, we say: You will not be forgotten,” she said.
Noting that the US continues to monitor closely the protests and violence in Iran, Nauert said the Iranian people have been expressing their desire for dignified treatment, an end to corruption, improved transparency, and increased economic opportunities.
Protestors have also demanded that the regime stop diverting the nation’s wealth to fund military adventurism abroad, she said.
“Unfortunately, the government continues to imprison and kill those who are brave enough to venture into the street. It is limiting the flow of information into Iran, restricting free speech, and attempting to prevent the outside world from observing its own repression,” she said.
The State Department’s statement comes after a series of tweets by President Donald Trump in which he supported Iranian protestors.
Vice President Mike Pence in an interview to Voice of America and an op-ed in The Washington Post said that this time US would be not be a mute spectator to this crackdown against peaceful protestors. (PTI)
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