U.S. State Department Condemns Arrest of Protesters in Iran

Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, condemned the detention of Iranian citizens participating in peaceful protests in a statement. The U.S. President also tweeted that “people are at their wit’s end” and “the world is watching.”

The U.S. State Department said on Friday (September 29/December 8) local time in a statement: “We are following reports of multiple peaceful protests by Iranian citizens across the country. Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into one whose main export is violence, bloodshed, and chaos. As President Trump has said, the greatest victims of Iran’s leaders are the Iranian people themselves.”

Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, wrote: “The United States condemns the arrest of peaceful demonstrators by the Iranian government. We call on all countries to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption.”

Donald Trump’s Twitter

Donald Trump, President of the United States, also supported the protests of people in Iranian cities on Friday evening (December 29) by sending a tweet. Trump wrote in his tweet: “Iranian citizens who have engaged in peaceful demonstrations are “fed up with government corruption and the regime squandering the country’s wealth to finance terrorism abroad.””

The U.S. President concluded his tweet: “The world is watching!”

Reaction from House Speaker and Republican Senator

Paul Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning (December 30/December 9) that America should support the demonstrators protesting in Iran’s cities.

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives added: “These protests are the result of a regime that is more focused on supporting terrorist organizations than addressing the suffering of its own citizens.”

Before him, Republican Senator “Tom Cotton” also called for U.S. support for the protests in Iran. He wrote in a statement: “Despite the billions of dollars the Ayatollahs received from the nuclear deal, they still have not been able to meet the basic needs of their own people. The reason is that perhaps they have spent all that money on their aggressive operations in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.”

Media Silence in Iran Over “Unrest”

Official and semi-official media in Iran remained completely silent about the people’s protest movements in recent days and did not publish any reports, photos, or commentary on the matter.

Following the release of the Foreign Ministry statement and Trump’s tweet, the Mehr News Agency wrote: “Trump supported Iran’s unrest in an interventionist message.”

Fars News Agency, referring to “Trump’s tweet in support of protest gatherings in Iran,” wrote: “Although counter-revolutionary media tried to show that the demands of the gatherings that took place in Iran were political, field reports from Fars journalists indicate that many people who were protesting against inflation were discouraged when they saw the political slogans of the leaders of these gatherings and chose not to join the slogan chanters.

The recent demonstrations initially started in cities of Khorasan in protest against inflation, corruption, and economic conditions and quickly spread to other Iranian cities as well. In videos published on social media, people chanted slogans such as: “Death to the dictator,” “Death or freedom,” “Free political prisoners,” “The people are begging while the clergy are playing god,” “Sir Ali, forgive us, now we must rise,” “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, we are all together,” “You have made a mockery of Islam, you have humiliated the people,” “Reza Shah, may your soul rest in peace,” “What a mistake I made to have a revolution,” “Police, go catch the thieves,” “Not Gaza, not Lebanon, Iran is my life.”

According to Iranian officials, 52 protesters were arrested in Mashhad and referred to judicial authorities. In Kermanshah, Rasht, and several other cities, the public gatherings were confronted violently by security forces using tear gas, water cannons, and batons.

Source: DW