POLITICS-US:
Obama "Appalled" by Iran Repression
Khody Akhavi and Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON, Jun 23 (IPS) - Facing a growing chorus of Republican criticism to speak out more forcefully on Iran’s
disputed election results, the U.S. president made his harshest statement yet Tuesday,
condemning Iran’s leadership for its violent crackdown on protesters.
Barack Obama told a White House news conference that the U.S. and international
community was "appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments over
the past few days."
Obama also called on Iran to accept the "universal right to assembly and free speech" if it
wanted to be respected by the international community.
The president’s sharp language came on the same day Republicans in the U.S. Congress
succeeded in adding a measure to a budget bill which would cut off U.S. loan guarantees
for some companies doing business with Iran.
The amendment, introduced by Mark Kirk, a Republican member of the House of
Representatives, made its way into a 2010 House appropriations bill which provides
funding for the U.S. State Department and its foreign operations.
The efforts by Kirk, who is close to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),
the most influential organisation among pro-Israel lobby groups in Washington, could
draw the Congress deeper into the debate over how to respond to post-election violence
in Iran.
But how to engage Iran and under what terms appear to be issues the Obama
administration wants debated exclusively within the White House and State Department.
On Tuesday, Obama maintained that his administration had been consistent on its
statement with regards to Iran. But he also re-iterated that the U.S. did not want to be
viewed as meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
Obama also called long-running allegations by the Iranian government of U.S. and foreign
interference "patently false and absurd".
"They are an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within
Iran’s borders," he said.
"This tired strategy of using old tension to scapegoat other countries won’t work anymore
in Iran. This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people in Iran,
and the future that they – and only they – will choose," he added.
Obama’s comments came as Iran’s Guardian Council, which vets election results, rejected
opposition demands Tuesday for a rerun of the presidential race. Iran’s official state news
agency also quoted a senior judiciary official as saying a special court has been
established to try detained protesters.
Iran also expelled two British diplomats, in the wake of harsh statements made by Iran’s
Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at last week’s Friday prayers, where he described
Britain's government as "most evil".
In response, the British expelled two Iranian diplomats. It has also announced it has frozen
around one billion pounds (1.64 billion dollars) in Iranian government assets.
Khamenei also warned protesters of consequences should the protests continue in the
capital and across the country. Eleven days of demonstrations and street violence in the
wake of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election at the polls has
brought about unprecedented opposition and a very public split within the country’s
clerical establishment.
There were reports that members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij paramilitary
group, and other security forces have been deployed in the streets and major squares of
Tehran, in order to quell protests and stop any public gatherings.
On Tuesday, Obama described the events in Iran as "profound", but said he would not
discuss possible consequences for the country’s leadership because "we don’t know yet
how this will play out."
"I know everyone here is on the 24 hour news cycle," he said to the reporters in the room.
"I’m not."
When asked whether this stronger language was in response to Republican leaders’
criticism that the president was being too timid, Obama said, "frankly, a lot of [Iranians]
aren’t paying attention to what is being said on Capitol Hill."
Obama’s approach to crisis has also drawn praise from some former George W. Bush
administration officials.
"I believe that Obama has handled this crisis superbly," said Nicholas Burns, who was
undersecretary of state for political affairs under Bush.
"[Obama’s] statements became progressively stronger with events," he said during a forum
at the Washington-based Carnegie endowment for International Peace Tuesday,
adding that criticism of Obama amounted to a "right-wing partisan attack".
Obama said the U.S. would continue to advance its national security interests, and would
not be used as a tool to be exploited by other countries.
But what happens in the Congress could potentially undermine Obama’s efforts to engage
Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at
producing weapons. Iran says its programme is for peaceful purposes.
The House of Representatives and Senate overwhelmingly adopted separate and symbolic
resolutions last week supporting protesters in Iran. But the amendment introduced by
Kirk, and which made its way into a House appropriations bill, would block the U.S.
Export-Import Bank from extending loan guarantees to companies that supply refined
petrol to Iran.
"While the practical impact of this amendment is likely to be negligible, its approval now
would give the government of Iran a new tool to use in its efforts to suppress dissent in
Iran," said Jim Fine, of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Washington-
based peace lobby group.
"The government of Iran will portray the amendment as punitive new sanctions aimed
directly at the Iranian people and fresh evidence of hostile U.S. intent justifying tighter
government control," said Fine in a statement released Tuesday.
In a Congressional Quarterly report, Kirk was quoted as saying, "Our amendment is a go
because AIPAC supports it," referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
which backs the measure.
But some analysts say the legislation, which is a long way from actually being
implemented, only hurts the opposition movement in Tehran and bolsters Khamenei and
his allies.
"What you’re doing is helping the forces that we actually oppose," said Keith Weissman, an
expert on Iranian-American affairs, who also used to work for AIPAC.
"Because of the unrest and the uncertainty, why do you want to make the job of the
authorities and the regime easier," he said.
"Dialogue and rapprochement are concepts that mean very little today," he added.
(END/2009)
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