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- Obama 'appalled' at Iran Crackdown
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Obama assails Iran crackdown
WASHINGTON - President Obama yesterday condemned the Iranian government's crackdown, saying the United States had been "appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days."
The statement, at the start of a midday news conference, marked a distinct sharpening of the president's response to the events unfolding in Iran, and he brought more emotion to his reaction to the violent street unrest than he has since the June 12 election.
Asked whether he had seen the video posted on the Internet in recent days of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian woman shot dead by government supporters, Obama said yes.
"It was heartbreaking," he said.
Obama has been under pressure from some conservative Republicans to speak out more forcefully on behalf of the street demonstrators in Tehran and other Iranian cities who are demanding a new presidential vote amid a violent government crackdown.
He has largely resisted those calls, fearing that inserting the U.S. government into a political debate that he has said is between Iranians would allow Iran's anti-American leadership to cast the protests as U.S. meddling.
In a statement before taking questions, Obama said he had made clear "that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran's affairs."
"Some in the Iranian government are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others outside of Iran of instigating protests over the elections," Obama said. "These accusations are patently false and absurd."
Obama said his response had been consistent, disputing questions from several journalists asking why he had waited so long to use the language he did yesterday.
As president, Obama said, he must "be certain that we are continually advancing our national security interests and that we are not used as a tool to be exploited by other countries." He indicated that at times that entailed avoiding statements resulting in short-term political gains at the expense of long-term benefits.
"I know everyone here is in a 24-hour news cycle," Obama said, addressing the journalists gathered at the James A. Brady Briefing Room at the White House. "I'm not."
His comments brought more poetry to the White House support for the demonstrators' right to protest peacefully than his previous statements. The White House posted his opening remarks on its Web site in Persian and Arabic as well as English.
Republicans have compared the thousands of Iranians in the streets to Soviet dissidents during the Cold War, but Obama sought to make clear he did not choose sharper words as a political concession to his GOP critics.
He said: "We have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history."
Obama also reiterated his weekend warning that if Iran's government wanted to earn the respect of the international community, it must respect its people's "universal right to assembly and free speech."
He sidestepped questions about whether his outreach to Iran would be affected by the standoff. He said it was up to the government in Tehran to signal that it wanted better relations, and "what we have seen is not encouraging."
He also acknowledged there were "significant questions about the legitimacy" of the elections.
"What we know is that a sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves, spanning Iranian society, consider this election illegitimate," he said.
But he said he would not spell out possible consequences for Iran because "we don't know yet how this will play out."
"I think it is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity for the Iranian people," he said. "We hope they take it."
