He finally takes a position, but not one of US interference. instead, it's about not shooting protesters. I think both repubs and dems have to agree with him on this one.
President Obama to Ayatollah: 'Stop the violence'
President Barack Obama Saturday called on Iran’s government to “stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people,” the White House said amid swelling post-election tensions in the Islamic republic.
“We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people,” Obama said in a statement as he ramped up the tone of official Washington reaction to the violent unrest playing out in Tehran and other Iranian cities.
“The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost,” he added.
“The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.”
Obama also stressed that the Iran’s leadership “must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.”
The complete text of President Obama’s statement can be found here.
‘NUANCED MESSAGE’
Obama appeared to send a nuanced message to opposition demonstrators hours after the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded an end to street protests.
On Saturday, clashes flared between regime militiamen and protesters as thousands of Iranians returned to the streets of Tehran in defiance of Khamenei’s ultimatum.
Despite assurances by top officials that Washington would not inject itself into the crisis, both houses of the US Congress voted to condemn violence against demonstrators by the government of Iran.
An administration official said that Obama “repeatedly met” in the White House Saturday with senior advisors to discuss the situation in Iran, where thousands clashed with police as they defied an ultimatum from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for an end to protests over last week’s disputed presidential election.
Obama quoted Martin Luther King Jr in his statement, repeating the slain US civil rights leader’s phrase that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness,” Obama said.
PROTESTS IN AMERICA
Green-clad protesters amassed in Los Angeles, New York and at the gates of the White House in Washington on Saturday, an echo of the mass uprisings that continue to convulse Iran.
Protesters expressed their solidarity with their Iran-based counterparts and called on the United States and President Barack Obama to “Stand with Iran,” as one placard put it.
Waving placards imploring Obama to “support us, the people,” protesters called for the June 12 elections — which the government claims was won by the incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — to be annulled.
Many protestors wore green, a color that has become symbolic of the campaign of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition leader who claims he won the vote.
“Everybody (in Iran) is tired,” said a protester named Zohra who was in a crowd of hundreds demonstrating outside the White House. “They want freedom of speech, to pick up their own president.”
Another demonstrator, Babek Talebi praised Obama’s public handling of the crisis, which has seen the United States condemn violence against protestors, while trying to avoid the appearance of meddling in Iranian affairs.
“We are quite happy with the way the Obama administration has handled this issue until now,” said Talebi. “But we don’t want US politicians to make a political football with Iran,” he said. “Iran has changed for good, it’s not going to be the same.”
With AFP.
