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VIDEO: White House condemns Iranian actions as third day of protests roil country

“There are many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regime’s corruption and it’s squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

By BRENT D. GRIFFITHS

Politico, Dec. 30, 2017 – The White House emphasized to Iran that the world is watching as protesters there continued to speak out against the government for a third day and counterprotesters gathered in cities across the country.

 

 

 

President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted out snippets from his September speech in front of the U.N. General Assembly where he called Iran’s leaders “corrupt” and vowed that the “oppressive regime” would not continue forever.
“Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice,” the president said during the speech. “Will they continue down the path of poverty, bloodshed, and terror?”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in statement released Friday night, “There are many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with the regime’s corruption and its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. The Iranian government should respect their people’s rights, including their right to express themselves.”
Trump later tweeted out a similarly worded statement.
A wave of spontaneous protests over Iran’s weak economy swept into Tehran on Saturday, with college students and others chanting against the government, according to The Associated Press.
Iranians gathered in the capital of Tehran and the western city Kermanshah on Friday, protesting economic conditions. The AP added that such mass protests without police permission are unusual in Iran and those taking part face arrest.
The semi-official Fars news agency also said protests were held in Qom, a city that is the world’s foremost center for Shiite Islamic scholarship and home to a major Shiite shrine.
The demonstrations appear to be the largest to strike the Islamic Republic since its 2009 uprising arose after former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection.
However, Iranian hard-liners rallied to support the country’s supreme leader and clerically overseen government Saturday.
A state television report quoted Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, as saying that “Iranian people give no credit to the deceitful and opportunist remarks of U.S. officials or Mr. Trump,” according to the AP.
Trump’s statement came as the White House and Congress continue to grapple with the future of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump has called the deal the “worst deal ever” and, like many GOP presidential candidates, promised to end it once he entered the White House.
Earlier Friday, the State department released a statement that condemned the arrests of protesters.
“Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos. As President Trump has said, the longest-suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are Iran’s own people,” said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.

 

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