Idag valde president Barack Obama att skärpa tonen mot Iran (se uttalandet nedan som hämtats från Vita husets hemsida). Obama har fram tills nu försökt att inta en försiktig linje, men det blev ohållbart att inte kritisera den iranska regeringens agerande efter den senaste tidens våldsanvändning mot fredliga demonstranter. Frågan är nu vilken effekt den amerikanske presidentens uttalande får i Iran.
Today, President Obama made the following statement concerning Iran:
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said – “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.
The President also addressed the situation with Iran in an interview yesterday with CBS’s Harry Smith(video available on CBS’s website).
