US REACTION:VICE-PRESIDENT Joe Biden has expressed doubts about the outcome of Iran's presidential election but he insisted that it would not affect the Obama administration's effort to engage with Tehran.
The vice-president said it was too early to say definitively if the victory of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was legitimate.
“We don’t have all the details. It sure looks like the way they’re suppressing speech, the way they’re suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated that there’s some real doubt about that,” Mr Biden told NBC’s Meet the Press.
“It didn’t seem to be on its face to be as clear-cut as they make it sound,” he said.
He added that the election result would make no difference to President Barack Obama’s offer of economic and diplomatic engagement with Iran if it suspends its uranium enrichment programme.
“Talks with Iran are not a reward for good behaviour,” Mr Biden said.
“Our interests are the same before the election as after the election, and that is: we want them to cease and desist from seeking a nuclear weapon, and having one in its possession, and secondly to stop supporting terror.”
The White House issued a brief statement on the elections but held back from declaring whether Mr Ahmadinejad had won fairly.
“Like the rest of the world, we were impressed by the vigorous debate and enthusiasm that this election generated, particularly among young Iranians. We continue to monitor the entire situation closely, including reports of irregularities,” the statement noted.
Conservatives criticised Mr Obama’s silence on the allegations of electoral fraud in Iran, which former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney characterised as an indictment of the president’s approach to foreign policy.
“It’s very clear that the president’s policies of going around the world and apologising for America are not working,” he said.
Independent Democratic senator Joe Lieberman, one of the most strident critics of Iran in Congress, said Mr Obama should condemn the conduct of the Iranian election.
“We as Americans have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with people when they are denied their rights by repressive regimes. When elections are stolen, our government should protest. When peaceful demonstrators are beaten and silenced, we have a duty to raise our voices on their behalf. We must tell the Iranian people that we are on their side,” Mr Lieberman said.
“For this reason, I would hope that President Obama and members of both parties in Congress will speak out, loudly and clearly, about what is happening in Iran right now, and unambiguously express their solidarity with the brave Iranians who went to the polls in the hope of change and who are now looking to the outside world for strength and support.”
