PRESIDENT BARACK Obama strongly criticised the Iranian government for its repression of demonstrators, and defended his own handling of the Egyptian uprising in a press conference here yesterday.
“I find it ironic that you’ve got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt, when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully in Iran,” Mr Obama said. Iranian authorities have attempted to portray the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt as Islamist movements.
The Obama administration was criticised for its failure to defend pro-democracy demonstrators in Iran during the failed uprising of June 2009. This time, the president and secretary of state have been quick to condemn the behaviour of the regime in Tehran. Tens of thousands of Iranians participated in protests on Monday.
“My hope is that we are going to continue to see the people of Iran have the courage to express their yearnings for greater freedom and a more representative government,” Mr Obama said.
The message of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising to autocrats throughout the Middle East was that they must “provide avenues” for young people to obtain education and employment. “You cannot maintain power through coercion. At some level in any society, there has to be consent,” Mr Obama said.
During the almost three weeks of the Egyptian uprising, the US was sometimes criticised for appearing to side with Mubarak and stability. “History will end up recording that at every junction in Egypt, we were on the right side of history,” Mr Obama said. “What we didn’t do was pretend that we could dictate the outcome in Egypt, because we can’t ... At each juncture we calibrated it just about right.”
Mr Obama also addressed the case of Raymond Davis, the American from the US consulate in Lahore who shot dead two Pakistanis on a motorcycle on January 27th. Mr Davis is being held on murder charges, though the US insists he enjoys diplomatic immunity. Sen John Kerry has travelled to Lahore in the hope of obtaining his freedom.