New Delhi: The day after United States President Joe Biden expressed his solidarity for anti-hijab protests in Iran, Tehran rejected the support terming it as “interference in state matters”, reported news agency Reuters on Sunday quoting a report by Iranian Students News Agency (INSA).
“On Saturday … Biden interfered in Iran’s state matters by supporting the riots … In recent days, the U.S. administration has tried desperately to inflame unrest in Iran under various excuses,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, reported Reuters citing the INSA report.
Commenting on weeks of anti-government protests in Iran ignited by Mahsa Amini’s death on September 16, Biden said on Saturday that he was surprised by the courage of the people taking to the streets in protest in Iran.
Speaking at a college in Irvin, California, he said, “I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran” addressing a group of protestors who had gathered holding “Free Iran” signs.
“It stunned me that it awakened in Iran. It awakened something that I don’t think will be quieted for a long, long time,” Biden had said, quoted by news agency AFP.
Nationwide protests erupted in Iran after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini who died in the custody of moral police who had detained her for not wearing the hijab properly.
Over a hundred protestors have been killed since, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights, stated the AFP report.
The unrest has continued despite what Amnesty International called an “unrelenting brutal crackdown” that included an “all-out attack on child protesters” — leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.
Biden spoke briefly about the Iran protests ahead of a speech on lowering costs for American families in Irvine, near Los Angeles, which has a large Persian community.
“Women all over the world are being persecuted in various ways, but they should be able to wear in God’s name what they want to wear,” said Biden.
Iran “has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights,” he added.