Russia 'puzzled' by 'hypocritical' US support for Iran unrest
Russia 'puzzled' by 'hypocritical' US support for Iran unrest
m.u.h
22/11/2019502
Russia has lambasted "hypocritical” support by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for Iranian protesters during recent riots triggered mostly by economic problems created by US sanctions on Tehran.
On Friday, the Iranian government raised gasoline prices which still remain the cheapest in the world, triggering protests which some rioters took advantage of to destroy public property and torch banks and gas stations.
The riots also marked hooligans and thugs attacking security forces with firearms, knives and other lethal weapons, leaving several people dead.
On Sunday, Pompeo posted a tweet in which he claimed that the “US is with” Iranians, echoing a statement by White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham who said Washington “supports the Iranian people.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday Pompeo’s remarks had “left us puzzled since most of the things that sparked the discontent and other processes that are taking place in Iran were actually brought upon the Islamic Republic by the US’ own actions.”
She said Tehran’s decision to raise fuel prices was the result of the “illegal and massive sanctions pressure” that the White House is exerting on the Islamic Republic, adding that Iranians’ rights to receive food, medication, and other necessities have been violated due to Washington’s so-called punitive measures.
“The way we see it – this was the US' goal all along, when they decided to initiate the policy of sanctions pressure against Iran. It turns out that, on the one hand, Washington supports the aspirations of the Iranian people, at least verbally, and on the other hand, they are doing anything possible to make the population of this country suffer," Zakharova said.
Iranian officials have denounced Pompeo’s comments as flagrant interference in Iran’s internal affairs, with the foreign ministry calling them a “curious” message amid the “pressure of America’s economic terrorism.”
“A regime that hinders the delivery of food and medicine to ordinary people — including the elderly and the patients — through economic terrorism can never claim support for the Iranian people in such a disgraceful way,” said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador whose country represents US interests in Iran to protest Washington’s interference in the Islamic Republic’s domestic affairs.
Ordinary Iranians suffer the most under the US sanctions which President Donald Trump imposed on the Islamic Republic after leaving a 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran last year.
Iran has been trying to take the sanctions in its stride, working through a raft of measures which could ease up the pain for the most needy.
Experts say rationing fuel in Iran would prevent tens of millions of liters of gasoline being wasted each day in a country which grapples with the economic impacts of the American sanctions.
Iranians guzzle up to 110 million liters per day of petrol in their cars, 40 million liters above the maximum domestic requirement.
On Friday, the government increased the price of gasoline by 50% to 15,000 rials ($0.12) per liter and imposed a cap on its use, meaning motorists demanding more petrol have to pay 30,000 rials per liter.
The government has said its new plan aims to reduce subsidies for gasoline and instead spend the proceeds from price hikes on handouts and other forms of assistance to the needy.
Many critics of the government have supported the plan, while state officials have said they are unfazed by the riots because they strongly believe in the program.
President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said the rioters were few, but were “organized, armed and tasked with acting in a calculated manner.”
The rioters, he said, acted “completely based on a scheme planned in advance by the reactionary regional regimes, the Zionists, and the Americans.”
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has also thrown his weight behind the plan, even though "some people are definitely worried or upset about this decision; they think it will hurt them or they are unhappy for whatever reason."
"However, it has to be noted that torching a bank is not what people do, this is what bandits do," he said on Sunday.