Iran Government Supporters Stage Rallies for 4th Straight Day

Thousands of pro-government supporters held rallies Saturday across Iran for the fourth consecutive day, one day after Iran's foreign minister said a United Nations meeting was a "blunder" by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

State television showed demonstrators in the cities of Amol, Semnam and Shadegan wielding Iranian flags and chanting slogans against the U.S., Israel and Britain. Rallies also were held in the provinces of Khuzestan, Semnan and West Azerbaijan.

Saturday's rallies were staged one day after a United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the protests at the request of the U.S. The U.S. was criticized at the meeting for requesting the session to discuss an issue that some member states said was an internal issue for Iran.

After the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, "The UNSC rebuffed the US' naked attempt to hijack its mandate ... Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, praised the anti-government protesters at the meeting amid criticism the U.S. is meddling in Iran's domestic affairs.

Competing pro- and anti-government demonstrations have been taking place in Iran's major cities for the past week, resulting in the deaths of 22 people and the arrest of more than 1,000 others.


"The U.S. is watching what you do," Haley said to Iran in her statement in Friday's meeting. She called the protests a "spontaneous expression of fundamental human rights" and a "powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protests."

Haley called on the Iranian government to stop censoring the voice of the Iranian public and to restore their access to the internet.

She also said the international community should do more to support the anti-government demonstrators. U.S. President Donald Trump has also tweeted his support for the protesters.

But critics of the U.S. position, including Russia and Iran itself, have said the protests are not the business of the international community.

Iran's ambassador, Gholamali Khoshroo, attended the meeting at the invitation of the Security Council. Speaking last, he said it is a "discredit" to the Security Council to hold such a meeting on Iran in the face of the conflicts taking place in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East.


SOURCE: VOA
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