Iran Blasts U.S. Threat of ‘Vicious Dogs’ to Quell Unrest
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran on Sunday hit out at the United States’ heavy-handed crackdown on protests against police racism and brutality, saying instead of using "vicious dogs and ominous weapons” the U.S. government should listen to the people.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry took the refrain from President Donald Trump’s threat that demonstrators protesting the death of a handcuffed black man in police custody could be "greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons”.
"Failed to keep its promise of stopping wasting money on foreign adventurism & embattled in a Covid19 crisis of its own making, U.S. regime now employs army, ‘vicious dogs & ominous weapons’ to intimidate protesters. Instead, U.S. should listen to its ppl & change its bankrupt policies,” the ministry tweeted.
President Trump had already described the demonstrators as "THUGS” and threatened military intervention and "shooting”.
"Some don’t think #BlackLivesMatter,” Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. "To those of us who do: it is long overdue for the entire world to wage war against racism. Time for a #WorldAgainstRacism.”
"The U.S. government is squandering its citizens’ resources,” Zarif said in a tweet echoing a 2018 statement from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The tweet featured an image of Pompeo’s statement addressing protests in Iran, but with elements crossed out and replaced.
Civil rights activists have said video of George Floyd’s arrest on Monday - captured by an onlooker’s cellphone as he repeatedly groaned, "please, I can’t breathe” before he died - triggered an outpouring of rage long simmering over persistent racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.
The sight of protesters flooding streets has fueled a sense of crisis in the United States after weeks of lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen millions thrown out of work and has disproportionately affected minority communities.
In an extraordinary move, the Trump administration has offered the use of active-duty soldiers and intelligence to assist in quelling unrest, including some forces who were put on alert to deploy.
Curfews have been imposed in several major cities rocked by civil disturbances in recent days, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Cincinnati, Portland, Oregon, and Louisville, Kentucky.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry took the refrain from President Donald Trump’s threat that demonstrators protesting the death of a handcuffed black man in police custody could be "greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons”.
"Failed to keep its promise of stopping wasting money on foreign adventurism & embattled in a Covid19 crisis of its own making, U.S. regime now employs army, ‘vicious dogs & ominous weapons’ to intimidate protesters. Instead, U.S. should listen to its ppl & change its bankrupt policies,” the ministry tweeted.
President Trump had already described the demonstrators as "THUGS” and threatened military intervention and "shooting”.
"Some don’t think #BlackLivesMatter,” Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter. "To those of us who do: it is long overdue for the entire world to wage war against racism. Time for a #WorldAgainstRacism.”
"The U.S. government is squandering its citizens’ resources,” Zarif said in a tweet echoing a 2018 statement from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The tweet featured an image of Pompeo’s statement addressing protests in Iran, but with elements crossed out and replaced.
Civil rights activists have said video of George Floyd’s arrest on Monday - captured by an onlooker’s cellphone as he repeatedly groaned, "please, I can’t breathe” before he died - triggered an outpouring of rage long simmering over persistent racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.
The sight of protesters flooding streets has fueled a sense of crisis in the United States after weeks of lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen millions thrown out of work and has disproportionately affected minority communities.
In an extraordinary move, the Trump administration has offered the use of active-duty soldiers and intelligence to assist in quelling unrest, including some forces who were put on alert to deploy.
Curfews have been imposed in several major cities rocked by civil disturbances in recent days, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, Cincinnati, Portland, Oregon, and Louisville, Kentucky.