TEHRAN – Iran on Wednesday urged the U.S. administration to guarantee the freedom of expression and assembly of university students and professors and to respect their demands and legal rights.
The call on Wednesday came amid crackdown on students at an increasing number of U.S. universities gathering in protest camps to demand that their schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies that are enabling the Zionist regime’s months-long war on Gaza.
“News reports related to the widespread suppression and arrest of students from American universities by the police in this country because of their support for the Palestinian people are a violent breach of the right to vote, freedom of expression, and human rights, causing concern among public opinion worldwide,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani wrote in his X account.
“It is necessary for the U.S. government, while adhering to its human rights obligations, to guarantee the freedom of expression and assembly of university students and professors and to respect their legal demands and rights,” he added.  
“By creating an atmosphere of suffocation and silencing protesters, the supportive and primary role of the American government for the Zionist regime’s genocide of Palestinians will not be erased,” he said.
Hundreds of students have been arrested in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at U.S. universities in recent days.