Skip to main content

Obama: Iran Must Stop 'Violent and Unjust Actions'

By VOA News
21 June 2009

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and Conference, in Washington, 19 Jun 2009
President Barack Obama (file)
U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Iran's government to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

In his strongest response to Iran's post-election unrest, Mr. Obama said the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. He called on Iran to "govern through consent, not coercion."

Mr. Obama made his comments Saturday, following reports of violent clashes between Iranian authorities and demonstrators in Tehran.

And, in Jerusalem Sunday, Israeli President Shimon Peres praised Iran's pro-reform demonstrators, saying he hopes for an end to Iran's current government.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the U.S. cities of New York, Washington and Los Angeles Saturday to show support for Iran's opposition groups.

In Germany Saturday, more than a thousand people marched in the streets of Hamburg, and some carried signs reading, "Where is my vote?"

Organizers of a demonstration outside Paris, France, said at least 80,000 gathered for that rally Saturday.

The demonstration was organized by Iranian exiles with the National Council of Resistance of Iran. That is an umbrella group for the Iranian People's Mujahedeen Organization, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States but recently was removed from that designation by the European Union.

Protest organizers called for Iran to embrace a secular democracy.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US Stocks Surge to Highest Level of Year on Housing News

By Mil Arcega Washington 24 July 2009 The benchmark Dow Jones industrial average of the top US companies broke the 9,000 point mark Thursday on strong earnings reports and an improving housing picture. Wall Street extended its recent gains Thursday after a new housing report showed sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose at an annual pace of 3.6 percent in June. It was the third straight month of rising home sales. "The markets are reacting to the news today in the context of other things they've been seeing and reading in recent weeks, and that's that the economy does appear to have hit a bottom," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities. Investors reacted positively to earnings reports from Ford, Ebay, AT&T and higher sales of Apple's new iPhone. Resler says the positive earnings give a much needed confidence boost for the struggling U.S. economy. "I think...
Post a Comment
Read more

ASEAN pushes for resumption of N. Korea nuke talks

ASEAN and friends: Foreign Ministers from left, Vietnam's Pham Gia Khiem, South Korea's Kim Sung-hwan, Japan's Takeaki Matsumoto, Indonesia's Marty Natalegawa, and China's Yang Jiechi, hold hands during a group photo at the opening session of ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Thursday. (AP/Dita Alangkara) Associated Press, Nusa Dua | Thu, 07/21/2011 2:19 PM Foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations are calling for a speedy resumption of talks aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia had been negotiating since 2003 to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle the program in exchange for aid and other concessions. The North pulled out of the talks about two years ago after being censured for launching a long-range rocket. It has indicated a willingness in recent months to return to the table. The 10-member Association of Southeast As...
Post a Comment
Read more