The United States has warned Iran that it is considering all possible measures to stop what it says is a violent crackdown on protesters. Speaking at an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council in New York last night, the US Permanent Representative Mike Waltz said President Trump had made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the killing of protesters.
Iran’s Deputy Permanent Representative Gholamhossein Darzi said any act of aggression, direct or indirect, would be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response.
Meanwhile, the US President Donald Trump has claimed that Tehran had signalled it was stopping the threatened execution of protesters after US pressure. The UN Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee, who briefed the Council, said protests driven by inflation and a falling Rial were continuing at a smaller scale than last week. Russia and China backed Iran, criticising the US for stoking tensions and warning that any military action would destabilise the region.
US questions Iranian government’s actions
US representative to the UN, Mike Waltz, criticized the Iranian government’s actions at the meeting. He said that due to the internet blackout it has become difficult to ascertain how strictly security forces have dealt with protesters.
Waltz said, ‘The Iranian government’s claim that foreign powers are behind the recent protests shows that the government is afraid of its own people. At the same time, it is blaming others for everything.’
Russia accuses US of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs
Russia criticized America. Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said that the US is using this meeting to interfere in it’s internal affairs and justify aggression.
Nebenzya warned that military action could worsen the situation and plunge the entire region into bloodshed, which would also affect other neighboring countries. Russia appealed to all 193 UN member states to prevent a major confrontation.
Meanwhile, France and Britain described it’s actions as brutal. French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said that the repression of protesters should be condemned internationally. He warned them of new sanctions.
US Imposes New Sanctions
Along with the meeting, US has imposed new sanctions against 18 Iranian individuals and entities. These include Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and several other officials.
The US says these are the same people who planned the brutal crackdown on protests. Announcing this, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, ‘President Trump stands with the people of Iran and has ordered the Treasury Department to impose sanctions.’
Why are the protests happening?
Iran’s economy has gone into free fall. On Dec. 28, the rial plunged to 1.48 million to the dollar, triggering protests by merchants in Tehran’s central bazaar who said they could no longer conduct business. Ordinary people, watching their purchasing power evaporate by the hour, soon joined them. Within a week, demonstrations had spread to all 31 provinces.
As the protests grew, demands shifted from economic relief to calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. It’s theocratic regime, in power since 1979, is deeply unpopular among much of the country’s population of roughly 90 million. Analysts point to years of mismanagement and corruption, but say the economic collapse accelerated sharply after the United Nations reimposed sanctions in September over it’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Ahead of the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Secretary-General António Guterres spoke by phone to discuss the recent deadly protests and Iran’s request for the world body to do more to condemn what they call foreign influence in the Islamic Republic, according to a readout of the call posted on Iranian state TV.
Also Read| Trump Claims US ‘Warning’ Led Iran to Step Back from Publicly Executing Protestors
