Iran has urged the United States to focus on its own systematic violation of minority rights rather than interfering in other countries’ affairs and judge their level of free speech.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks via Twitter on Wednesday, one day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that Iranian women have “demanded their basic freedoms be respected.”
Kan’ani wrote, “Backing coups against popular governments, the [US] regime has always supported non-democratic establishments and non-elected governments, including the former regime of Iran, and has sacrificed freedom and fundamental rights of nations for its own illegitimate interests."
“Instead of judging other nations’ freedom of expression and fundamental rights, it should better feel responsible for its international obligations as well as the systematic violation of human rights inside the US, especially those of minorities and people of color. It must also refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter.”
Blinken made the anti-Iran comments in an address to the Freedom House 2023 Annual Awards Ceremony on Tuesday.
The United States claims to honor freedom of speech and accuses other countries of violating such an inalienable right. Analysts, however, say the regime does not tolerate dissent and discriminates against ethnic minorities, including those of African descent.