1/4/2018 Russia warns US not to meddle in Iran during protests | The Times of Israel

Russia warns US not to meddle in Iran during

protests
Kremlin accuses Trump administration of seeking to leverage unrest to tighten nuclear-related sanctions on
Tehran

By AGENCIES and TOI STAFF

Today, 4:06 pm     0
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Pro-government demonstrators gather at the Massoumeh shrine in Iran's holy city of Qom, some 130 kilometers south of Tehran on January 3, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Mohammad
ALI MARIZAD)

Moscow on Thursday warned Washington against interfering in Iran’s “internal affairs” after US President Donald
Trump pledged to help Iranians “take back” their government following protests.

The White House said it was weighing sanctions against those involved in a crackdown against the unrest, which has
left 21 dead over ve days.

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“We warn the US against any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” deputy
foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with state news agency TASS.

“Despite the many attempts to distort what is really going on (in Iran), I am sure that our neighbor, our friend, will
overcome its current dif culties,” Ryabkov said.

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1/4/2018 Russia warns US not to meddle in Iran during protests | The Times of Israel

Ryabkov said Washington “is tempted to use the moment to raise new issues with regard to the JCPOA,” the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action that limits Iran’s nuclear program, including restricting uranium enrichment for 10
years.

He also criticized a call by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for an emergency UN Security Council
meeting to discuss the violence.

Iran on Wednesday angrily accused the US at the UN of

meddling in its domestic affairs.

Iran’s UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter

that the US government “has stepped up its acts of
intervention in a grotesque way in Iran’s internal affairs
under the pretext of providing support for sporadic
protests, which in several instances were hijacked by
in ltrators.”

Khoshroo charged that the United States had violated

Iran’s envoy to the UN Gholamali Khoshroo speaks during a Security Council meeting
international law and the principles of the UN charter, and after a vote on the Iran resolution at UN headquarters in New York, July 20, 2015.
urged countries to condemn Washington’s statements. (AFP/Jewel Samad)

“The president and vice president of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in
disruptive acts,” said Khoshroo in the letter to the Security Council and to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“The US Department of State went so far as admitting that the US government wants to encourage protesters in Iran
to change their government, admitting that the US is engaged in interfering with the internal affairs of Iran through
Facebook and Twitter,” he added.

Pro-government demonstrators march in Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz on January 3, 2018. (TASNIM NEWS/MORTEZA JABERIAN/AFP)

The letter was released after Trump pledged to help Iranians “take back” their government and the White House
weighed sanctions against those involved in the crackdown against demonstrators.

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1/4/2018 Russia warns US not to meddle in Iran during protests | The Times of Israel

“Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from
the United States at the appropriate time!” Trump tweeted.

On Tuesday, Haley said she would be seeking an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the violence that
has left 21 dead.

But diplomats said Wednesday that no such meeting was scheduled for the time being.

Protests over economic problems broke out in Iran’s second largest city Mashhad on December 28 and quickly spread
across the country, turning against the regime as a whole.

Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in several cities on Wednesday and Thursday for pro-regime rallies.

READ MORE:

·· Israel & the Region

UN Security Council
··
Russia
· · ·
Iran protests
US foreign policy
Donald Trump
Sergei Ryabkov
· Trump administration
· Iran-Russia relations
· Nikki Haley
· Antonio Guterres

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