US slams Iranian authorities for arresting protestors

By Safvan Allahverdi

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. "strongly condemns" the arrest of peaceful protesters in cities across Iran, and urged other nations to support the Iranian people, U.S. officials said Friday.

"The United States strongly condemns the arrest of peaceful protesters," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Thousands of Iranians on Thursday hit the streets in the northeastern cities of Mashhad and Kashmar on Thursday to protest rising commodity prices and perceived government mismanagement, according to local media reports.

“Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed, and chaos,” the statement read.

It quoted U.S. President Donald Trump saying “the longest-suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are Iran’s own people.”

The State Department said it urges “all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption.”

The Iranian Students News Agency quoted Mashhad Governor Mohammad Rahim Norouzian as saying that police had eventually dispersed the protests while a total of 52 demonstrators had been taken into custody.

The U.S. statement also explained that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson repeats “his deep support for the Iranian people.”