Chairman Mike Turner (OH-10) of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces released the following statement after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed Iran’s “enemies” for protests against the Iranian government:
“I strongly support the Iranian peoples’ peaceful calls for democracy, freedom, and human rights. These Iranians are not foreign ‘enemies;’ Tehran should heed their calls for civil liberties and economic opportunities. Instead, the Iranian regime continues to arrest hundreds and block access to communication media applications while over 20 Iranians have been killed.
I call on Tehran to honor its human rights obligations by allowing Iranians to speak freely and peacefully assemble. Furthermore, Iranians must be allowed to use social media and communications applications to share ideas, even those that may be unpopular to its ruling government.
Only in a nation of peace and individual freedoms will all Iranians prosper.”
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