Obama Speaks Out Against Iran

President Obama and Germany joined together on June 26 to condemn post-election violence in Iran and crackdowns on protesters. Obama accused Iran of violating “universal norms, international norms,” and called the country's response to protests "outrageous." This comes into conflict with his earlier policy of engaging Iran diplomatically. He said, “There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks.”

Iran's presidential elections on June 12 saw record turnout and resulted in an apparent landslide victory for incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, several opposition candidates called the election a fraud and cited widespread irregularities. In spite of this, Iran's leadership has called the election the "healthiest" since the country's 1979 revolution.

The outside world has had difficulty viewing events inside Iran due to a crackdown on the free press and foreign media, but it is known that at least 25 people have died in protests. This has led to widespread condemnation, with the G8 nations officially stating that they "deplored" violence in Iran and calling for “the will of the Iranian people [to be] reflected in the electoral process.”

In response, Iran has attacked countries like the UK and the US for meddling in its affairs. President Obama has responded with increasing criticism, especially after Ahmadinejad compared Obama to former President George W. Bush and demanded an apology. In response, Obama said "I don’t take Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran."

While earlier interactions between Obama and Iran were cordial, it seems that future diplomatic relations might not be. Ahmadinejad stood as Iran's conservative presidential candidate, differing greatly from opposition frontrunner Mir Hossein Mousavi, and though Ahmadinejad has occasionally made concessions to Obama, he currently seems to be goading him just as he did George W. Bush. Obama's new criticisms of Iran suggest that the outcome of Iranian protests will be a sensitive subject in the future.