Cameron Khansarinia, policy director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran, a pro-human rights Iranian-American organization that supports democracy, said the Biden administration’s hesitance to actively support protesters is helping the hardline regime remain in power. He and other activists say the administration’s tepid response is driven by its desire to ink a new nuclear deal and avoid upsetting the Iranian government as talks continue. Top U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have notably avoided commenting on the protests, which has not gone unnoticed in the activist community. “Iranians have now been in the streets of cities across the country for two weeks and the Biden administration is not only asleep on the job, it is harming both the people of Iran and U.S. national security interests by prolonging the life of the Islamic Republic dictatorship,” Khansarinia told the Free Beacon. “It is fair to say that Joe Biden and his team not only don’t care, but view this movement for freedom and democracy to be a nuisance they wish would go away.” Khansarinia and others blasted the State Department’s response as lip service and said the administration’s refusal to take action speaks louder than its words. “This pathetic statement is a slap in the face to the peaceful protesters dodging live bullets for the values that America has always stood for, but that the Biden administration clearly abhors,” Khansarinia said. “After two weeks of effective silence in the face of the regime in Tehran opening live fire on peaceful protesters, the Biden administration’s latest half-hearted statement, delegated to low-ranking administration officials, is insulting, shameful, and factually incorrect.”Read the full article in the Washington Free Beacon.
NUFDI’s Cameron Khansarinia quoted in the Washington Free Beacon: