TIP CEO: With Europe’s Abdication, U.S. Must Take Lead in
When Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs finally spoke up about the protests that have recently roiled Iran, she didn’t speak up for freedom and demand that the government respect the rights of the protesters, but rather, she offered a non-judgmental “we expect all concerned to refrain from violence,” after the government had already killed at least 22 people.

In the absence of a strong response from Europe, America’s leadership is all the “more critical,” Josh Block, president and CEO of The Israel Project wrote in an op-ed published Sunday in The Times of Israel.
Block noted that in the United States, politicians across the spectrum, “everyone from President Donald Trump and Marco Rubio to Bernie Sanders and Bob Menendez,” voiced their support for Iranians speaking out against the financial mismanagement of the regime leading to widespread poverty. Chants of “We don’t want the Islamic Republic,” and “Leave Syria, leave Gaza, leave Lebanon,” reveal that people are tired of being asked to support their government’s far reaching foreign adventures.
Mogherini’s neutral statement was followed by similar statements from the British, German, French and Swiss governments. Two weeks ago, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was welcomed in Brussels to discuss the 2015 nuclear deal; he was not shunned as representative of a government repressing its people but as an honored equal. Sweden’s representative to the United Nations said, “Human rights violations in Iran must be separated from [the Iran nuclear deal],” when the United States called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to discuss Iran’s brutal repression of the protests. The Swedish ambassador made explicit what Block characterized as “the anti-democratic effect the agreement is having on world affairs.”
Read More: The Tower – TIP CEO: With Europe’s Abdication, U.S. Must Take Lead in Promoting Freedom for Iran
Iran Briefing | News Press Focus on Human Rights Violation by IRGC, Iran Human Rights