US not supporter but violator of human rights: Foreign Ministry

Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday condemned the United States’ political treatment and double standard regarding human rights. In Iran, this week marks the week of elaborating on the US human rights record. The foreign ministry said in the statement that during this week in the years after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the US directly or indirectly committed crimes against the Iranian nation, including an attempt against the then Iran’s President Ayatollah Khamenei in 1981,an explosion in a conference of Islamic Republic Party that led to the killing of 72 officials and politicians, the chemical bombing of Sardasht city, the assassination of the chief of Evin Prison Mohamad Kachouei, the assassination of Ayatollah Sadouqi Friday Prayers Imam of Yazd, the downing of Iran’s flight 655 over the Persian Gulf. Unilateralism and unilateral economic sanctions of the US to force governments to change behavior are instances of gross violation of human rights, the statement said. It also noted that Iran is among the countries most affected by the US’ instrumental use of human rights and that unilateral coercive measures have become a vehicle for the US to violate Iran’s natural and legal rights. The statement also said that the US government is violating human rights inside the US itself, examples of which are: 1- Lack of supervision over violation of the rights of minorities, like Muslims and people of color, and broad hate speech by governmental officials; 2- Preparing the ground for the continuation of human rights violations in occupied Palestine through supporting the Zionist regime; 3- Selling arms to invading countries and those involved in conflicts, including in Yemen where people are killed on a daily basis by US-made weapons, while opposing any solution to end the crisis in Yemen; 4- Making instrumental use of human rights and the fight against terrorism to assassinate the greatest figures who advocated the right to self-determination and fought terrorism, including the killing of General Qasem Soleimani. The statement highlighted the UN rapporteur’s report on the killing of General Soleimani, where she deemed the US action as “arbitrary killing" that was "unlawful” and against international law. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish