Advocates call on Biden to support Iran protests as vigil held outside White House

Protests against hardline religous laws draw international support but tepid response in US

Supporters of women’s rights protests in Iran are calling on the Biden administration to be more vocal in its support for activists battling the policies of Tehran’s hardline religous regime.

The State Department has issued remarks through spokespeople in support of the escalating demonstrations, while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris themselves have not addressed the events at length publicly.

“[W]e, of course, condemn the violence, the brutality that is being exhibited by Iran’s security forces. The ongoing violent suppression of what are peaceful protests following Mahsa Amini’s death is appalling,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a briefing last Monday.

He added at the time: “We’re closely following these developments. Iran’s leaders should be listening to the protesters, not firing on them. Unfortunately, this regime is one that has a long history of using violence against those who would peacefully exercise those universal rights.”

Mr Biden too addressed the “brave” protesters during his address to the UN General Assembly. He has said that the US will “be imposing further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters” and vowed to “continue holding Iranian officials accountable and supporting the rights of Iranians to protest freely”, though it’s not totally clear what all the US will do.

Other than those offerings, the US has not addressed the demonstrations with the eagerness that some would have hoped a US presidency that espouses its committment to human rights would be.

Some of those critics who want more acknowledgement and support from the Biden White House, mainly in the forms of concrete anti-Tehran policies, gathered in front of the residence Monday evening as storms gathered overhead.

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for the Organisation of Iranian-American Communities urged the administration to go further, and cease negotiations with the regime at all. This is likely one of if not the main reason the Biden administration has not been as vocal about the protests as some would like — US negotiators are thought to be in the late stages of discussing the potential rejoining of the 2015 nuclear agreement abandoned under the Trump presidency by the US.

“Washington and other western capitals must understand that the Iranian people have spoken and they want to overthrow this regime,” Dr Ramesh Sepehrrad asserted. She added: “No negotiations with this regime, no concessions, and no sanctions relief until ruthless rulers are held accountable.”

Others, like president-elect Maryam Rajavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, want the Biden administration to take steps to “prevent further executions and killing of protesters”, though it’s unclear how that could be achieved without military force. The NCRI also hopes the White House or State Department will publicly recognise the “right of the Iranian people to self-defense and struggle to overthrow the religious dictatorship to establish democracy and human rights”.

The protests have spread to dozens of locations across Tehran and throughout Iran’s various provinces as well in response to the killing of a young woman in police custody after her detention for not wearing a head covering.

The widespread unrest is some of the most significant Iran has seen in years and has caused the government in Tehran to crack down on citizens, with reports indicating that internet use is being heavily restricted in the country.