U.S. Condemns Iran Attack but Says Tehran 'Needs to Look at Own Base'

W460

The United States on Sunday condemned the deadly attack on a military parade in Iran but said the country's clerical rulers needed to look at reasons for unrest.

"The United States condemns any terrorist attack anywhere, period. We've always stood by that," Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN.

But she said of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani: "He has oppressed his people for a long time."

"He needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from. I think the Iranian people have had enough and that's where all of this is coming from."

At least 29 people were killed when suspected Arab separatists in southwestern Iran opened fire Saturday on a parade commemorating the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Iran pinned the blame on an unnamed US-backed Gulf state for allegedly supporting the militants.

The attack, which is rare for Iran, was claimed by the Islamic State group, which is made up of Sunni Muslim extremists staunchly opposed to the Shiite clerical state in Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has piled pressure on Iran, with national security adviser John Bolton and other officials in the past calling for supporting anti-government forces within the country.

Haley, however, repeated the administration position: "We're not looking to do a regime change in Iran or anywhere."

Comments 2
Thumb chrisrushlau 24 September 2018, 18:11

The city is seventy miles from Basra in Iraq.
When you say the US is responsible for the attack, you must distinguish the people from the government, and in the government you must distinguish the Trump administration from the time-servers in the Pentagon and State Department whose motto is "hajjis deserve what they get", and in the Trump administration you must distinguish Trump from just about everybody around him, and in Trump himself you must distinguish the good soul from the tired body.

Thumb chrisrushlau 24 September 2018, 18:14

Jimmy Carter was described (though this fits Obama much better) as the Piper Cub pilot trying to fly a 747. Trump should try this approach for his cabinet: get total amateurs who are well-intentioned, tell them to fire everybody who gives them trouble, namely, by lying to them. If Congress won't give its "advice and consent" to the appointments, let them be "acting Secretaries" for as long as it takes.