January 03-2014
. . . no let up
The United States says it will keep pushing Iran on human rights and universal Internet access even as it pursues a nuclear deal with Tehran.
National Security Advisor Susan Rice said Iran should allow a visit by the UN rapporteur for human rights and said Washington would continue to call for freedom of expression.
She accused Iran, along with North Korea, of stoking global tensions to prolong repressive domestic rule.
“In Iran, as we test the potential for a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear issue, we are mindful that another key test is whether we begin to see progress on human rights,” Rice told a conference organized by the Human Rights First group.
“Our sanctions on Iran’s human rights abusers will continue and so will our support for the fundamental rights of all Iranians,” Rice said. Some of the sanctions placed on Iran are for pursuing terrorism and abusing human rights, not for its nuclear program. Rice was saying those sanctions would not be removed even if Iran canceled its nuclear program in its entirety. However, the bulk of the US sanctions imposed on Iran are for its nuclear program.
Rice said, somewhat cuttingly, “The Iranian people deserve the same right to express themselves online and through social media as their leaders enjoy.”
Some conservative Christian critics of President Obama have complained that the issue of human rights has not been at the center of talks with the Islamic Republic. They primarily accuse him of abandoning Christian convert Pastor Saeed Abedini. That criticism has become popular with partisan Republicans.
In Tehran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has frequently said the United States doesn’t really care about Iran’s nuclear program but just hates Iran. He has said that even if the nuclear program were to go away, the Americans would continue to find something to complain about, perhaps focusing on human rights, or terrorism or Iran’s missile program.
