Tehran 0
23 December 2019

The U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, asserted that “the Reuters report on the massacre ordered by Khamenei underscores the urgency for the international community to punish the perpetrators and isolate the regime for the murder of 1,500 Iranian citizens”. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also drew on the figures and stated: “Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei is a war criminal. He ordered the murder of 1500 civilian protestors and the ICC [International Criminal Court] doesn’t even open an investigation”. A senior official at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council rejected the claims and insisted that “the protestations that Reuters made in its report are totally worthless not only in terms of security issues and intelligence but in the field of news and media, and will damage the already-tarnished credibility of this agency”. The following day, Secretary Pompeo stated that “the U.S. strongly denounces the arrest of Pouya Bakhtiari’s parents [who was killed during November protests], and calls for their immediate release. It’s time for the international community to stand together with the Iranian people and hold the regime accountable”.

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