US Secretary of State: People of Iran Are ‘Tired of the Corruption’

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to press at the J. W. Marriott Hotel in Singapore on the eve of the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, on June 11, 2018. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

As protests continue in Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement on June 27 condemning the Iranian regime’s handling of the protests and demonstrating support for the protesters.

“The people of Iran are tired of the corruption, injustice, and incompetence from their leaders,” Pompeo said. “The world hears their voice.”

“It should surprise no one that protests continue in Iran. The Iranian people are demanding their leaders share the country’s wealth and respond to their legitimate needs,” he said.

“We condemn the government’s same futile tactics of suppression, imprisonment of protestors, and the denial of Iranians’ frustrations.”

There have been numerous large-scale protests in Iran, which are growing in size and frequency. A video from June 26 shows protesters in Tehran shouting, “Our enemies are right here! America is not our enemy! No to Gaza, no to Lebanon!”

The slogans mirrored those of earlier protests in the country. A June 20 video from Abadan, Iran, shows protesters shouting, “Our enemy is right here! They’re lying when they say it’s America!”

In another protest just days earlier in Tehran’s bazaar, protesters shouted, “Our incompetent government is responsible for our nation’s poverty! Our enemy is right here! They’re lying when they say it’s America!”

Pompeo stated in a June 21 tweet that “Iran’s corrupt regime has enriched IRGC, Hizballah and Hamas, and plundered the country’s wealth on proxy wars abroad while Iranian families struggle.”

He repeated these points in his latest statement, noting that the Iranian regime takes the resources of its citizens, and uses these resources to finance terrorist movements around the world.

“The Iranian government is squandering its citizens’ resources, whether its adventurism in Syria, its support for Hizbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, or its ambitions for wastefully expanding its nuclear program, it will only add to the suffering of the people of Iran,” he said.