Pompeo: US Stands With Iranian Protesters

Pompeo urges Iranians not to stay silent about government abuses

Large protests in many major cities across Iran are focused on an increase in gasoline prices, but US officials are hoping to restructure them as a US-backed call for regime change. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was quick to endorse such protests.

“The proud Iranian people are not staying silent about the government’s abuses,” Pompeo said, saying that “the United States is with you,” and continues to stand against Iran’s “tyranny.”

Public protests over gasoline prices aren’t exactly a color-coded revolution of the sort the US can really sink its teeth into, nor is the Iranian government standing behind the price increases really the sort of grave tyranny that is likely to electrify the world.

Nor, indeed, would everything in Iran likely warrant a response from the US State Department, except that it is Iran, and this gives the US another opportunity to position itself against the Iranian government in some vague way.

US involvement is almost certain to undermine the protests as well, as participating after the US endorsement risks being portrayed as a US-backed rebellion instead of a largely peaceful public protest.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com.