Despite many hot-headed remarks from several members of Congress, Obama wisely stays out of the fray.  This neuters any possible propaganda from Ahmedinejad and others that the unrest is being stoked by outside forces, specifically the United States.

Obviously, all of us have been watching the news from Iran. And I want to start by being very clear that it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be, that we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran, which sometimes — the United States can be a handy political football, or discussions with the United States [can be].

Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence I have been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent, all those are universal values, and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting, and whenever the American people see that, I think they are rightfully troubled.

Here’s the video of a Basiji shooting into the crowd, killing at least one person:

Tags: Barack Obama, election, iran, iranElection, protest

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