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In a news conference at the White House, his first of the year, Obama said governments in the region "can't maintain power through coercion." "The world is changing," he said in a message directed to Middle East leaders. "You have a young, vibrant generation within the Middle East that is looking for greater opportunity. . . . You can't be behind the curve." In particular, Obama sought to draw a distinction between Egypt's largely peaceful popular uprising and the brutality of the Iranian government in cracking down on opposition demonstrators.
He spoke after Iranian hard-liners called Tuesday for the arrest or execution of opposition leaders involved in street protests the day before, as gatherings of Egypt-inspired demonstrators in Bahrain and Yemen again resulted in bloodshed. Violent protests erupted in all three countries Monday as the revolutionary fervor unleashed by the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rippled across the Middle East, propelling people onto the streets to demand change from a spectrum of autocratic regimes. In Tehran, at least one person was killed during the banned opposition rally, officials told the student news agency ISNA on Tuesday. The demonstration was the largest in Iran since a crackdown on the opposition 14 months ago.
In Washington, Obama told reporters: "We have sent a strong message to our allies in the region saying, 'Let's look at Egypt's example, as opposed to Iran's example.' You know, I find it ironic that you've got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt, when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully in Iran."
As in Egypt, Obama said, people in Iran "should be able to express their opinions and their grievances and seek a more responsive government." He said he hopes Iranians continue to "have the courage to be able to express their yearning for greater freedoms and a more representative government." However, "America cannot ultimately dictate what happens inside of Iran any more than it could inside of Egypt," he cautioned. "What we can do is lend moral support to those who are seeking a better life for themselves," Obama said.
While the United States is "concerned about stability throughout the region," it has sent a message "to friend and foe alike," the president said. Part of this message, he said, is "that if you are governing these countries, you've got to get out ahead of change." As a result of events in Egypt and, earlier, Tunisia, governments in the Middle East and North Africa "are starting to understand this," Obama said. "And my hope is is that they can operate in a way that is responsive to this hunger for change, but always do so in a way that doesn't lead to violence."
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Iranian lawmakers condemn protests; call for execution of leaders - CNN.com
Lives mean nothing to the Islamic radicals. They will crush every uprising.
Then the hypocrites applaude the Egyptian people.
Energized by people power revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, the opposition in Iran took to the streets on Monday, breaking a spell of fear and intimidation for the first time in more than a year. Security forces fired tear gas, paintball guns, and bullets into the air, to disperse crowds as tens of thousands of protesting Iranians defied rally bans in Tehran and major cities to voice their solidarity with Arab revolts and anger at Iran's hard-line leaders. Officials had declared the opposition Green Movement a "corpse," while taking every measure to preempt a rekindling of past protests and lethal street battles that lasted for weeks after disputed June 2009 elections.
The irony wasn't lost on Iran's latent opposition in recent days, as Iran's top leaders claimed to be at the forefront of a popular "Islamic awakening" that was sweeping across the Arab world but would not allow it to touch Iran. "The government tried to say this movement is dead, it's a corpse," says an observer in Tehran who could not be named. "But for a corpse, you don't organize maximum security forces all over Tehran. This is the most important point today.... Do [hard-liners] doubt finally? Or still hold the illusion that it's just a few hundred crazy people out there?"
"It's not that the number is huge by any standards," adds the observer. "It's huge because there was so much repression during the last year, so these people risking and coming out was beyond expectation." The fact that there was any turnout at all, after the systematic measures taken against the Green Movement and its leaders since mid-2009 among them executions, rape in detention, and stiff prison sentences served to invigorate its foot soldiers.
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