Obama: Iranian voters' voices should be heard

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday said Iranian voters have a right to feel that their ballots matter and urged the investigation into vote-rigging allegations to go forward without additional violence.

Obama said reports of violence that followed Iranian elections trouble him and all Americans. Peaceful dissent should never be subject to violence that followed weekend elections that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term, he said.

"It would be wrong for me to be silent on what we've seen on the television the last few days," Obama told reporters at the White House.

Obama said he had no way of knowing whether the results are valid — the United States, he noted, had no election monitors in the country — but he added that it is important that the voters' choices be respected.

Hundreds of thousands marched in central Tehran. Gunfire from a pro-government militia killed one man and wounded several others while the government cracked down on dissent. An Associated Press photographer saw at least one demonstrator killed and several others with what appeared to be serious injuries.

The march came as Iran's most powerful figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered an investigation into vote rigging against reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

"I am deeply troubled by the violence I've been seeing on TV," Obama said.

Obama said he would continue to engage the Middle East nation, even if Ahmadinejad's re-election is upheld.

Obama said the United States must work with the country to prevent a nuclear arms race in the region. He emphasized that he disagrees with Ahmadenijad's "odious" beliefs and said the United States has serious disagreements with Iran's foreign policy.

Yet, he said, the United States has a broader interest in stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons or exporting terrorism.

The president was careful not to wade too deeply into Iran's domestic politics, recognizing "sometimes, the United States can be a handy political football." He said it's up to Iran to determine its own leaders but that the country must respect voters' choice.

However, Obama praised protesters and the nation's youth who question results that showed Ahmadinejad winning a second term in a landslide.

"The world is watching and is inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," he said.

Obama's remarks came at the end of an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Q Mr. President, on Iran, does the disputed election results affect — there’s been violence in the street — in any way change your willingness to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad without preconditions? And also, do you have anything to say, any message to send to people who are on the streets protesting, who believe their votes were stolen and who are being attacked violently?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Obviously all of us have been watching the news from Iran. And I want to start off 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.

Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve 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’re, rightfully, troubled.

My understanding is, is that the Iranian government says that they are going to look into irregularities that have taken place. We weren’t on the ground, we did not have observers there, we did not have international observers on hand, so I can’t state definitively one way or another what happened with respect to the election. But what I can say is that there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy who now feel betrayed. And I think it’s important that, moving forward, whatever investigations take place are done in a way that is not resulting in bloodshed and is not resulting in people being stifled in expressing their views.

Now, with respect to the United States and our interactions with Iran, I’ve always believed that as odious as I consider some of President Ahmadinejad’s statements, as deep as the differences that exist between the United States and Iran on a range of core issues, that the use of tough, hard-headed diplomacy — diplomacy with no illusions about Iran and the nature of the differences between our two countries — is critical when it comes to pursuing a core set of our national security interests, specifically, making sure that we are not seeing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East triggered by Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon; making sure that Iran is not exporting terrorist activity. Those are core interests not just to the United States but I think to a peaceful world in general.

We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries, and we’ll see where it takes us. But even as we do so, I think it would be wrong for me to be silent about what we’ve seen on the television over the last few days. And what I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was. And they should know that the world is watching.

And particularly to the youth of Iran, I want them to know that we in the United States do not want to make any decisions for the Iranians, but we do believe that the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected.

Obama: Iranian voters' voices should be heard

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the world is inspired by the outpouring of Iranian political dissent, but Sen. John McCain said Obama isn't speaking out strongly enough.

Obama said Monday an inquiry into the disputed presidential election should go ahead without violence and said he didn't know who rightfully won the Iranian balloting, but that Iranians have a right to feel their votes mattered. McCain, who lost to Obama in last year's U.S. presidential election, called on the president to turn up his rhetoric.

"He should speak out that this is a corrupt, flawed sham of an election and that the Iranian people have been deprived of their rights," the Arizona Republican said Tuesday on a network news show.

But the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee thinks the Obama administration's arms-length stance is just right.

"I think for the moment our position is to allow the Iranians to work out their situation," said Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana. "When popular revolutions occur, they come right from the people." He said he did not think it would be wise for the United States "to become heavily involved in the election at this point."

A spokesman for Iran's Guardian Council had said earlier Tuesday that it was ready to recount specific ballot boxes. The 12-member Guardian Council include clerics and experts in Islamic law.

Obama's remarks marked the most extensive U.S. response to Friday's voting, and appeared calculated to acknowledge the outpouring of dissent in Iran without claiming any credit.

"It would be wrong for me to be silent on what we've seen on the television the last few days," Obama told reporters at the White House. He added, however, that "sometimes, the United States can be a handy political football."

The new American president is personally hugely popular in Iran, and all candidates in this year's surprisingly lively presidential election backed off on criticism of the United States. But the larger idea of the United States — and its world influence, backed by massive military power — remains highly divisive. Any candidate or popular movement seen to have the express backing of the United States would probably be doomed.

"What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," Obama said. "And they should know that the world is watching."

Lugar said if the U.S. tried to play a more aggressive role there, it's likely the clerics would use pent up resentment of the United States there to consolidate their own power. "The clerics are in charge. They are the government. The election is interesting, but not decisive," he said.

McCain said the Iranian people "should not be subjected to four more years of (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and the radical Muslim clerics."

Iran's state radio said seven people died in shooting that erupted after people at an "unauthorized gathering" Monday night in western Tehran "tried to attack a military location."

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians streamed through the capital streets, and the fist-waving protesters denounced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim to a landslide re-election. Standing on rooftops, pro-government gunmen opened fire on a group of protesters who had tried to storm the militia's compound.

Obama campaigned on a promise to extend a hand to the United States' main rival for influence in the Middle East, and the prospect of a different relationship with the United States was a constant, if largely unspoken, theme in the hardline Ahmadinejad's contest with a pro-reform challenger.

AP news story, 6/15/2009, falsely claiming that Obama said that Iran must respect voters' choice

Obama: Iranian voters' voices should be heard

Obama: Iranian voters' voices should be heard