Trump vs. Obama on Iran Protests: 5 Things to Know
Trump administration's response
The Trump administration has been upfront with its concern about the situation in Iran.
On Dec. 29, the U.S. State Department released a statement explaining that "Iran's leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos."
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The State Department strongly condemned the arrest of peaceful protesters and urged all nations to stand with the Iranian people in their time of need.
United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday called on the United Nations to hold emergency sessions about the situation.
"In the days ahead, we will be calling for an emergency session both here in New York and at the Human Rights Council in Geneva," Haley said. "We must not be silent. The people of Iran are crying out for freedom."
Vice President Mike Pence wrote an op-ed that was published by The Washington Post on Wednesday, titled "Unlike Obama, Trump Will Not Be Silent on Iran."
Pence praised Trump and claimed that the president predicted in September that the "days of the Iranian regime were numbered."
"The good people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the United States, Iran's people are what their leaders fear the most," Trump said during his United Nations speech in September.
Pence assured that "our administration will continue to support the protesters in their calls for freedom and demand that Iran's leaders cease their dangerous and destabilizing actions at home and abroad."
He also stated that the administration has issued new sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Furthermore, Pence said that the president is "weighing additional actions to punish the regime for its belligerent behavior and assault on its own citizens."
On Thursday, the State Department released another statement that indicated that over 1,000 Iranians have been arrested because of the protests.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the deaths to date and the arrests of at least one thousand Iranians," the statement reads. "We have ample authorities to hold accountable those who commit violence against protestors, contribute to censorship, or steal from the people of Iran."
"To the regime's victims, we say: You will not be forgotten," the statement concluded.
