Transcript

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.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in the the streets of Tehran yesterday in opposition to the election results.  The protesters stretched five miles and are expected to be out in full force again today.  Seven people were killed yesterday and many were injured.  The Guardian Council, the body that oversees elections,  announced that it will recount some of the votes but not all of them.  This is viewed by many as simply an attempt to quell the protests instead of conducting any real or legitimate examination into the election results. Mir Hussein Mousavi, the opposition leader, rejects a recount and instead demands a new election.  The opposition leader says that there were 53 million ballots ere published yet only 39 million of those were used.  What happened to the 14 million deficit ballots?   Mousavi says that a recount will not result in any finding of fraud because that it would be same regime doing the recount.

UPDATE 06/16/09:  ”Deep Concerns”

President Obama made the following statements regarding the Iran election in the Rose Garden of the White House today.

“I have said before that I have deep concerns about the election. I think that the world has deep concerns about the election,” Obama said after White House talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.

“You have seen in Iran some initial reaction from the supreme leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people had deep concerns about the election.”  However, Obama added ”it is not productive, given the history of US-Iranian relations to be seen as meddling — the US president, meddling in Iranian elections.”

The President also said that he wants to avoid Washington becoming a “political football.”

However, the President went on to say, “[w]hen I see violence directed at peaceful protestors, when I see peaceful dissent being suppressed — wherever that takes place — it is a concern to me and it is a concern to the American people,” he said.

“That is not how governments should interact with their people.”

“My hope is that the Iranian people will make the right steps in order for them to be able to express their voices, to express their aspirations.”

President Obama will continue his efforts to forge “hard headed” diplomacy with the Islamic Republic on issues beneficial to United States interests whomever the winner of the disputed election.

The President observed in the overwhelmingly high turnout and vivid election campaign in Iran a “questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures toward the international community that have taken place in the past.”

“There are people who want to see greater openness and greater debate and want to see greater democracy.

“How that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide.

“But I stand strongly with the universal principle that people’s voices should be heard and not suppressed.”

 

UPDATE x2   6/19/09 – 3:12pm: President Obama comments on Khamenei’s speech in a new interview with CBS News’ Harry Smith:

“And I’m very concerned based on some of the tenor — and tone of the statements that have been made — that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching. And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is and — and is not.”

 

UPDATE  x3   6/19/09 – 9:10pm: The President from his speech at tonight’s Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner:

“I am here tonight because I appreciate all of the work that you do and the role that you play. You report the news as it happens and you cover history as it is made, with a hand-held camera or a mic or now even a cell phone or a blog. You bring the truth to people and allow people to bring truth to the world. We’re seeing that now as history is unfolding in the sounds and images of broadcasts from Iran over the last week. We have seen professional and citizen journalists act as a voice for those who want to be heard, bearing witness to the universal aspirations of democracy and freedom, often at great risk and sometimes with great sacrifice. They do it because the rest of us need to hear the stories that they tell. In recent years we have seen the same courageous reporting and Iraq and Afghanistan, Congo, every dangerous corner of the world. everywhere, there is a story that needs to be told.”

UPDATE  x4    6/20/06  2:47pm:  President Obama regarding today’s violence in Iran:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said – “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

Update  x5: 06/23/2009

President Obama’s Prepared Statement on Iran for today’s press conference:

Today, I want to start by addressing three issues, and then I’ll take your questions. 

First, I’d like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.

The Iranian people are trying to have a debate about their future. Some in the Iranian government are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others outside of Iran of instigating protests over the elections. These accusations are patently false and absurd. They are an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran’s borders. This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won’t work anymore in Iran. This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they – and only they – will choose.

The Iranian people can speak for themselves. That is precisely what has happened these last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to the peaceful pursuit of justice. Despite the Iranian government’s efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers, and so we have watched what the Iranian people are doing.

This is what we have witnessed. We have seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands Iranians marching in silence. We have seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and their voices heard. Above all, we have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights, and heed the will of its own people. It must govern through consent, not coercion. That is what Iran’s own people are calling for, and the Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government.

UPDATE  x6:  06/25/09  President Obama’s comment at joint press conference with Chancellor Merkel of Germany

The chancellor and I discussed the tragic situation in Iran. Today we speak with one voice. The rights of the Iranian people to assemble, to speak freely, to have their voices heard, those are universal aspirations. And their bravery in the face of brutality is a testament to their enduring pursuit of justice.

The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. And despite the government’s efforts to keep the world from bearing witness to that violence, we see it and we condemn it.

As I’ve said before, the Iranian people will be the ultimate judge of their government’s actions. But if the Iranian government desires the respect of the international community, then it must respect the rights and heed the will of its people.

The Iranian government also has other responsibilities. Working with Germany, our other European partners, as well as Russia and China, we’re working to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capacity and unleashing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. We will encourage Iran to take a path that respects international norms and leads to greater security and prosperity for the Iranian people.

Questons from reporters:

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. A couple weeks ago on Iran, you suggested that there were few differences with Mr. Mousavi and President Ahmadinejad. I’m wondering if the ensuing time since you made those comments have changed your view on that.

And will you apologize for interfering in Iranian affairs, as President Ahmadinejad suggested you should? Or does he need to apologize for saying that you were, quote, “someone like President Bush”?

And, Chancellor Merkel…

OBAMA: Well, Jeff, how many questions are you getting in here, brother?

LAUGHTER)

I think you got two in, and we want to make sure we give some other folks a chance.

Well, first of all, what I said originally was that, given the structure of the Iranian government and that power resided ultimately with Khamenei, the supreme leader, and given that there weren’t at that point significant differences on the core national security interests that we initially had talked about diplomatically — i.e., nuclear weapons development in Iran, the exportation of terrorist activity — that we could not automatically assume that there would be a huge shift on those particular national security issues, depending on who won that election.

I think what’s absolutely clear is over the course of subsequent days that Mousavi has shown to have captured the imagination or the spirit of forces within Iran that were interested in opening up and that he has become a — a representative of many of those people who are on the streets and who have displayed extraordinary bravery and extraordinary courage.

I continue to believe that ultimately it’s up to the Iranian people to make decisions about who their leaders are going to be. But as I said this week and I’ve said previously, a government that treats its own citizens with that kind of ruthlessness and violence and that cannot deal with peaceful protesters who are trying to have their voices heard in an equally peaceful way I think has moved outside of universal norms, international norms that are important to uphold. And Chancellor Merkel and I share a — share the belief that what’s happened in Iran is unacceptable when it comes to violence against its own citizens. And we call on the Iranian government to uphold those international principles.

What was the second part of your question there, Jeff?

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. I was wondering if you had any thoughts to his call for you to apologize or if he should apologize for calling you someone like President Bush.

OBAMA: Yes, I don’t think — I don’t take Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran.

And I’m really not concerned about Mr. Ahmadinejad apologizing to me. I would suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad think carefully about the obligations he owes to his own people. And he might want to consider looking at the families of those who’ve been beaten or shot or detained. And, you know, that’s where I think Mr. Ahmadinejad and others need to answer their questions.

OBAMA: Don Gagne (ph)?

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President, Chancellor. A question for each of you.

On Iran, does — do the events of the past few weeks — and even of the past couple of days — indefinitely stall your ability to have any kind of meaningful dialogue with them on the nuclear issue? And, frankly, are you just losing precious time on that issue?

OBAMA: Well, on the Iranian issue, I think that we are still waiting to see how the situation in Iran plays out. Obviously, I continue to be deeply disturbed by reports of violence that are taking place there.

I continue to call on the Iranian government to deal with people who are peacefully protesting, wanting their voices to be heard, in a way that respects international principles.

There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks. And we don’t yet know how any potential dialogue will have been affected until we see what’s happened inside of Iran.

I will tell you — and this was the point that I was making earlier in response to Jeff’s question — we have a continuing set of national security interests that are going to have to be dealt with, because the clock is ticking. Iran is developing a nuclear capacity at a fairly rapid clip; they have been doing so for quite some time. Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons would trigger an arms race in the Middle East that would be bad not just for U.S. security. It would be bad for the security of the entire region, including, by the way, Iranian security.

OBAMA: And so, even as we clearly speak out in a unified voice in opposition to the violence that’s taken place in Iran, we have to also be steady in recognizing that the prospect of Iran with a nuclear weapon is a big problem and that we’ve got to work in concert with the international community to try to prevent that from happening.

So my expectation would be — and we did discuss this — that you’re going to continue to see some multilateral discussions with Iran. There is a structure that exists, the P5-plus-one talks that include Russia and China. There are going to be discussions that continue on the international stage and around Iranians’ — Iran’s nuclear program.

I think the direct dialogue between the United States and Iran and how that proceeds, I think we’re going to have to see how that plays itself out in the days and weeks ahead.