A U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the protests roiling Iran showed Tehran "the world will be watching" its actions, the U.S. ambassador said Friday. But Russia and some other countries said the U.N.'s most powerful body had no business weighing in on the demonstrations.
The U.S. called the meeting after giving moral support to the anti-government protesters in a week of demonstrations and counterdemonstrations.
At least 21 people have been killed and hundreds arrested amid the anti-government protests and unrest over the country's economic woes. Up to 42,000 people took part in the protests, according to Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, who has said the clerically overseen government exhibited "tolerance" toward the demonstrations.
U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration have praised the anti-government demonstrators as people standing up to a repressive and corrupt regime that is trying to silence them.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said at the meeting that the United States stood "unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation.
"We will not be quiet. No dishonest attempt to call protesters 'puppets of foreign powers' will change that. The Iranian people know the truth. And we know the truth.
"They are acting of their own will, on their own behalf, for their own future. Nothing will stop Americans from standing in solidarity with them. In 2009, the world stood by passively while the hopes of the Iranian people were crushed by their government. In 2018, we will not be silent. The Iranian regime is now on notice: The world will be watching what you do," she declared.
But Russia and Iran complained tartly that the U.S. was dragging a council focused on international security into what they called a domestic matter.
"The United States is abusing the platform of the Security Council," said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, whose country has close ties to Iran. "Let Iran deal with its own problems."
Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Gholamali Khoshroo told the Security Council that the United States had abused its power as a permanent member of the council by calling the meeting.
He said Tehran had "hard evidence" that recent protests in Iran had gotten "direct encouragement by foreign forces including by the president of the United States."
Envoys from several other also expressed reservations about whether the council was the right forum for the issue.
The U.N. charter empowers the council to "investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction," and the U.S. was not alone in thinking the Iranian protests qualified.
"It is right and proper – indeed, it is our responsibility … to assess whether a situation like this could become a threat to international peace and security," British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said before the meeting.
Dutch Ambassador Karel van Oosterom said his country hoped the meeting could "work as a preventive measure to avoid further escalation of violence." He called on the Iranian government to set up a process to address any serious human rights violations and hold accountable anyone involved.
French Ambassador Francois Delattre urged the council to react carefully, "with all the vigilance required … but guarding against any exploitation of this crisis, which would only reinforce the extremes."
Iran's Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri has alleged that an American CIA official was the "main designer" of the demonstrations.
The Trump administration has denied having any hand in the demonstrations, saying they arose completely spontaneously. The CIA declined to comment.
Trump has tweeted to commend the protests, expressing "such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government" and pledged "great support from the United States." He also has described Iran as "failing at every level" and declared it is "time for change!"
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday mocked the U.S., saying that calling a Security Council over the protests was "another foreign policy blunder" by the Trump administration.
"The UNSC rebuffed the U.S.'s naked attempt to hijack its mandate. Another FP [foreign policy] blunder for the Trump administration," he tweeted.
Iran's state TV showed pro-government rallies in several cities, with hundreds of people waving the Iranian flag and chanting slogans against the U.S. and Israel.
State TV described the rally as a "response to rioters and supporters of the riots."
The rallies were meant to be a show of force against anti-government protests that broke out in Mashhad, Iran's second largest city, on Dec. 28 and have since spread to several other cities and towns.
