"Today, the Iranian people are once again rising up to demand freedom and opportunity, and under President Trump, the United States is standing with them."
This time, we will not be silent on Iran
By Vice President Mike Pence
The Washington Post
January 3, 2018
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The last administration's refusal to act ultimately emboldened Iran's tyrannical rulers to crack down on the dissent. The Green Revolution was ruthlessly put down, and the deadly silence on the streets of Iran matched the deafening silence from the White House. To this day, many Iranians blame the United States for abandoning them in their hour of need.
Today, the Iranian people are once again rising up to demand freedom and opportunity, and under President Trump, the United States is standing with them. This time, we will not be silent.
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More broadly, the president declined to certify the previous administration's nuclear deal with Iran, which flooded the regime's coffers with tens of billions of dollars in cash — money that it could use to repress its own people and support terrorism across the wider world. We have already issued new sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the president is weighing additional actions to punish the regime for its belligerent behavior and assault on its own citizens.
The United States has spoken clearly and unequivocally. Unfortunately, many of our European partners, as well as the United Nations, have thus far failed to forcefully speak out on the growing crisis in Iran. It's time for them to stand up. The suppression of the Green Revolution in 2009 shows the disastrous price of silence. The president and I call on leaders of freedom-loving nations across the world to condemn Iran's unelected dictators and defend the Iranian people's unalienable right to chart their own future and determine their own destiny.
The president has said that "oppressive regimes cannot endure forever," and 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.
We stand with the proud people of Iran because it is right, and because the regime in Tehran threatens the peace and security of the world.
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Mike Pence, Press Release - Vice President Mike Pence: "This Time, We Will Not Be Silent on Iran" Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/350776