Today, Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world. Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy, Bush said in a statement.
[The Iranian regime”> brutalizes its people and denies them their liberty, he added.
Bushs comments are his sharpest criticism of Irans theocratic regime since his tour of Europe in February. During the visit, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder reportedly urged Bush to join them in offering economic incentives including membership for Iran in the World Trade Organization on the grounds that a united front would be more effective than a continuing U.S.-Europe split over how to persuade Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions.
The Bush administration agreed, and official U.S. pronouncements on support for the Iranian peoples democratic aspirations have become rare, prompting speculations that the U.S. was moderating its stance on Iran.
But todays statement by President Bush echoed his outreach to the Iranian people in the State of Union address in January. He said today that the Iranian people deserved a genuinely democratic system in which elections are honest – and in which their leaders answer to them instead of the other way around and a truly free and democratic society with a vibrant free press that informs the public and ensures transparency.
America believes in the independence and territorial integrity of Iran. America believes in the right of the Iranian people to make their own decisions and determine their own future. America believes that freedom is the birthright and deep desire of every human soul. And to the Iranian people, I say: As you stand for your own liberty, the people of America stand with you, the U.S. President said.
