U.S. National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster comments on the Iran protests during an interview with VOA Contributor Greta Van Susteren:
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Footage shows protests, clashes in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran:
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Tehran Residents Share Economic Grievances Amid Protests
WATCH: Some residents of Tehran described their financial struggles as days of protests took place in dozens of towns and cities across the country:
Macron asks Rouhani to show restraint, minister's visit postponed
PARIS, Jan 2 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron urged his Iranian counterpart in a phone call on Tuesday to show restraint in dealing with protests, Macron's office said in a statement.
The statement said Macron had expressed his concern to President Hassan Rouhani over the number of casualties in the six-day-old protests, and told him that freedom of speech and protest must be respected.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's planned trip to Tehran later this week was also postponed to a future date, the French presidency said.
Iranian media said Rouhani had asked France to act against Mujahideen exiles working against the Iranian establishment from Paris.
US: Iran should restore social media sites restricted due to protests
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Tuesday urged Iranian security forces to exercise restraint in dealing with protests that have swept the country and called on Tehran to restore access to any social media sites that have been restricted.
"When a nation clamps down on social media or websites or Google or news sites, we ask the question: What are you afraid of? ... We support the Iranian people and we support their voices being heard," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing.
Restoring social media "would certainly be an important thing for them to do," Nauert said.
Former CIA director John Brennan tell's VOA that Trump is squandering opportunity in Iran:
With wholesale condemnation of Iran and nuclear deal over past year, Trump Admin squandered opportunity to bolster reformists in Tehran and prospects for peaceful political reform in Iran. Bluster is neither a strategy nor a mechanism for exercise of U.S. power and influence.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks about the widespread protests in several Iranian cities:
"Unfortunately, millions of people around the world are not so fortunate. In recent days, we have watched widespread protest erupt in many Iranian cities. Years of mismanagement, corruption and foreign adventurism has eroded the Iranian's people's trust in their leaders. The Iranian regime spends its people's wealth on militancy and terror abroad rather than ensuring prosperity at home. Prices for everyday staples and fuel are rising, while the Revolutionary Guard spends the nation's wealth on foreign militant groups and enrich themselves in the process. The Iranian people are angry at the rising tide of corruption in their daily lives. The people are tired of paying the price for their violent and corrupt rulers. As a result, we are now seeing an organic popular uprising organized by brave Iranian citizens on a large scale since 2009. But the international community cannot sit silent as it did then. The United States supports the Iranian people and we call on the regime to respect its citizens' basic right to peacefully express their desire for change. America longs for the day when Iranians will take their rightful place alongside the free people of the world. As the president said in October, we stand in total solidarity with the Iranian regime's longest suffering victims, its own people. The citizens of Iran have paid a heavy price for the violence and extremism of their leaders. And the Iranian people long to reclaim their country's proud history, its culture, its civilization and its cooperation with its neighbors."
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U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley tells VOA reporter Margaret Besheer that in spite of the protests, there are no unilateral actions being considered by the Trump administration against Iran.?
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