...

Obama ‘deeply troubled’ by Iran protests

Other News Materials 16 June 2009 04:21 (UTC +04:00)

President Barack Obama said Monday he was "deeply troubled" by the violent protests that have followed Iran's disputed presidential election, but said it was up to Iranians to choose their own leaders, CNN reported.

"It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be," Obama told reporters at the White House. "We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran."

Obama did not take a position on the claims of fraud that supporters of challenger Mir Hossein Moussavi have leveled after Friday's vote, which official results state was won by hard-line incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he said, "The Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected."

Latest

Latest