U.S. officials on Monday criticized Iran’s execution of two people in connection with anti-government protests and expressed concern that Iran could soon put more people to death after unfair trials as part of a crackdown.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters the United States condemns the executions of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini “in the strongest terms.”
Iran said it executed the two men Saturday after they were convicted of killing a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force in the city of Karaj in early November.
“These executions are, in our estimation at least, a key component of Iranian authorities’ brutal effort – their brutal effort to suppress peaceful protests that began in September following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the so-called morality police,” Price said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the executions were the latest example of “the brutality of a government in Iran that is crushing its own people’s dignity, their freedom to speak out, and, in this case, their lives.”
Sullivan said the United States will continue to “impose costs and consequences” on Iran for its response and that the U.S. will “continue to try to help the Iranian people have the means to be able to communicate effectively both with each other and with the world.”
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
