Biden Supports "Brave Women" of Iran as Obama Admits 2009 Mistake

U.S. President Joe Biden called on Iranian officials Friday to end the violent suppression of protesters. 

Biden said he was “stunned” by the mass protests in Iran and that the US stood with the country’s “brave women”.

Speaking at a college in Irvine, California, to a rally with demonstrators holding “Free Iran” signs, Biden said: “I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran.”

Women "should be able to wear in God’s name what they want to wear. Iran has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights." 

Iran has seen its biggest wave of demonstrations in years after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by the morality police. More than 200 people have been killed since, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights, including dozens of children. 

Biden told the local Persian community: “I want to thank you all for speaking out.”

Former president Barack Obama also said yesterday that "there is a deep dissatisfaction with the Iranian regime,” adding that his lack of support for the Green Movement in 2009 was a mistake.

"In 2009, 2010 there was a big debate inside the White House as to whether I should publicly affirm what was going on with the Green Movement," he said. “Because a lot of activists were being accused of being the tools of the West I think [not supporting the Green Movement] was a mistake. Every time we see a flash and a glimmer of hope, I think we have to point it out. We have to express some solidarity about it."

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with activists from Iran on Friday and praised the "courage" of the protesters "as women and young people continue to stand up for the basic rights the Iranian regime continues to deny them."

"This is, in many ways, not a new story; this has been going on for years, for decades.  But in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death and the spontaneous demonstration of outrage that this has produced, I think we are seeing something that is quite remarkable throughout the country, led primarily by women and young people," he said.

Blinken added: "This denial of fundamental rights, fundamental freedoms, is something that the United States has long worked against, as have many other countries around the world. But first and foremost, this is the Iranian people standing up with extraordinary courage for the rights that are being denied them.  

"We’ve worked to support those who are standing for their fundamental freedoms despite the efforts of the regime to deny them the ability to assemble, to speak freely, to communicate with each other.  We’ve imposed sanctions on the so-called morality police that are engaged in incredibly abusive practices.  We have of course worked to license technology so that the Iranians have the ability to communicate with one another and to communicate with the outside world,” Blinken said.

He said that the Iranian regime will try to paint this and other expressions of solidarity as evidence that these protests were planned outside of Iran and the work of others – as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has insisted.

"And if that’s the case, if they genuinely believe that, they fundamentally – fundamentally – do not understand their own people. Because this is about Iran’s struggle, the struggle of the people of Iran, for the fundamental freedoms that have long been denied them."

It comes as more mass demonstrations are planned for Saturday, as the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini entered its fifth week, despite a deadly crackdown that has so far seen more than 200 deaths. 

Despite authorities blocking access to popular apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp, activists issued an online call for mass protests on Saturday under the slogan "The beginning of the end!" aimed at the regime.

Government supporters are also planning "anti-riot" rallies for Saturday night in "all mosques in the country … to counter the plots of Iran's enemies," according to a statement from the Islamic Development Coordinating Council responsible for organizing official demonstrations.

Receiving information about the demonstrations remains difficult amid tight restrictions on the internet and the arrests of at least 40 journalists in the country. However, videos obtained by IranWire show people continuing to protest in many cities Friday night.