AFP, Washington, Feb 11, 2010  – The White House on Thursday warned Iran should respect the ’universal rights’ of anti-government demonstrators in Tehran to express themselves without intimidation or violence.
Top officials here said they were closely monitoring events in the Iranian capital after demonstrators defied a police crackdown to stage fresh anti-government protests.
Barack Obama’s spokesman Robert GIBBS recalled comments by the president in his Nobel Peace Prize address last year, saying the White House stood ’by the universal rights of Iranians to express themselves freely and to do so without intimidation or violence.
’We continue to monitor events as they happen and try to get the best available information, understanding that a lot of media, Google and other Internet services, have been basically unplugged,’ GIBBS said.
He spoke as 20 members of the anti-government National Council of Resistance of Iran protested outside the White House House, warning against any attempt to legitimise the Tehran government with diplomacy or trade.