Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has added his voice to the criticism of the U.S. law-enforcement crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across the country.
"The suppression and violent treatment of the American police and security forces against professors and students protesting the genocide and war crimes of the Israeli regime in various universities of the United States is deeply worrying," the official wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. Amir-Abdollahian added that the recent developments had "disgusted" global public opinion.
The protest movement began at Columbia University and has since spread to campuses nationwide. Local law-enforcement agencies have begun breaking up demonstrations and sit-ins, arresting hundreds of students. President Joe Biden has criticized what he called "blatant" antisemitism within the movement, a charge fiercely rejected by organizers. Newsweek has contacted the White House and State Department by email to request comment.
Amir-Abdollahian said the "repression is in line with the continuation of Washington's full-fledged support for the Israeli regime and clearly shows the double standard policy and contradictory attitude of the American government towards freedom of expression.
"Following the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children, especially after the discovery of mass graves of the sick and wounded and medical staff in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the global wave of disgust towards the Israeli regime and its supporters cannot be kept hidden," the foreign minister added.
"The White House must immediately stop supporting the Israeli regime's war crimes and be held accountable," Amir-Abdollahian said.
The warring parties in the Middle East appear to be trying to leverage the campus protests as they maneuver for advantage amid Israel's ongoing operation in Gaza, its crackdown in the West Bank, skirmishes along the Lebanon-Israel border, continued strikes in the Red Sea, and long-range tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran.
Iranian and Hamas officials have condemned the heavy-handed American response to the demonstrations. A senior Hamas official told Newsweek: "The American administration's attempts to suppress these activities will not change the reality of the situation, whether regarding the justice of the Palestinian cause or the brutality and racism of the Israeli occupation."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has described the protests as "horrific" and called for them to be stopped, also framing them as antisemitic. "It's unconscionable," the veteran leader added. "It has to be stopped."
Protest organizers have denied that their actions are antisemitic. The aim of the movement is to pressure universities into divesting from companies that contribute to the Israeli military actions in Gaza, which protesters say constitute a genocide.
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