President Donald Trump has called for the United Nations Security Council to deal with the “behavior of the Iranian regime, which has killed hundreds and hundreds of people in a very short period of time”.
Trump made the remarks while speaking at a luncheon with the five permanent members of the UN security Council on December 5.
He also called on the media to “get involved…and go in and see what’s happening because it is not a good situation”.
Iran has a restrictive policy and stringent rules about the presence of foreign media. All foreign journalists are closely monitored and usually accompanied by government minders. Very few major international media organizations have offices or reporters left in Iran. Their coverage of the protests and the government’s bloody crackdown in the first three days of demonstrations was criticized by Iranian on social media as spotty and not reflecting the extent of the unrest.
Trump said that what is happening in Iran is a “horrible situation” and “something that is going to be a big scandal throughout the world very soon”.
He once again expressed support for the Iranian people, saying, “America will always stand with” them “in their righteous struggle for freedom”. He referred to Iran’s regional policies saying that money is being wasted on weapons “and they’re not treating their own people properly.”
On the same day, the U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, Brian Hook held a briefing on Iran and said that more than 1,000 protesters might have been killed in November. That is the highest number mentioned so far, with Amnesty International confirming 208 deaths while Iranian opposition groups have mentioned numbers around 400.
The Iranian government has refused to release any numbers on casualties or an accurate total count of those arrested. Radio Farda’s estimate put the number of detainees well above 8,00.