Date: Monday, November 18, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer, Director

Iran Erupts

Anti-government protests swept across Iran this weekend as the Iranian people erupted in outrage over Tehran's latest moves to stabilize its economy, which included a 50% increase in the price of gasoline and rationing of gas.

According to government media outlets, nearly 90,000 demonstrators took to the streets. Approximately 100 stores and banks were looted and burned across the country. Official state news agencies acknowledge three deaths in the rioting, but other sources say at least 40 people have been killed and more than 1,000 have been arrested.

The Iranian regime has shut down the Internet, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the violence on members of the former Iranian royal family. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also threatened to take "decisive and revolutionary action" against further protests.

The Trump Administration is standing with the Iranian people and making its support for the protests known. Over the weekend, the White House released the following statement:

"The United States supports the Iranian people in their peaceful protests against the regime that is supposed to lead them. We condemn the lethal force and severe communications restrictions used against demonstrators.

"Tehran has fanatically pursued nuclear weapons and missile programs, and supported terrorism, turning a proud nation into another cautionary tale of what happens when a ruling class abandons its people and embarks on a crusade for personal power and riches."

The Useless U.N.

Last week, the United Nations General Assembly approved eight resolutions condemning Israel and not one denouncing Iran or Hezbollah or Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet, the deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, blasted the General Assembly for its anti-Israel bias. Below are excerpts of her remarks.

"The United States continues to oppose the annual submission of more than a dozen resolutions biased against Israel. . . We are disappointed that . . . member states continue to disproportionally single out Israel through these types of resolutions.

"It is deplorable that the United Nations . . . should be so often used by member states to treat one state in particular, Israel, unequally. As the United States has repeatedly made clear, this dynamic is unacceptable.

"We see resolutions that are quick to condemn all manner of Israeli actions, but say nothing or almost nothing about terrorist attacks against innocent civilians. This is particularly apparent when we see Israel blamed for the situation in Gaza, while none of these resolutions even mentions the word 'Hamas,' or any armed groups in Gaza.

"Just this week, we saw barrages of rockets on Israeli civilians fired from Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. It is shameful that the UN cannot condemn these acts of terror in any of the resolutions we will vote today. . .

"One-sided resolutions do not help advance peace. The cause of peace will be served when the bias of the United Nations against Israel ends. The United States will continue to oppose every effort to delegitimize Israel. . ."