Bush Denounces Iran Elections
February 24, 2004
Reuters
Reuters.com
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Tuesday denounced Iran's parliamentary elections and said Tehran leaders stifled freedom of expression.
In Friday's election, an unelected hard-line clerical watchdog barred some 2,500 reformist candidates, some of whom have been key interlocutors with the European Union in its dialogue with Iran.
"I am very disappointed in the recently disputed parliamentary elections in Iran," Bush said in a statement read by his spokesman, Scott McClellan.
The United States is locked in a test of wills over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is for energy production but which Washington fears could be used to make a bomb.
Bush said the disqualification of the candidates "deprived many Iranians of the opportunity to freely choose their representatives."
"I join many in Iran and around the world in condemning the Iranian regime's efforts to stifle freedom of expression, including the closing of two leading reformist newspapers in the run-up to the elections. Such measures undermine the rule of law and are clear attempts to deny the Iranian people's desire to freely choose their leaders," Bush said.
He said Washington supports the Iranian people's aspirations "to live in freedom, enjoy their God-given rights and determine their own destiny."
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