US President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 3, 2022. (Credit : Stefani Reynolds / AFP)
WASHINGTON — The United States this week will impose further costs on Iranian officials responsible for violence against demonstrators who protested Iran's government after the death of Mahsa Amini, President Joe Biden said on Monday.
Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan also known by her Kurdish first name Jina, was arrested in Tehran on Sept. 13 for "unsuitable attire" by the morality police and later died in custody.
Within hours of her funeral in the Kurdish town of Saqez on Sept. 17, thousands of Iranians poured into streets across the country. Security forces, including police and the volunteer Basij militia, have cracked down on the protests. Rights groups estimate the death toll to be over 130.
In a statement, Biden said he was "gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protesters in Iran" and vowed a swift response.
"This week, the United States will be imposing further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters. We will continue holding Iranian officials accountable and supporting the rights of Iranians to protest freely," Biden said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that university students in Iran are "rightly enraged" by Amini's death and that the weekend crackdowns are the type of events that prompt young people in Iran to leave the country "and seek dignity and opportunity elsewhere."
She gave no indication that the crackdown would have an impact US diplomacy to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal, which then-President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.
Reporting contributed by Kanishka Singh, Costas Pitas and Steve Holland