Nikki Haley addresses Iran protests, North Korea at United Nations
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley addressed the deadly protests in Iran and the North Korea nuclear threat on Tuesday at the United Nations. Haley said the U.N. "must speak" on the issue and that the U.S. will call for emergency sessions in the coming days.
"The Iranian dictatorship is trying to do what it always does, which is to say that the protests were designed by enemies. We all know that is complete nonsense," Haley said on Tuesday.
At least 450 people have reportedly been arrested in the last three days as violent protests against the country's leadership spread across the Islamic Republic. The demonstrations began Thursday, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, with a single demonstration in the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad, over economic hardship, and a dramatic jump in food prices in particular.
"The U.N. must speak out," Haley said Tuesday. "We must not be silent. The people of Iran are crying out for freedom."
But Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the U.N. blasted Haley's comments in a tweet Tuesday night, saying, "The world will not believe these nauseating crocodile tears from Haley and other US officials on #Iran."
Haley also addressed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's comments that the U.S. should be aware that his country's nuclear forces are now a reality, not a threat.
"The civilized world must remain united and vigilant against the rogue state's development of a nuclear arsenal. We will never accept a nuclear North Korea," Haley said.