US worried over Iran's ‘use of force’

TDT | Manama                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com 

Report by Zahra Ayaz

The US has raised concerns over Iran’s treatment of its own people and peaceful protests. Chris Backemeyer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Assistance Coordination and Regional and Multilateral Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, expressed worry about Iran’s use of force in retaliation against those who are peacefully protesting and striving to exercise their own right to self-determination.

He was speaking at a roundtable discussion held yesterday to discuss issues connected to Iran and China.

The US official spoke about the violent responses of the government forces to women who are expressing themselves and demanding an answer for what happened in Iran.

“Our concerns are growing as Iran directly threatens countries in the Middle East, which is why the United States is aggressively seeking to address this while closely cooperating with our Gulf allies,” said Backemeyer.

“We have 8,000 military members in the Kingdom alone, so we are well aware of the significance of our partnership in terms of both security and business, and we have more than increased our commitment here. Our ties are strong, and it is up to us to deal with these problems.”

Dr Jung Pak, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, also attended the roundtable discussion.

He noted that the US is not only developing ties with Bahrain but is also committed to the region more broadly.

“I don’t want to speak for the GCC or Beijing, but I want to stress that we are keeping an eye on this region’s allies and that we want to keep bolstering the international laws of order.

We excel at establishing connections across initiatives, partners, and allies, including Bahrain issues that are important to us,” he said.

Dr Junk told The Daily Tribune: “We are concerned about the millions of dollars’ worth of weapons that have been given to Iran over two decades.

These are problematic acts, and we continue to track the strategic plans that Iran has signed.”