Kanaani tells US to stay in their lane on human rights, Amini case

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After US President Joe Biden asserted his position on imposing "further costs" as a response to protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, Iran called the US out for 'hypocrisy' on human rights. 

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani responded through an Instagram post to a statement released by the White House late Monday regarding Biden's imposition of additional sanctions against Iran, against both individuals and entities such as firms. 

Biden said that the United States will be imposing further sanctions on what he claimed to be "perpetrators of violence against peaceful protesters."

The death of the 22-year-old Iranian woman on September 16 incited a wave of protests and riots that were eventually proven to be Western-backed following her arrest by the police in Tehran. Earlier Monday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pointed fingers at the US and "Israel" for fomenting the unrest rocking the country. "I say clearly that these riots and the insecurity were engineered by America and the occupying, false Zionist regime, as well as their paid agents," he said.

Media have exploited Mahsa Amini's death to reach the extent of chaotic protests, but Amini's father, Amjad Amini, condemned those actions and confirmed that the gatherings and demonstrations held in a number of Iranian provinces, "have nothing" to do with the family, and "were not for our sake."

Iranian media reported that Kanaani stated: "It would have been better for Mr. Joe Biden to think a little about the human rights record of his own country before making humanitarian gestures, although hypocrisy does not need to be thought through".

"The US president should be concerned about the numerous sanctions... against the Iranian nation, the sanctions whose imposition against any nation is a clear example of a crime against humanity," he added.