Iran: Clinton Says U.S. is Supporting Indigenous Democratic Forces

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations today that the U.S. seeks to support Iran’s indigenous “democratic forces.” She expressed the hope that the Iranian people will work to expand democratic expression in a country that Clinton said is “morphing into a military dictatorship with a … sort of religious-ideological veneer.” In response to the regime’s growing authoritarianism, she stated, “there is a great deal of ferment and activities inside that we do try to support…Democracy needs defending. The struggle to make human rights a human reality needs champions.” She seemed careful to make clear that the U.S. role in Iran is merely supportive, presumably in order to avoid the appearance that the U.S. is meddling in domestic Iranian affairs. She added: “We want to be helpful but we don’t want to get in the way of it so that’s the balance that we try to strike.”