Richard Stengel, an Obama-era under secretary of state for public affairs, said on Thursday that the U.S. has “much more in common” with Iran than many other allied nations.

President Donald Trump has faced mounting pressure at home and abroad on whether to launch strikes against Iran, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stated that the U.S. would be fighting a common enemy. Stengel said on MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports” that Iran is the “most Western nation” in the entire Middle East and argued that Iranians chant “Death to America” in a respectful manner.

“They chant ‘Death to America,’ I went to Iran in 2014,” Stengel said. “I was sitting at a rally, these young guys were chanting ‘Death to America’ … They finished the chant and two young men came over and said ‘Are you American?’ I said ‘yes,’ they said ‘we want to welcome you to our country, we love American culture, we love American movies’ and they wanted to talk about all of these things. Iran is the most western nation in the whole Middle East. We have much more in common with them than a lot of countries that we do have alliances with.”

WATCH:

During the first year of the Obama administration, the Iranian regime destroyed The Green Movement of 2009, a reformist political movement, which protested and marched for a new government. The ruling establishment, ruled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and its elite Revolutionary Guard opened fire on marchers, killed dozens of people, arrested and tortured more and placed the movement’s leadership under house arrest.

Since 1979, women in Iran have had limited rights under Islamic law and have faced the threat of fines, arrests and even public flogging if they violate the strict hijab regulations that require them to completely cover their hair. In September 2022, Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in the hospital after being beaten by the “morality police” for violating these regulations, which sparked mass protests across the country.

Security forces reportedly killed hundreds of protesters and arrested over 20,000 demonstrators, including journalists, who were present at the protests, according to the BBC.

Iranian law does not criminalize marital rape and exempts husbands, fathers and grandfathers who assault or kill a female relative for allegedly dishonoring the family, according to Impact Iran.

Iranians have been subjected to brutal tortures and executions carried out by the state. Authorities have tortured their detainees, failed to provide adequate healthcare for torture-related injuries and have held unfair trials. Torture methods include flogging, stoning, crucifixion, blinding and amputation.

Iran has enforced the death penalty for same-sex couples who have engaged in consensual sex and have subjected them to torturous “conversion therapy” sessions, according to Iran Human Rights. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif publicly endorsed the execution of gay people in 2019, stating that his country has “moral principles.”

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