Obama: Iranians, not U.S., will 'choose' their future

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By Christina Bellantoni

UPDATED:

Attempting to bat down Republican critics who say he hasn't been strong enough on Iran, President Obama said Tuesday he deplores violence but insisted that he wants to remain out of the fray over Iran's disputed elections.

Mr. Obama said despite being "appalled and outraged" by the violence and injustice since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the election earlier this month, the United States respects Iran's sovereignty and "is not at all interfering in Irans affairs."

"This is not about the United States or the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they and only they will choose," he told reporters in a press conference from the Brady Briefing Room at the White House. "The Iranian people can speak for themselves."

Mr. Obama said he "strongly condemn[s]" the actions of Iran's government and mourns the lives lost in Iran. The new Democratic president praised the "timeless dignity" of the Iranian people and journalists and referenced Neda Agha-Soltan, the woman whose murder was captured on a video spread around the world on the Internet who has become a symbol of the protests.

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Mr. Obama called the images captured on the video "heartbreaking."

"We have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history," he said.

Asked specifically about the 26-year old Iranian women shot and killed by security forces during a protest on Saturday, Mr. Obama said it was "heartbreaking" to see the video.

"Anybody who sees it knows that there is something fundamentally unjust about that," he said.