Iranians disinvited to July Fourth fetes

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By Jon Ward

UPDATED:

The White House has rescinded the invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend July Fourth celebrations at U.S. embassies around the world, in the most concrete action taken so far by the Obama administration to walk back from its agenda to engage with Tehran following the crackdown on anti-government protests there.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said nobody from Iran had accepted the invitations, and at this point, the invitations are no longer valid.

"Given the events of the past many days, those invitations will no longer be extended," Mr. Gibbs said.

An offer from the White House for broader talks with Tehran over its nuclear weapons program, however, still is standing, he said.

"That invitation has also not been addressed, but that invitation continues," he said.

The Obama administration authorized its embassies to invite Iranian diplomats before the June 12 elections, in an overture that was part of a broader outreach to the regime in Tehran, including a letter sent to the Islamic Republic's top cleric by the White House.

Since then, the protests of hundreds of thousands of Iranians for more than a week have prompted a brutal crackdown by security forces, with 17 dead according to the government and 249 dead according to opposition officials. President Obama has tried to respond in measured tones but gradually has stepped up his condemnation.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama said he was "appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days."