Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has described as “brutal” the killing of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis on May 25.
Floyd, an African-American, died after a white policeman kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
“We express sympathy toward the American people who are on the streets while harshly condemning the crime,” Rouhani said Thursday.
He also made reference to the clearing of peaceful protesters from a park outside the White House with chemical agents and flash bang grenades so that US President Donald Trump could walk to a church for a photo opportunity.
“It is a shame that the president stands with a Bible when he plans to act against his people,” Rouhani said.
Iranian officials regularly take advantage of protests in the US to criticize the administration, even though Iran itself in November put down nationwide demonstrations by killing hundreds, arresting thousands and disrupting internet access.
"The people's slogan of 'I can't breathe', which can be heard in the massive protests throughout the US, is the heartfelt words of all nations against which the US has committed many atrocities," Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
"The crime committed against this black man is the same thing the US has been doing against all the world," he said, citing Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Vietnam.
Floyd tested positive for the coronavirus, his autopsy showed, but the infection was not listed as a factor in his death.
The official cause of death, according to the full 20-page report made public on Wednesday by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office, was cardiopulmonary arrest while Floyd was being restrained by police taking him into custody.
