Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over his position on Iran during a town hall Wednesday, invoking his family's stated persecution by the Iranian regime before repeatedly pressing the candidate to say whether he stood with Iranians opposing the government. Iman Dashti, who identified himself as Persian, told El-Sayed during a town hall at the University of Michigan that members of his family had suffered under Iran's government. "My cousin was hunted in the streets of Iran by the IRGC because her hijab wasn't on right," Dashti said.
He also alleged that her uncle had been sentenced to death and received 50 lashes under the Iranian government. ABDUL EL-SAYED PROTESTED AGAINST 'EX-TERRORISTS' WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY, UNEARTHED REPORT REVEALS Dashti then confronted El-Sayed over leaked audio from earlier this year in which he said he did not want to comment on the death of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because "there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today." "That silence had a gaping hole in our community," Dashti told El-Sayed Wednesday. He asked whether he regretted that silence, whether he would renounce people who held vigils supporting Khamenei and whether he stood "unequivocally against the IRGC" and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
El-Sayed responded by arguing that the United States has too often acted as "the world's policeman" while saying he supported movements for democracy and freedom abroad. AFTER 6 MONTHS OF WAR, US MUST PREPARE FOR A FUTURE AFTER IRAN’S GOVERNMENT FALLS "One can disagree with the governance of a foreign country. One can stand in solidarity with freedom and democracy movements," El-Sayed said.
He went on to reject U.S.-led regime change in Iran. "I will always stand for and with democratic movements always," El-Sayed said. "But I also don't believe that we were in the right to go to war to topple the government of Iran.
It was not our responsibility to do. It is the responsibility of the people of Iran to decide what their leadership should look like." Dashti pressed him again. "You stand with us?" he asked.
"I will always stand with movements for freedom and democracy," El-Sayed responded, before again warning against U.S. involvement in regime change. "We should not be in the business of regime change," he said. El-Sayed added moments later, "I want freedom and democracy for the people of Iran, no question.
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