On June 7, the United States and Iran both weighed in on the deteriorating situation in Syria. The following are officials states from the White House and the Iranian mission to the United Nations.
White House Statement from the Office of the Press Secretary
The United States strongly condemns the outrageous targeted killings of civilians including women and children in Al-Qubeir in Hama province as reported by multiple credible sources. This, coupled with the Syrian regime’s refusal to let UN observers into the area to verify these reports, is an affront to human dignity and justice. There is no justification for this regime’s continued defiance of its obligations under the Annan Plan, and Assad’s continued abdication of responsibility for these horrific acts has no credibility and only further underscores the illegitimate and immoral nature of his rule.
The future of Syria will be determined by the Syrian people, and the international community must come together in support of their legitimate aspirations. We call once more on all nations to abandon support for this brutal and illegitimate regime, and to join together to support a political transition in Syria—one that upholds the promise of a future for which far too many have already died.
Briefing by White House spokesman Jay Carney
The Assad regime is failing to live up to its obligations under the Annan plan, and that fact and its brutal, persistent attacks on its own people -- including the outrageous targeted killings of civilians, including women and children, in Hama Province report just recently -- make clear to the entire world and to the nations of the world that the Assad regime is illegitimate and needs to go.
And that is why it is so important for all the nations of the world to come together to take action, to bring about the democratic transition in Syria that the Syrian people demand and that is essential. And it cannot take place when you have a tyrant like Assad in power who is ruthlessly murdering his own people in order to stay in power.
Q: Given all that, can you still justify sticking with the Annan plan?
MR. CARNEY: What is clear is that if the Annan plan is to succeed, it will only be with the full weight of the international community's pressure placed on the regime. We are prepared to work with any country, as long as that work begins with the basic premise that Assad and his regime must give way to a new democratic Syria.
And, look, I think we've been clear about our skepticism that the Annan plan can work. It's an important step towards bringing the international community together. And there are elements of the Annan plan that have helped make the world more aware of Assad's brutality, as well as in some areas reduced some of the violence -- although the violence continues at an appalling level -- as well as helping create a sturdier foundation for a political transition when that transition continues.
But, look, as I've been saying for a number of days now, we are appalled by the violence. We think that violence should make it abundantly clear to every nation in the world that supporting the Assad regime and defending the Assad regime is a bad decision, because by doing so you align with a terrible tyrant whom history will judge poorly, to say the least.
Statement by Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee at the United Nations
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President,At the outset, Mr. President, I would like to express my delegation’s appreciation to special envoy, Mr. Kofi Annan for his dedication and efforts as well as his well balanced statement today before General Assembly. On the Mission of Mr. Kofi Annan, I would like to say that there are a number of elements that undermine the success of his Mission. These include the non-compliance of armed groups to the ceasefire call. At the same time and even from the very beginning of the Syrian crisis, officials of some countries have taken positions and made provocative statements which were more in line with undermining any possibility of a political settlement.
Moreover, an element has reappeared this time in Syria which is the violent and extremist groups with its massive terrorist operations and targeting indiscriminately the innocent people and causing the destruction of public buildings and property and abduction of innocent people.
The vivid example is what happened in Hulah and Hama . We all must condemn this terrorist act by terrorist groups and before rushing to any judgment that the Syrian Government is behind the killings and therefore the Kofi Annan’s plan is dead, we have to wait for the investigations to completer.
The continuation of violence and leveling recriminatory allegations against one another not only does not solve any problem, rather it would only inflame the situation. Unless there are meaningful measures to curtail such destructive moves, there would be little chance for the success of a peaceful solution.
The more this crisis is prolonged; the more instability it creates for Syria and for the region as a whole with its adverse effects to the economy, energy market and overall prosperity for the people in the region. We need, therefore, to call on the opposition groups that the only way for the realization of political aspirations is through a peaceful Syrian-led political process.
There is also an urgent need for all those who are providing money, logistics and arms to the opposition groups to stop that immediately. They should know that the smoke from the fire in Syria will, in one way or another, pollute the region as a whole.
Mr. Kofi Annan plan is, in fact, a turning point in resolving the Syrian crisis. It moved the situation from a military phase to a political process. Therefore, this process should be maintained and strengthened so that we do not return back to square one.
Syrian government has taken some concrete steps within reform process including the parliamentary election and constitutional revisions.
We believe that the Special Envoy still can play a major role in facilitating an engagement of the Syrian political groups with the Government for a Syrian-lead political process. The reform process underway by the Government is a positive response to the aspirations of the Syrians. Our target should be concentrated on a process that will lead to a broader political reconciliation, strengthening national unity, ensuring public order, stability and prosperity of the Syrian people.
I should reiterate once again that the Islamic Republic of Iran is supportive of constructive, unbiased, impartial and peaceful Syrian-led political process and we stand ready to play our role in that process. We sincerely hope that Kofi Annan's mission leads to a prompt end to violence and continuation of the political process in Syria in resolving peacefully the crisis in Syria .
In conclusion, Mr. President, the representative of the Zionist regime made non-sense and baseless allegations against my country. The international community is fed up with this regime in its inhuman< aggressive, criminal record and terrorist activities in the region and elsewhere which is the main source of insecurity and instability in the Middle East.
This regime abuses every opportunity to take away the world's attention from its atrocities and statement in today's plenary should be observed in that context.