U.S. won't be "silent on Iran," vice president says

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Thursday posted an article of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, saying the United States "will not be silent on Iran."

Pence said in an editorial published by The Washington Post on Wednesday that President Donald Trump "is weighing additional actions" against Iran.

Washington "is standing with" the Iranian protesters and "will continue to support them," he said, accusing the United Nations (UN) and European countries for not doing enough to press Iran on the protests.

Over the past week, protests broke out in several Iranian cities against price hikes and economic woes. Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo has slammed the U.S. government's recent attempts to intervene in the domestic affairs of the Islamic Republic.

"In the past several days, the U.S. administration, led by the U.S. president, has stepped up its acts of intervention in a grotesque way in Iran's internal affairs under the pretext of providing support for sporadic protests" in the country, Khoshroo said in a Wednesday letter to the UN Security Council and to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Khoshroo added that Iran expects all states condemn such dangerous statements and policies and urge the U.S. government to act responsibly and adhere to the principles of the UN Charter and international law. Enditem