Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to the US race protests, tweeting that "if you're dark-skinned walking in the US, you can't be sure you'll be alive in the next few minutes."
In a tweet appealing to the American Left, Khamenei spoke about the US economic issues and the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd who was choked to death by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Slavery, said Khamenei, "is one of the tragic events in history. They used to sail ships from the Atlantic Ocean and anchor on the coast of West African countries, such as Gambia and other countries on the continent."
If you're dark-skinned walking in the US, you can't be sure you'll be alive in the next few minutes. #ICantBreathe #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/nwR8jeUPpg
— Khamenei TV (@Khamenei_tv) May 27, 2020
According to Khamenei, US slave-traders "used to go and capture hundreds of thousands of men and women, old and young people with guns and other weapons which were not available to the people at the time." These people, he said, "were taken to the US on those ships for slavery."
The slave-owners "captivated free people who were living in their houses and in their own cities," he continued, adding that the past of African-Americans is as evil as their present.
"African Americans are deprived of human rights," the ayatollah said. "In the US, for every $100 of white families' wealth, African-American families only [make] $5. While African Americans make up 9% of the population of Los Angeles, they comprise one third of the homeless in LA."
The Islamic Republic's leader added that "in the year 2015, unemployment rate in the US was 10.4% for blacks and 4.7% for whites. Life expectancy in the US [is] 71 years for blacks [and] 76 years for whites."
Riots broke out in Minneapolis following several days of protests, with the city's police department being set on fire and eventually collapsing. US President Donald Trump responded to the incident, threatening to send the National Guard to the city and that "when the looting begins, the shooting begins." Trump's tweet was flagged by Twitter for "glorification of violence."
Appealing to African-Americans, Khamenei said the "question of racism has not been solved yet in the country that claims to support freedom and human rights. A human, for his black skin, has no reassurance to live in society, if indeed, a police officer can beat him to death because of his colored skin."
The ayatollah continued, saying, "How can they claim to support human rights? Despite the fact that African Americans represent only 13% of the American society, 25% of the victims of police brutality are black."