President Rouhani: US Capitol riots show weakness of Western democracy

Iran's President Hojjat al-Islam Hassan Rouhani has reacted to the violent riots in Washington during certification of election results by Congress, saying the development shows Western democracy is “fragile” and “broken.”

“We saw that unfortunately populism is deeply rooted in such countries, in spite of their scientific and industrial progress,” Rouhani said on Thursday while addressing the inauguration ceremony of three major national projects through video conference.

Four people were killed after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building to protest the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes that will confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

The pro-Trump protesters clashed with police officers and got to the Capitol building on Wednesday afternoon, prompting an evacuation of the House floor by police. Later, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington imposed a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. on Wednesday until 6 a.m. on Thursday.

“We have seen what damage a populist person has inflicted upon his own country in the last four years, bringing disgrace upon his nation while also inflicting great damage on our region, on Palestine, Syria and Yemen,” President Rouhani said, referring to Trump.

He added that when an “unfit person” gains power, he would cause numerous problems for his country and the world.

“I hope this would be a lesson for the whole world and also for the next rulers of the White House,” Rouhani noted.

The president advised the incoming Biden administration to compensate for Trump’s mistakes and to return to the rule of law.

Last month, Rouhani said Trump was similar to former Iraqi dictator Saddam in that they both waged wars on the Islamic Republic, predicting that Trump’s fate will not be better than Saddam’s.

“There were two maniacs who waged wars against the Iranian people; one was Saddam who imposed a military war and the other was Trump who started an economic war on us,” he told a cabinet meeting in Tehran on December 23.

SS