Obama sharpens response on Iran

WASHINGTON -- President Obama delivered his harshest criticisms of Iran, saying Tuesday he is "appalled and outraged" by the killings of protesters and questioning for the first time the "legitimacy" of the June 12 presidential election.

Obama, who has been criticized by some Republicans for being too timid in his public remarks about the protests, disputed Iran's claims of the U.S. meddling in its affairs as "patently false."

"This is not about the United States or the West," the president told a White House news conference. "This is about the people of Iran and the future that they — and only they — will choose."

Obama spoke as Iran's ruling clerics said there would be no revote, despite the biggest and most violent protests in the country since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the victor on June 13. Iran's government also set up a special court to deal with hundreds of protesters, most of them supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and who contend the balloting was rigged.

Obama's latest comments drew praise from Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who previously said Obama was being too reticent. But they want him to get tougher.

Graham, who had called Obama's initial responses "timid and passive," said the president should now seek a United Nations resolution condemning the Iranian regime and, perhaps, tougher economic sanctions. "Words without action could be interpreted as a green light to continue their brutal tactics," he said.

Obama's comment Tuesday that he would monitor events and "see how this plays itself out" drew a rebuke from Daniel Senor, a foreign policy adviser to President George W. Bush and now a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations.

Senor lauded Obama's "stronger language," but said he should "seize the moment instead of observing it."

Asked about GOP criticism, Obama said he has consistently criticized attacks on peaceful protest. He added that a president has to be careful not to give Iran any excuse to use the U.S. as a "foil," noting Iran's government has misinterpreted his comments to make it look like he was encouraging riots.