TEHRAN — New Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says Imam Khomeini proved to the world that the United States’ knee can be forced off the neck of the oppressed.

“57 years ago, Iranian people together with their Imam shouted that ‘we cannot breathe as long as Iran is backyard to the arrogant’,” Ghalibaf tweeted on Thursday.

“Imam Khomeini showed to the world that the criminal America’s knee can be forced off the neck of the oppressed,” he wrote, hinting at the killing of an African-American man by U.S. police.

The parliament speaker added that Imam Khomeini delivered such hard slap on their face that they forgot all about occupation, coup and looting.

Protests erupted in various cities across the United States after a video went viral which showed brutal treatment of George Floyd under the knee of a U.S. police officer before his death.

Floyd’s last words were “I cannot breathe”.

A friend of Floyd’s said he did not resist arrest and gave the officers no reason to be afraid. Floyd’s death has reignited conversations over racial bias and police brutality in the U.S.

On May 29, U.S. President Donald Trump described the protesters as “thugs”. 

In a tweet, he also said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Tehran has condemned the U.S. government’s brutal crackdown on protesters, urging Washington to let the American people breathe.

“Stop violence against your people and let them breathe,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said during a press conference on Monday.

“The world has heard your outcry over the state oppression. The world is standing with you,” he said.

He also censured the U.S. government for its destructive domestic and foreign policies, adding, “The American regime is pursuing violence and bullying at home and abroad. We are greatly sad to see, along with the people across the world, the violence the U.S. police have recently unfolded.”

“We deeply regret to see the American people, who seek respect and no more violence, are suppressed and met with outmost violence,” Mousavi said.

More than 10,000 people have been arrested since the protests began in the United States, according to an Associated Press tally.

MH/PA