TEHRAN — Iran says it regrets the tragic murder of African-Americans, blaming the U.S. regime for deadly racial profiling against African-Americans.

“Iran regrets the tragic murder of black Americans, denounces deadly racial profiling in the United States & urges authorities to do justice for every case,” the Foreign Ministry wrote in a tweet on Friday night.

“The protestors’ voice must be heard,” the ministry stated. “In doing so, suppressing the suffering Americans & #PressFreedom must URGENTLY be stopped.”

It came as protests erupted in cities across the United States over the deadly arrest of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who was pinned to the ground by the knee of a white officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The fired officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, as Floyd pleaded “I can’t breathe”, has been charged with murder and manslaughter.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Thursday that the brutal killing was a harrowing demonstration of “systematic racism” exercised by the current rulers of the White House.

“Brutal killing of #GeorgeFloyd by Minneapolis’ white man in uniform in cold blood is a harrowing demonstration of systematic racism and white supremacism glorified by the current administration,” Mousavi tweeted.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said via Twitter on Wednesday that the U.S. police’s brutality against African-Americans knows no boundaries.

“6 yrs after ‘I can’t breathe’ pleas of Eric Garner, #GeorgeFloyd, another black man, dies after a cruel, inhumane arrest,” the ministry tweeted. 

“It seems that US #PoliceBrutality against blacks knows no boundaries. And as always, the response to calls for justice is employing even more force.”

On Friday, in the midst of the protests, U.S. President Donald Trump described the protesters as “thugs”. 

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

Trump’s tweet was widely interpreted as threatening those protesting Floyd’s death and prompted further outrage.

Twitter decided to hide the tweet, saying it violates rules about glorifying violence.

Instead of being deleted, the tweet can be viewed by clicking on a prominent warning.

It says that “Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

The U.S. president later sought to clear up the tweet by saying he was misunderstood.

“Looting leads to shooting, and that's why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night - or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot,” he wrote in a tweet

“I don't want this to happen, and that's what the expression put out last night means,” he added.

MH/PA