TEHRAN- The senior human rights official in Iran has denounced the aggressive tactics used by the U.S. against academics and students who are opposing the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, which Washington is supporting.

He said that such ruthless oppression gives the occupying regime more power to carry out crimes. 

As U.S. police brutalize pro-Palestinian protestors on college campuses, Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, made these statements in a letter to Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Sunday. 

“Undoubtedly, the violent crackdown on student movements by the United States and other Western governments is in line with their policy of openly supporting the Zionist regime’s killings and war crimes,” he said, warning that such an approach will encourage Israel to “continue warmongering, genocide and crimes against humanity in the occupied territories.”

“Attempts to suppress and silence the voices of protesting professors and students and intimidate them ... are in flagrant contradiction to the [Western] countries’ obligation to guarantee free speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, prohibition of arbitrary arrest, and the right to education under international treaties and conventions,” he added.

Students from Columbia University in New York City started the demonstrations by erecting a tent camp to show support for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. 

They called for the U.S. to stop providing military support to the Israeli regime, a permanent truce in the Gaza war, and university divestiture from companies making money off of the conflict. 

At least two dozen U.S. campuses saw the nonviolent protest expand. 

U.S. police have been storming schools in recent days, fighting with academics and students who support Palestine, and taking hundreds of them into custody. 

Gharibabadi urged Türk to denounce the repression of nonviolent demonstrations and support the means by which the student movement in the U.S. is supported by Iran’s High Council for Human Rights. 

He said that he regretted the U.S.’s use of its media, financial, and political influence to hide Israeli atrocities in Gaza and to give the occupying entity all-around military and intelligence assistance. 

“The U.S. government has... resorted to extreme force in an attempt to suppress the protest movement, instead of listening to professors and students,” he added. 

The same strategy has also been used by other pro-Zionist Western administrations, such as those in France, Britain, and Germany, according to Gharibabadi. 

He said that the harsh crackdown exposes the “lies and hypocritical” attitude of Western nations regarding human rights and freedom of speech. 

On October 7, Israel launched its bloody assault on the beleaguered Gaza Strip in punishment for the regime’s escalating crimes against the Palestinian people. 

This came after the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, had conducted a historic operation against the usurping regime. 

At least 34,388 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed by the Tel Aviv regime thus far, and 77,437 more have been injured. 

The U.S., Israel’s most devoted friend, has obstructed UN resolutions advocating for a Gaza ceasefire and accelerated the flow of weapons to the regime since the assault began.