WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement regarding ongoing protests in Iran:

Iran is in turmoil. Millions of people are rising up against their autocratic government. Not surprisingly, the regime is responding brutally by killing thousands of protesters, according to some estimates. The Iranian people have the right to determine their own future, and the United States should support their legitimate aspirations for freedom and democracy. But we must not do so at the barrel of a gun.

Let us not forget that the current, abhorrent regime in Iran is itself the product of a Western-backed intervention. In 1953, a British and American-orchestrated coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran. This was done primarily to protect Western oil interests. The coup installed the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, at the head of a corrupt, brutal and unpopular autocratic regime. After several decades of this dictatorship, the Shah was himself overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which brought to power Ruhollah Khomeini and the theocracy that rules the country to this day.

Now, with incredible courage, the people of Iran are once again demanding democracy, freedom and economic justice. The United States must support the Iranian people. We must join the Iranian people in demanding:

• The immediate end of government violence against protesters
• An immediate end to the media and internet blackout and censorship currently in place
• Internationally supervised free elections so that the people of Iran can determine their own future

U.S. military intervention is not the answer. It failed in the past and will fail again. The United States must stand with the Iranian people, not over them.