Iran blasts U.N. human rights council move

WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- Washington said a move by the U.N. human rights council to monitor Iran was a breakthrough for political freedom, though Tehran said it was a lopsided decision.

The human rights council backed a European resolution to "appoint a special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic republic of Iran."

The United Nations called on Iran to cooperate fully with the council and give the envoy access to the country to report on the human rights condition in Iran.

Tom Donilon, the U.S. national security adviser, said Iranian authorities were carrying out a wide range of human rights abuses in the country.

"The decision by the council represents a historic milestone that reaffirms the global consensus and alarm about the dismal state of human rights in Iran," he said in a statement.

Susan Rice, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, added the U.N. action gives the Iranian people "an independent voice within the international community" despite repression at home.

But Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, complained Washington's criticism of Iran at the United Nations was lopsided.

The spokesman said U.S. policy toward American minorities, its action at Guantanamo Bay and its legacy of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan was equally egregious.

"U.S. policies both in deeds and words have always been paradoxical and predicated upon double standards and the recent resolution clearly exemplifies such behavior," he was quoted by the official Iranian Republic News Agency as saying.