Clinton: Syria like post-election Iran

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WASHINGTON, June 14 (UPI) -- Iran is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in a "vicious assault" on peaceful protesters, the U.S. secretary of state said Tuesday.

Foreign media are prohibited from covering events from inside Syria. The official Syrian Arab News Agency describes growing violence in the country as an insurgency.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement Tuesday equated the violence in Syria with that of the Iranian crackdown in 2009 that followed the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

More than 100 activists were executed and Iranian opposition groups say at least 80 were killed in custody or on the streets.

UNICEF has said it was disturbed by information that suggested at least 30 children were killed by Syrian forces. Children were also allegedly tortured in custody.

"Iran is supporting the Assad regime's vicious assaults on peaceful protesters and military actions against its own cities," said Clinton.

She added that assaults on children at the hands of the Assad regime were reminiscent of the killing of Neda Ahgha Soltan, who became the symbol of the opposition when she was allegedly gunned down by Iranian security forces during election unrest.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by the state-backed Iranian Students' News Agency as saying Syria could manage its own affairs without outside intervention.

Reports from human rights organizations indicate more than 1,100 people had been killed and at least 10,000 detained in the weeks since the uprising against Assad began in March.