Obama Says ‘Justice’ Is Needed for Iranians: Via NYTimes.com .

WASHINGTON — President Obama ratcheted up his language against Iran’s leadership on Saturday, in a statement that invoked the American civil rights movement as an analogy for what was unfolding on the streets of Tehran.

“Martin Luther King once said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’ ” Mr. Obama said in a statement released after security forces in the Iranian capital clashed repeatedly with protesters. “I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people’s belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.”

Mr. Obama’s remarks came after intense debate and multiple meetings all day Saturday at the White House, administration officials said, and reflected growing concern within the administration that the violence in Iran could continue to escalate.

Despite his forceful words, however, Mr. Obama is still resisting calls from conservatives and Republicans to harshly and publicly condemn the Iranian government and impose stiff sanctions on refined gas exports to Iran. In particular, the president’s use of the word “justice,” which White House officials have been debating all week, is a departure from the more measured tones he had struck earlier in the week. “The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching,” Mr. Obama said. “We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people.”

Mr. Obama said that the “universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.”

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