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US showed support for Iran protestors: Clinton
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the United States did a lot "behind the scenes" to show support for demonstrators contesting Iran's disputed presidential election results.
"We did not want to get between the legitimate protests and demonstrations of the Iranian people and the leadership," Clinton said in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday.
"And we knew that if we stepped in too soon, too hard... the leadership would try to use us to unify the country against the protestors."
"Now, behind the scenes, we were doing a lot," Clinton said. "We were doing a lot to really empower the protestors without getting in the way. And we're continuing to speak out and support the opposition."
Clinton was asked about the case of Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist detained in Iran since June 21 on allegations he helped orchestrate protests against the election results that saw Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned to power.