Obama toughens criticism of Iran crackdown

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday ratcheted up his criticism of Iran's crackdown on demonstrators protesting the results of the June 12 presidential election won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

* Obama's comments at a news conference that he was "appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments" were his strongest response to the clampdown, although he insisted he had been consistent in his criticism.

* Despite the emotional language, Obama trod a fine line to avoid the impression of meddling in Iran's internal affairs, saying it was up to the Iranian people to judge the fairness of the elections, not the United States, but he also noted there had been widespread allegations of vote-rigging. Obama wants to avoid giving the impression that the demonstrators are pawns of the United States, trying to avoid discrediting them.

* His comments give the Iranian government more ammunition to accuse the United States and other Western states, including Britain, of inciting the protests. Obama noted that his previous comments on the election had been mistranslated in Iran to give the impression he had urged people to take to the streets.

* Republican lawmakers, such as former presidential candidate John McCain, had assailed Obama's previous responses, calling them timid and saying the United States needed to make sure it was on the "right side of history." Obama dismissed suggestions that his stronger language was a response to that pressure.

* Obama kept the door open to negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and its support for groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. He said the United States was still interested in "healing some of the wounds of 30 years in terms of U.S.-Iranian relations" if Iran chose a path that "abided by international norms and principles."

* Obama stressed that his overriding priority was U.S. national security, suggesting that despite Washington's concerns about the violence, it may have no choice but to talk to Ahmadinejad if it is serious about tackling the Iranian nuclear program and what it says are Tehran's links to terrorism.

* Signaling he does not want to be stampeded into hasty action, he rounded on a reporter who asked why he was refusing to spell out what steps the international community might take to censure Iran. "We don't know yet how this is going to play out. I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not. OK?" he retorted.

* Obama, who has been receiving multiple daily intelligence briefings on the situation, spoke several times about the "heartbreaking" cameraphone images of an Iranian woman, Neda Agha Soltan, falling, apparently after being shot in a Tehran street in pictures that have triggered an emotional response worldwide.

(Editing by Howard Goller)