TEHRAN, June 3. /TASS/. US authorities’ oppression of their people is similar to Washington's approach to other states, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Wednesday in a speech broadcast by the nation’s state TV.

"The fact that a police officer simply kneels on a black man’s neck and ignores his pleas, while a few more police officers are just watching it is all natural for the American authorities," he said.

According to the supreme leader, "the US sticks to the same approach with other states in the world."

The United States plunged into a series of protests and riots across many states following the death of African-American man George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a police officer knelt on the man's neck for nearly nine minutes. On May 26, all four police officers who took part in the arrest were fired, and one of them, Derek Chauvin, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The US National Guard is called to quell protests in some states, while around 40 cities, including Washington and New York, imposed curfews.