After issuing a statement solely attacking the U.S. and Israel over Saturday’s strikes on Iran provoked backlash from members of the Iranian dissident and diaspora communities, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged the “systematic repression” of the Iranian people by the regime — even as he declined to criticize the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The mayor’s remarks followed an unrelated press conference on Tuesday, following criticism from Iranian-Americans and regime refugees who accused him of ignoring the Islamic Republic’s abuses of its own citizens and its neighbors. But even as he acknowledged Tehran’s bloody suppression of protesters, Mamdani did not directly answer a reporter’s question about whether the Middle Eastern nation was better off without the radical cleric who ruled for nearly 37 years.

“The Iranian government has engaged in systematic repression of its own people, even killing thousands of Iranians who were seeking to express the most basic forms of dissent earlier this year,” Mamdani said. “It is a brutal government.”

This marks the second time the new mayor has only belatedly condemned the regime’s brutality. His slow response to the authoritarian government’s efforts to crush protests in January contrasted both with other New York officials and with his own rapid declarations of solidarity with demonstrators elsewhere, or his ever-swift condemnation of Israel.

Nonetheless, in his comments Tuesday, Mamdani sought to assure Jewish and Iranian New Yorkers, who he acknowledged might be celebrating Purim or the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, that he was looking out for their security. He reupped pledges from the NYPD to “increase agency coordination” and patrols at religious and consular facilities.

“In as much as I have shared my thoughts when I”ve been asked about the federal government’s actions, as well as the actions of the Israeli military, I’ve also focused my time and efforts in being in constant communication with our police commissioner as well as emergency management officials,” he said. “My primary responsibility is to keep you safe.”

The mayor also directed his criticism at the U.S. government generally, and did not call out the president, with whom he met just days before the strikes and has maintained a warm personal relationship. Rather, he appeared to allude to President George W. Bush’s campaign to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. 

“While I may be a young mayor, I am old enough to remember the devastating consequences of our country pursuing a war with the intent of regime change in that very same region not many years ago,” Mamdani said.