Despite pro-Ahmadinejad forces now having killed Iranians rallying in the streets, the U.S. State Department still refuses to condemn the crack-down launched by the government and its sympathizers. By the way, the White House is keeping silent, too.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Monday that the United States is concerned about allegations of ballot fraud.

Kelly described the U.S. government as “deeply troubled” by the events in Iran, which is a stronger expression of concern than over the weekend when Vice President Biden cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election.

When pressed by a reporter, Kelly declined to condemn the Iranian security forces for their crackdown on street protesters. And he said the U.S. knows too little about the conduct of the election to say for sure whether there was fraud.

I had earlier figured that the Obama Administration was refusing to comment in order to avoid the Iranian government painting the protesters as puppets of the west. Now? I’m not so sure.

As Allahpundit points out, Germany’s Angela Merkel managed to issue a strong condemnation earlier today without any negative repercussions. And it’s not like Obama’s being asked to endorse Mousavi or launch an attack on Iran, just issue a statement condemning the violence that’s now turned deadly. Besides, a supportive line from the White House just might provide a morale boost for the protesters, many of whom are pro-western.

Now it would appear that the Obama Administration is so intent on sitting down for tea with the illegitimate government of Iran over its nuke program, that it refuses to condemn despicable acts of violence perpetrated by a government on its people. Sad.

Just how bad has the violence gotten? Here are pro-Ahmadinejad forces beating a man in the street, while here’s a picture (CONTENT WARNING) of the man who was supposedly shot in the head and killed today in Tehran. You can find another shooting victim strewn across the back of a truck here. That’s just a sample of the bloody violence. Boston.com has a fantastic visual overview of what’s going on.

By the way, that pro-Mousavi rally in Tehran today? BBC News puts the attendence at a whopping one to two million. Christianne Amanpour of CNN called it the biggest rally she’s seen since the Iranian Revolution of ‘79. Remarkable.