No one who’s been paying attention is going to be surprised by this, and I certainly hope the same is true for the Obama Administration. But it’s somewhat refreshing to see the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. fully implicate Iran in helping Syria crack down on protesters. Especially since the charge is true.

Iran is actively supporting the Syrian government’s attacks on protesters, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said after the Security Council failed to agree on a European proposal to condemn the violence.

“We are very conscious of and concerned by the evidence of active Iranian involvement and support on behalf of the Syrian government’s repression of its people,” Ambassador Susan Rice said today.

“Instead of listening to his own people,” she said, President Bashar al-Assad “is disingenuously blaming outsiders while at the same time seeking Iranian assistance.”

Syria denies the charge, of course, but then it would. Assad using outside power to crack down on his own people would be unlikely to reduce domestic tension.

Just look at how much more convicted Libyan rebels became to fight Gaddafi when they learned he had imported mercenaries from around the African continent. It’s bad enough to have your government, under its own power, crack down on your God-given rights. But when the government uses foreign help to do so? That just makes it worse.

By the way, Syria remains on track to join the United Nations Human Rights Council. It would join other members of the council that include China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Russia, and Cuba. I’m not kidding. The UN has thus far refused to block Syria’s election to the council.

You may recall that Libya was only recently suspended from the same organization. Exactly how many human rights abusing nations need to be appointed to the Human Rights Council before the United States stops funding the ridiculous farce?