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Joe Biden has said he is “stunned” by the mass protests in Iran and that the US stands with that country’s “brave women”, the Guardian reports.

The US president said at a college in Irvine, California, during an address to a group of protesters holding “Free Iran” signs: “I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran.”

Biden said: “It stunned me what it awakened in Iran. It awakened something that I don’t think will be quieted for a long, long time.”

Iran has seen its biggest wave of demonstrations in years after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest by the morality police. More than 100 people have been killed since, according to Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.

The unrest has continued despite what Amnesty International called an “unrelenting brutal crackdown” that included an “all-out attack on child protesters”, leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.

Biden spoke briefly about the Iran protests ahead of a speech on lowering costs for American families in Irvine, near Los Angeles, which has a large Persian community.

“Women all over the world are being persecuted in various ways, but they should be able to wear in God’s name what they want to wear,” the president said.

Iran “has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights”.

Biden told the local Persian community: “I want to thank you all for speaking out.”