February 8, 2023—Washington, DC: House Resolution number 100, introduced by several members of the 118th United States House of Representatives, expresses support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular and nonnuclear Iran. 165 members of Congress from both parties submitted the resolution.
On Wednesday afternoon, several members of the US Congress spoke about the initiative that supports the uprising in Iran and the struggle for regime change within the country.
Below is an Excerpt of the Remarks of the Speakers at the Congressional Press Briefing:
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
Thank you very much, Chairman Tom McClintock,
Thank you, Congressman Brad Sherman,
I want to thank all the members of Congress who are here today. You represent the values of the American people. You are standing on the right side of history. You are defending the rights of the Iranian people to determine their own future and deny the Iranian regime the means and resources to suppress the population.
We are on the anniversary of the anti-dictatorial revolution in 1979, when a unified nation swept a dictator, the Shah, out of power but Khomeini hijacked their revolution and established a religious dictatorship. However, today, after more than 40 years of repression and resistance, the Iranian nation is ready again to overthrow another form of dictatorship. They want to put an end to one century of dictatorship and establish a democratic, pluralistic, and secular republic.
What you see in Iran today is another revolution in the making. This is the result of 40 years of organized resistance and struggles against the regime, with 120,000 political executions.
I am confident that this revolution will succeed because it is led by those who are willing to pay the price. This revolution will succeed because the people are rejecting all forms of the dictatorship of the past and present. They only look to the future, which is a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state, gender equality, and a non-nuclear Iran. Once again, I want to commend you all for this very important bi-partisan initiative in Congress in support of the people of Iran and their uprising and the Iranian Resistance, which you announced today.
Thank you very much.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R/CA)
Americans still celebrate our own struggle for liberation nearly 2 1/2 centuries ago, our own victory over tyranny and oppression. And we still recall that the stronger we stood, the more allies rallied to our cause from around the world.
This is why we’re standing today in a free land, and why Iranians will surely soon stand upon the free soil of their own country once again. There are more original co-sponsors on this resolution than we saw when a similar measure was introduced two years ago.
Mahsa was not the first martyr for Iranian liberation. We remember the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners and so many others who have fallen to the death committees of this regime for merely defending their own liberty and dignity. The guilt for these atrocities extends to the highest levels of this regime.
With this resolution, Congress is expressing the plain truth of the matter in citing so many instances of human rights abuses and terrorism cloaked in diplomacy. The bipartisan house majority is telling the Iranian people and the world that it stands with the organized resistance and against the tyrannical rulers who have wrecked their country and plagued the Middle East with terrorism and brutality.
Rep. Greg Stanton (D/AR)
For decades, the Iranian regime has violated the most basic of human rights. It has done so as a state sponsor of terrorism, and it has done so against its own people especially women and girls, limiting their ability limiting their freedom to dress how they like, to own property, to receive an education, or to earn a living.
I’m proud to stand here today among a bipartisan group with one message: America is united and steadfast in our support for the brave Iranians demanding a better future, each of us.
Rep. Randy Weber (R/TX)
This resolution that we offer highlights that the people of Iran reject monarchic dictatorship and oppose religious tyranny.
I’m horrified by this paranoid regime’s brutal repression of its own freedom loving citizens, its own citizens.
Their blatantly transparent motivations to holding the power at any cost and under the guise of some sanctimonious religious purity by crushing the free will of secular citizens, by persecuting religious minorities, and even conscientious but independently minded Muslims revealed that these false prophets have their own hypocritical sinfulness.
We want the world to recognize the Iranian people’s right to self-defense just as we do in this country, just as we do in the United States, and just as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This revolution is focused on ending any kind of dictatorship in Iran. This is evident in the popular slogan: death to the dictator, be it the Shah or the leader. I applaud all who are demanding an end to the totalitarian regime and seek a form of governance that derives its legitimacy from the people, not from an unelected dictatorial single party.
We want the world to recognize this, and we want people to recognize that the future is headed by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.
We stand with the people of Iran. We want the mullahs gone. We want Khamenei gone. We want the IRGC gone.
Rep. Bill Johnson (R/OH)
Iran of today is notorious for human rights abuses, and Iranian women are so often the victims. Women’s rights have been steadily rolled back in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Women and mothers, wives and daughters are being tormented, beaten, raped, and brutally killed for standing up for their most basic and fundamental human rights.
Today we stand with all Iranians fighting for their God-given rights, especially the brave women taking a stand in the name of freedom. The Iranian regime should not be rewarded with a nuclear weapon or pallets of cash, and I, for one, will continue fighting to ensure they never will.
Rep. Neal Dunn (R/FL)
I’m proud of the tremendous courage, sacrifice, and perseverance that the people of Iran have demonstrated during these protests and during the preceding years as they protest their corrupt government. This regime commits heinous acts against human rights and there is a real risk to those who protest.
Iran is a threat to the security of the entire Middle East, the United States, and the world. Iran continues to deceive the international community, and I believe this administration and Congress need to continue the targeted sanctions against this government.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R/CA)
In recent months we have all been inspired by the bravery, courage, and resolve of those who believe in a free Iran and who are taking action at such great cost to make it a reality.
In equal measure we have been appalled by the brutality of a regime that has no regard for basic decency, no regard for its own people, no regard for the very foundations of our modern world: freedom, democracy and human rights. And it is so important that we stand together in a bipartisan way to support the people of Iran and to condemn the ongoing abuses of this regime. It’s equally important that we, the United States, do not do anything to enable and embolden this regime and its capacity to threaten its own people, and to wreak havoc in the Middle East and across the world.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R/SC)
What we have is the brave people, young people and brave people, hopefully of every generation, every age, in and out of Iran to be working for rule of law instead of rule of gun. And it’s so sad to see the consequence of rule of gun holding back one of the great countries in the world.
You’re an inspiration to freedom and democracy around the world.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D/TX)
It is important to have the freedom of democracy to agree and disagree, and that occurs among members. But we have no disagreement for the question and the answer: when should Iran be free? And the answer is now, now, now, now, now.
I am here this morning to be able to celebrate Madam President and her message of leadership. I’m here to celebrate men and women, but I’m also here to celebrate the leadership of women, and what has happened in the streets of this very fine land.
We will never forget Mahsa Amini, who stood for freedom and should not have died in the torturous and horrible way.
We want to be able to keep that fight going in the United States Congress before the President of the United States of America because we must be the moral umbrella for the nation, for the world, and for Iran. We will not cease until Iran is free.
