Rep Tom McClintock supports Iran protests

Bipartisan members of congress joined Iranian Americans from across the U.S. at a House Briefing titled,” Iran Uprising: The Nation Rises for Freedom,” and expressed support for ongoing protests in Iran urged the international community to hold Iranian regime accountable for indiscriminate and deadly use of force.

Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA), the co-Chair of Congressional Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus (IHRDC) lamented how 40 years after taking control of Iran, the clerical regime is murdering its own people and is also, “still world’s number one state sponsor of international terrorism.”

Here is the speech by Rep Tom McClintock at House Briefing:

Rep Tom McClintock: Good morning and welcome to your nation’s capital. Nearly 250 years ago, America’s founders struggled for their liberty against a tyrannical regime and today the Iranian people strive for that same freedom.

Forty years after taking control of Iran, the clerical regime is still the number one state sponsor of international terrorism while at the same time it slaughters thousands of its own citizens who dare stand up for their God-given human rights.

Rep Tom McClintock: As the tyranny of the mullahs has become more extreme, the international resistance to them has become more resolute. In every city in that afflicted nation, the courage and determination of the Iranian people to throw off these oppressions and to hold accountable these oppressors has been seen and applauded around the world.

He: Last week, the United Nations received video evidence of the violence that the Iranian regime has turned against its own people. As the regime earns the revulsion and condemnation of the civilized world, the Iranian freedom fighters are earning the admiration and support of free people everywhere.

Last year, at least seven Iranian state-sponsored terror plots or operations were foiled in Europe, the Balkans, and the United States. July 2018, European law enforcement officials stopped a terrorist plot against the peaceful international convention dedicated to a free Iran. The regime’s reign of terror against the Iranian people and their democratic aspirations must remain at the center of all international relations with that dictatorship.

The more the story of Iran is told of its proud ancient heritage of freedom and civilization, and of its current curse of despotism and terror, the more the world has rallied to your cause.

Rep Tom McClintock added: We’ve seen this in the liberation of the MEK freedom fighters trapped in Iran, we have seen it in the growing opposition to Iran throughout the Middle East, we’ve seen it in the strong leadership of President Trump with his refusal to succumb to the weak appeasement policies of the past.

We see it also in the House of Representatives, where 123 of my colleagues from both parties have co-sponsored my bill, H.Res 374. In it we unequivocally condemn Iranian state-sponsored terrorism and express in no uncertain terms our support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic secular and non-nuclear republic of Iran.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn once put it during his own fight against a similar despotic tyrannical regime, “You are strong only as long as you don’t deprive people of everything.

The person you’ve taken everything from is no longer in your power; he is free all over again.” The Iranian people remember their stolen freedom and they now seek to reclaim it. And it’s in that spirit that we gather today to support that claim and to bolster it.

Rep Tom McClintock highlighted: You should never forget Winston Churchill’s remarks when we joined forces to stop similar tyrannies then on the march. He said, “Tyranny is our foe, whatever trappings or disguise it wears, whatever language it speaks, be it external or internal, we must forever be on guard, ever mobilized, ever vigilant, always ready to spring at its throat.

In all this we march together. Not only do we march and strive shoulder to shoulder at this moment under the fire of the enemy on the fields of war or in the air, but also in those realms of thought which are consecrated to the rights and dignity of mankind.” Thank you, God bless you all and God bless.