[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 166 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 166
Expressing support for the Iranian people's desires for a democratic,
secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran, and condemning the Iranian
regime's terrorism, regional proxy war, internal suppression, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 26, 2025
Mr. McClintock (for himself, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Allen, Mr. Amodei of
Nevada, Mr. Babin, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Baird, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Baumgartner,
Mr. Bean of Florida, Mr. Bentz, Mr. Bera, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Bishop,
Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Calvert, Mr.
Carbajal, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Carter of Texas, Mr. Ciscomani,
Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cline, Mr. Clyde, Mr. Cohen,
Mr. Correa, Mr. Costa, Ms. Craig, Mr. Crane, Mr. Crenshaw, Ms. Davids
of Kansas, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Dunn of
Florida, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Ellzey, Ms. Fedorchak, Mr. Feenstra, Mr.
Finstad, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Flood,
Mrs. Foushee, Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. Fry, Mr. Fulcher, Mr.
Gimenez, Mr. Goldman of Texas, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr.
Gooden, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Graves, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Guest, Mr.
Guthrie, Mr. Hamadeh of Arizona, Mr. Harder of California, Mr.
Haridopolos, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mrs. Hinson, Ms. Houlahan, Ms.
Hoyle of Oregon, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Hurd of Colorado, Mr. Issa, Mr. Jack,
Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Jackson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia,
Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mrs. Kim, Mr. LaHood,
Mr. LaLota, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Landsman, Mr. Langworthy, Mr. Latta, Mr.
Lawler, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Loudermilk, Mr. Luttrell, Ms. Mace, Ms.
Malliotakis, Ms. Maloy, Mrs. McBath, Mr. McCormick, Mrs. McIver, Mr.
Menendez, Ms. Meng, Mr. Meuser, Mrs. Miller of West Virginia, Mr.
Miller of Ohio, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Moore of Alabama,
Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Moylan, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Nehls, Mr.
Newhouse, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. Obernolte, Mr. Owens, Mr.
Pallone, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rogers
of Kentucky, Ms. Ross, Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Rutherford, Ms. Salinas, Mr.
Schmidt, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr.
Self, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. Soto, Mr.
Stauber, Mr. Steube, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Timmons,
Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Tran, Mr. Turner of Ohio, Mr. Turner of
Texas, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Van Drew, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Van Orden, Mr.
Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr.
Webster of Florida, Mr. Westerman, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr.
Yakym, and Mr. Davis of Illinois) submitted the following resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the Iranian people's desires for a democratic,
secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran, and condemning the Iranian
regime's terrorism, regional proxy war, internal suppression, and for
other purposes.
Whereas the developments over the past year have left no doubt that the source
of terrorism and warmongering in the Middle East region is the
theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran;
Whereas the ruling theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran has acted as a source of
terrorism and regional conflict over the past four decades to ensure its
survival, severely obstructing peace in the Middle East, and has been a
central cause of the regional conflict occurring since October 2023 due
to its fueling of weapons, missiles, and drones to its proxies and
targeting of ships and free trade in the Red Sea and American forces in
the region;
Whereas there has been support from a bipartisan majority of House members for
H. Res. 374 in the 116th Congress, H. Res. 118 in the 117th Congress, as
well as H. Res. 100 and H. Res. 1148 in the 118th Congress;
Whereas the Iranian regime has repeatedly and increasingly violated its
commitments under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
(NPT), and defied the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
regarding its nuclear programs, and has expanded its stockpile of near
weapons grade of enriched uranium, a necessary component of building a
nuclear bomb;
Whereas significant protests in Iran, particularly in 2018, 2019, and 2022,
primarily led by women and youth, have firmly resisted the ruling
theocracy, rejected monarchical dictatorship, and called for a republic
based on democracy and pluralism;
Whereas women and girls in Iran have been the primary targets of repression by
the Iranian regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and thus,
the main elements of protests against this misogynistic regime that have
chanted slogans against the regime and called for freedom, including
``Woman, Resistance, Freedom'' in the streets of Iran;
Whereas the efforts of Western countries over the past 45 years to change the
behavior of this regime have failed, and the ultimate solution to ending
the Iranian regime's threats is the establishment of a secular,
democratic, and pluralistic republic by the Iranian people and
resistance;
Whereas in the first four months of Masoud Pezeshkian's presidency, over 500
prisoners, including political prisoners and at least 17 women, have
been executed, some publicly, and hand amputations by the Judiciary has
increased;
Whereas the Iranian regime has arbitrarily and brutally suppressed ethnic and
religious minorities, including Iranian Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs,
Christians, Jews, Baha'is, Zoroastrians, and even Sunni Muslims, and has
deprived them of their fundamental human rights, often culminating in
executions;
Whereas the Iranian people have been deprived of their fundamental freedoms, for
which reason they oppose any form of authoritarian rule, reject
monarchic dictatorship and religious tyranny, as evident in their
protest slogans, and seek to determine their destiny, based on their
vote, as the sole criteria for political legitimacy;
Whereas Western nations should stand on the side of the people of Iran by
holding the regime accountable for repression, terrorism, and rogue
behavior and by supporting the Iranian people as they seek change;
Whereas, in 2023, the Iranian regime started sham trials in absentia of some 104
veteran members of the Iranian opposition, who are primarily based in
Europe, including in France and Albania, to justify terrorist plots
against them, and continues to target Iranian dissidents abroad;
Whereas over 4,000 parliamentarians worldwide, including 243 bipartisan House
members in Congress, the majority of 33 legislative assemblies, mostly
in Europe, and over 130 former world leaders and 80 Nobel laureates have
supported Mrs. Maryam Rajavi's Ten-Point Plan for the Future of Iran
that calls for universal right to vote, free elections, a market
economy, and separation of religion and state, and advocates gender,
religious, and ethnic equality, a foreign policy based on peaceful
coexistence, peace in the Middle East, and a nonnuclear Republic of
Iran;
Whereas Mrs. Rajavi's roadmap for the process of change in Iran, based on the
demands of the protesters in nationwide demonstrations in Iran, was
presented on November 20, 2024, in the European Parliament, providing
concrete and feasible steps for regime change by the people of Iran and
democratic process for transferring power to the people;
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, in his
July 2024 report, highlighted the execution of ``tens of thousands'' of
political prisoners in the 1980s and during the 1988 massacre (up to
30,000) and emphasized, ``The Special Rapporteur notes that the
`atrocity crimes' as reported--which took place all across Iran--
represent the commission of the worst and the most egregious human
rights abuses of our living memory whereby high-ranking state officials
connived, conspired, and actively engaged to plan, order and commit
crimes against humanity against the nationals of their own state,'' and
that ``an overwhelming majority of the executed prisoners were members
and sympathizers of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/
MEK).'';
Whereas over 900 women and men of Ashraf 3 in Albania are former political
prisoners who witnessed prison crimes of the Iranian regime, and many of
them are witnesses of the 1988 massacre and other political killings in
Iran, who must be fully protected for potential testimonies before any
international courts investigating the killings in Iran;
Whereas, in an April 19, 2016, letter to a European Parliament Vice President,
the Prime Minister of Albania wrote, ``Albania is fully engaged and
committed to ensure for the Iranian refugees all rights stipulated in
the Geneva Convention 1951, in the European Human Rights Convention and
in the whole international legislation'';
Whereas the right to self-determination constitutes an inherent and inalienable
right of all peoples, forming a cornerstone of international law,
including the Charter of the United Nations (1945), which underscores
the principles of self-determination; and
Whereas the Declaration of Independence of the United States emphasizes,
``whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new Government'', and that ``when a long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their
duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their
future security''; Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) unequivocally condemns the Iranian regime's
warmongering in the Middle East, which is a major source of
terrorism and regional instability and calls for its end;
(2) affirms that addressing the call of Iranian protesters
for fundamental changes within Iran contributes to peaceful
coexistence among neighboring nations and enhances regional and
global security;
(3) acknowledges and upholds the Iranian people's inherent
right to determine their political future, as articulated in
the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
(4) calls for holding the Iranian regime and its leaders
accountable for their crimes through the continued imposition
of sanctions and calls for supporting the Iranian opposition
and the Ten-Point Plan for the Future of Iran, which aligns
with democratic values and ensures a democratic, secular,
peaceful, and nonnuclear republic for the future of Iran;
(5) urges the free world, given that the people of Iran
have been deprived of all their fundamental rights and
political paths for change within the framework of
international law and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, to recognize the rights of the Iranian people, the
protesters, and the Resistance Units to confront the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and repressive forces to bring
about change; and
(6) calls on the United States Government, in cooperation
with our ally Albania, to ensure the full protection of the
Iranian political refugees in Ashraf 3 in Albania against the
Iranian regime's continued efforts to target dissidents abroad
and for them to benefit from all rights stipulated in the
Geneva Convention 1951 and the European Convention on Human
Rights, including the right to life, liberty, and security, and
protection of property, as well as freedom of expression and
assembly.
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