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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1148 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1148

Condemning the Iranian regime's terrorism, regional proxy war, internal 
                  suppression, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2024

Mr. Weber of Texas (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allen, Mr. Amodei, Mr. 
  Babin, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Baird, Mr. Balderson, Mr. Banks, Mr. Bean of 
 Florida, Mr. Bera, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, 
  Mr. Bost, Mr. Bucshon, Mr. Burchett, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Calvert, Mrs. 
Cammack, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, 
Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Mr. Ciscomani, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cline, 
Mr. Clyde, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Costa, Ms. Craig, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Davis of 
 Illinois, Ms. De La Cruz, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. D'Esposito, Mr. Duarte, 
 Mr. Duncan, Mr. Dunn of Florida, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Ellzey, Mr. Ezell, 
 Mr. Fallon, Mr. Feenstra, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Finstad, Mr. Fitzpatrick, 
Mr. Fleischmann, Mr. Flood, Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. Fulcher, 
   Mr. Gallego, Mr. Mike Garcia of California, Mr. Gimenez, Mr. Tony 
Gonzales of Texas, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mrs. Gonzalez-Colon, 
Mr. Gooden of Texas, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Gottheimer, Ms. Granger, Mr. Green 
   of Tennessee, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Guest, Mr. Harris, Mr. Higgins of 
 Louisiana, Mrs. Hinson, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Issa, Mr. Jackson of Texas, Ms. 
Jackson Lee, Mr. Joyce of Pennsylvania, Mr. Kelly of Mississippi, Mrs. 
    Kiggans of Virginia, Mr. LaLota, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. 
 Langworthy, Mr. Lawler, Mrs. Lesko, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Loudermilk, Mr. 
 Luetkemeyer, Mr. Luttrell, Ms. Mace, Ms. Malliotakis, Mr. Mast, Mrs. 
 McBath, Mrs. McClain, Mr. McClintock, Mr. McCormick, Mr. Meuser, Mrs. 
 Miller of West Virginia, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mr. Miller of Ohio, 
 Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. Molinaro, Mr. Moolenaar, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Moore 
of Alabama, Mr. Moylan, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. 
 Ogles, Mr. Owens, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Payne, Ms. 
Ross, Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, Mr. Self, 
Mr. Sessions, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Ms. Spanberger, Mrs. 
    Spartz, Mr. Stauber, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Steube, Mr. Thompson of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Timmons, Mr. Turner, Mr. Valadao, Mr. 
  Van Drew, Ms. Van Duyne, Mr. Van Orden, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Mr. 
    Walberg, Mr. Webster of Florida, Mr. Westerman, Ms. Wexton, Mr. 
   Williams of New York, Mr. Williams of Texas, Mr. Wilson of South 
Carolina, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Pfluger, and Mr. Johnson of South Dakota) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Condemning the Iranian regime's terrorism, regional proxy war, internal 
                  suppression, and for other purposes.

Whereas the United States acknowledges the critical importance of addressing 
        regional chaos in the Middle East, which has been significantly 
        heightened since the October 7, 2023, attacks;
Whereas grave concerns persist regarding Iran's complicity in promoting Islamic 
        fundamentalism and providing support for terrorism and its proxy groups 
        in the region;
Whereas Iranian regime officials have expressed full support for their proxy 
        groups' current war and crisis in the region;
Whereas Iranian regime officials talk about the existence of a joint operation 
        room with their proxy groups at the highest levels, operating amid the 
        Middle East turmoil;
Whereas ignoring Tehran's direct involvement in the conflict and its ensuing 
        crisis encourages Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and the Islamic 
        Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to further fuel the conflict;
Whereas Western nations bear a responsibility to hold the Iranian regime 
        accountable for its actions that incite violence, terror, and 
        instability;
Whereas the Iranian regime has been deeply implicated in furnishing support, 
        both financial and military, to proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, 
        Gaza, and elsewhere in the region, as well as on a global scale;
Whereas the Iranian regime has increasingly acted, since October 2023, as the 
        head of the snake of terrorism and war in the region, from supporting 
        proxies that vehemently oppose peace in the Middle East to threatening 
        ships and free trade in the Red Sea, and from targeting American forces 
        in the region to providing missiles and drones to rogue actors;
Whereas the Iranian regime has stepped up hostage diplomacy as a primary tool of 
        its foreign policy, using it against Western nations to release its 
        criminals and terrorists;
Whereas Asadullah Assadi, a senior Iranian diplomat based in the Iranian Embassy 
        in Vienna, Austria, was arrested in July 2018 and in February 2021, 
        convicted in Belgium and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in 
        connection with the planned terror plot against ``Free Iran 2018--The 
        Alternative'' gathering in Paris, France;
Whereas the Iranian regime's survival depends heavily on its internal 
        suppression and terror campaign abroad, using its terror proxies;
Whereas significant protests in Iran in the years 2018, 2019, and 2022 have 
        echoed the demand for the rejection of the Velayat-e Faqih (guardianship 
        of Islamic jurist) to safeguard the sovereignty of the people in a 
        republic founded on universal suffrage and pluralism;
Whereas, commencing in September 2022, widespread antigovernment protests were 
        triggered by the untimely demise of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old 
        Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police who are 
        tasked with enforcing Iran's mandatory dress code regulations;
Whereas the leadership of the 2022 protests in Iran has been predominantly 
        assumed by women and youth who ardently advocate for social freedoms and 
        political transformation;
Whereas, during several months of persistent protests in countless cities across 
        Iran, the security forces of the regime caused the loss of life of 
        hundreds and detained tens of thousands of demonstrators, and among the 
        arrested, several individuals were executed starting in December 2022, 
        and continuing to date, while dozens more face the specter of execution 
        under charges of ``moharebeh'' (waging war on God);
Whereas the uniformity in slogans and strategies employed by protesters 
        nationwide underscores the overarching aspirations of the Iranian people 
        for freedom and emphasizes the organized nature of these protests;
Whereas the Iranian regime has arbitrarily and brutally suppressed ethnic and 
        religious minorities, encompassing 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 are rejecting monarchic dictatorship and religious 
        tyranny, as evident in their protest slogans;
Whereas the Iranian populace has voiced its desire for change by taking over 
        from the IRGC and Supreme Leader's centers of power;
Whereas, according to senior Iranian regime officials, the activities of the 
        Resistance Units against the IRGC and the Basij forces have played a 
        leading role in nationwide Iran protests, particularly since 2022, and 
        the regime has reportedly killed and detained thousands of them, yet 
        Tehran remains increasingly paranoid about their activities;
Whereas, in 2023, the Iranian regime started sham trials in absentia of some 104 
        veteran members of the Iranian Resistance, who are primarily based in 
        Europe, including in France and Albania, to create a phony legal 
        precedent against them and have them extradited to Iran or justify 
        terror plots against them;
Whereas over 3,600 parliamentarians around the world and 125 former world 
        leaders expressed support for the Ten-Point Plan for the Future of Iran 
        of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi that calls for the 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 it is incumbent upon the Iranian people to determine their destiny, 
        based on their vote, as the sole criteria for political legitimacy;
Whereas the executions of as many as 30,000 political prisoners during the 1988 
        massacre were carried out under the fatwa by then-Supreme Leader 
        Ruhollah Khomeini to speedily kill all political prisoners who remained 
        loyal to the main movement in the Iranian Resistance, i.e., the 
        Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI), with subsequent death commissions 
        established on July 19, 1988, counting among their members the current 
        Iranian regime's President, Ebrahim Raisi, with the express purpose of 
        carrying out the fatwa;
Whereas the IRGC has, for over four decades, played a crucial role in internal 
        suppression, terrorism, and regional proxy wars and has garnered 
        designation as a terrorist entity by several nations, including the 
        United States;
Whereas the right to self-determination constitutes an inherent and inalienable 
        right of all peoples, including the Iranian populace, forming a 
        cornerstone of international law and duly enshrined in numerous 
        international instruments, including the Charter of the United Nations 
        (1945), which underscores the principles of self-determination;
Whereas, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ``it is 
        essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last 
        resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights 
        should be protected by the rule of law'';
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'';
Whereas the President of the Iranian regime, Ebrahim Raisi, who has been 
        personally implicated in torture and execution since the inception of 
        the regime, played a prominent role in the 1988 massacre and the 
        suppression of the demonstrations of 2019 and 2022;
Whereas over 900 women and men of Camp Ashraf 3 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, 
        among them eyewitnesses of crimes committed by Ebrahim Raisi, who must 
        be fully protected for potential testimonies before any international 
        courts investigating the killings in Iran;
Whereas, in November 2021, the Swedish judiciary moved the whole court in 
        Stockholm to Albania for two weeks to facilitate hearing testimonies of 
        7 former Iranian political prisoners now residing in Camp Ashraf 3, who 
        were considered vital witnesses for a trial related to the 1988 
        massacre;
Whereas that Swedish court, in December 2023, upheld the earlier ruling of a 
        life sentence for Hamid Nouri, implicated in the 1988 massacre where he 
        was one of the perpetrators in one of Tehran's prisons; and
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'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) unequivocally condemns the Iranian regime's actions in 
        the Middle East leading to and since the October 7, 2023, 
        attacks, which have contributed to terrorism and regional 
        instability;
            (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 accountable for 
        its actions through the continued imposition of sanctions and 
        to support the Iranian Resistance's Ten-Point Plan 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;
            (6) calls on the United States Government, in cooperation 
        with our ally Albania, to ensure the full protection of the 
        Iranian political refugees in Camp Ashraf 3 in Albania against 
        the Iranian regime's plots and pressure 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; and
            (7) recognizes the rights of the Iranian people and their 
        struggle to establish a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear 
        Republic of Iran.
                                 <all>
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