Senior Senators, ex-US officials urge firm policy on Iran

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- Marking the Iranian New Year of 1396, bi-partisan senior members of the United States Senate joined the Nowruz gathering, sponsored by the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC), calling for change in Iran.

While criticizing the Iranian regime's malign behavior, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, John McCain (R-AZ) said, "I think the only thing that the Iranian regime understands is, as Ronald Reagan called it, peace through strength.  But most of all, I hope that we can give the people who are now residing in that country the hope and belief and commitment to all of us that someday they will know freedom again."

Foreign Relations Committee member, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) welcomed the resettlement of thousands of Iranian dissidents, the residents of Camp Liberty, Iraq, in Albania and thanked the Albanian Ambassador for her country's efforts to this end.    

Homeland Security Committee member, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) recognized the need for a bi-partisan effort in US Senate to prevent "proliferation in the hands of this regime that has one of the worst human rights records anywhere on the planet, which constantly is suppressing any kind of free press or demonstrations or any kinds of activities as a free society, we simply cannot let them have those weapons of mass destruction."

In a video message, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, expressed her support for a "bipartisan measure demanding pressure on the Iranian regime to stop its destabilizing actions in support of terrorist groups, and its continued test-firing of ballistic missiles… a legislative language, which calls for the application of UN Security Council resolution 2231 as well as a bill that calls for the designation of the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization."

In his remarks, former Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) said, "… the bipartisan consensus about the threat that Iran represents has returned, and there's a real interest in focusing in on a regime in Iran and changing what exists now… I don't think it's been phrased any better than the program, the ten-point program that Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, on behalf of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and on behalf of the people of Iran, has issued." 

SOURCE Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC)