As U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly ponders next steps on Iran and Congress more fully engages in the process, bipartisan legislation supports freedoms for Iranian citizens.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), the subcommittee’s ranking member, submitted the Iran Human Rights, Internet Freedom and Accountability Act on Monday.
“The Iranian regime fears one thing above all else: a connected, informed population. That’s why it shuts down the internet, censors dissent, and jails journalists,” Lawler stated.
“Comprehensive legislation is needed to expand internet freedom and target the financial networks of corrupt officials,” he added. “We must increase pressure where it belongs and support with all of our might those fighting for freedom and democracy.”
The Iranian regime instituted a communications blackout during a brutal crackdown on protestors in January, as the latter rallied against the government’s handling of a collapsing economy.
Casualty estimates vary widely. Trump has said in recent days that the death toll stands at 32,000—at the high end of estimates.
The new bill directs the U.S. State Department to develop strategies to increase secure digital communications in Iran, expands funding for the Iran Internet Freedom Grant Program and authorizes the Defense Innovation Unit “to develop low-cost, scalable technologies to overcome internet blackouts and censorship.”
It also establishes an Iran Kleptocracy Initiative to investigate and disrupt the financial networks of Iranian officials and oligarchs, among other measures.
“Despite the absolute brutality they continue to endure at the hands of this murderous regime, the Iranian people are bravely continuing to fight for their freedom,” Sherman wrote.
The legislation, he said, helps by “creating a new, whole of government strategy to take down this regime.”
“The Islamic Republic is weaker than it ever has been, and we must seize the moment,” he stated. “I know in our lifetimes, we will see a free Iran.”
AIPAC announced it is backing the legislation. Deryn Sousa, a spokeswoman for the pro-Israel group, stated that “this critical legislation expresses support for the fundamental freedoms of the Iranian people, promotes secure access to the internet, and advances efforts to hold oppressors accountable for human rights abuses.”
Alexandria Paolozzi Moore, senior director of government relations for the action wing at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that the bill “would expand the Iranian people’s access to uncensored communications, hold accountable the regime officials and oligarchs responsible for repression and expose the networks that finance Tehran’s human rights abuses.”
