House Congressional Briefing/Reception Iran Policy: New Administration, Challenges & Options Jan 24, 2017

Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

MODERATOR: In introducing Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, I think I personally neglected to appreciate the influence and effect she has had over the years at some of our toughest moments in confronting the ayatollahs in Iran, on the hills of Congress, or it being Camp Ashraf in Iraq, whether it be one o’clock in the morning, three o’clock in the morning, she has fought as a woman not only for the people of Houston—which by the way are hosting Superbowl—but also for the freedom-loving people of Iran and the women in Iran, courageously.  And to this day she remains our dearest, one of our best, most persistent advocates on the halls of Congress.  So I apologize to Congresswoman Jackson Lee for not properly framing her influence in our movement here in the United States.  Thank you very much, Congresswoman Jackson Lee.

JACKSON LEE: That’s a real friend.  My honor and recognition to you, guiding this ship of members is not an easy task and he’s doing a fantastic job.  Give him a very big applause.  He knows us all. I see that my colleagues are here, but my heart must speak and what it must say is I give honor to all of you for the years and days and months and minutes and seconds and hours that you never gave up, never give in, and never gave out.  You are to be honored.  Thank you, so very much. [applause]

I’m so glad that he mentioned the women.  And the great men in this room won’t mind me acknowledging the mothers and sisters who came to me over the years about their loved ones who suffered.  Mothers who had not seen children for so long in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, and how in the wails that we would hear would also be the strength of not giving up.  But there was one woman who never gave up as well, and that is President Maryam Rajavi. [applause] President Maryam Rajavi.  And so I want to offer to her in her absence my appreciation for her leadership, her hospitality to all of us when we visited Paris, her constant strength in the face of danger before collectively the MEK was removed from the terrorist list.  You know how hard we fought, but she had to stand strong to lead.  If we did not have leadership how would we continue to fight?  Let us give her a major applause.  [applause]

So I want to make sure that you know that I believe in #freeIran.  #freeIran.  And to all of the young people that are in Iran today and around the world, we know that if you continue to understand what democracy is, that democracy is secular, democratic, and it is a non-nuclear republic Iran, than we know that we will be free someday.  We thank you for all of those who believe in that.  [applause] So in my concluding remarks, because I see so many who want to pay tribute to all of you, I want to acknowledge my dear friend (Ali Safavi) and all of the Texans that have come and continue to fight.  Those who still mourn and those who can celebrate.  We will never forget those who are still mourning.  We are going to continue to fight for those and their loved ones.  Thank you Ali very much for the leadership you bring. [applause]

So what is our task?  Our task is to ensure that those who are engaging in human rights violations are held accountable.  We cannot speak human rights in the United States and not hold those who perform these abuses around the world and in Iran and not hold them accountable.  I will stand with you to do that.  I will stand with you to ensure that Iran’s meddling, its boisterousness, its arrogance, does not carry into places that seek peace.  For example its intrusion into Syria and Iraq, into Lebanon.  We must ensure that Iran becomes a neighbor that is responsible and that respects the dignity and sovereignty of others.  We must make sure that we again have a free Iran with no war, no aggression, no appeasement.  And we must support the Iranians who some years ago, as many of you know, rose up as working and middle class Iranians attempting to have a democratic government.  They were not quite successful, but they’ve made some strides.  We must compliment them, encourage them, and we must continue to boost their enthusiasm to continue for a free Iran.

I’m going to close on this moment.  There has been a peaceful transfer of government.  I believe in our
Constitution.  I am an American.  I love this country.  It is already the greatest country in the world.  But I will assure you that I will be watchful as to the interaction with Russia, and the interaction between Russia and Iran, and the teaming up against a good democratic people of Iran and the good democratic Iranian-Americans who want a free Iran.  We must not yield to Russia, we must not yield to the collaboration between Russia and Iran.  We must not yield to the dominance that Iran will feel because it might surmise that something is different in America.  There is nothing different in America.  We are a free, democratic-loving nation and we will continue to fight for the principles of democracy.  And where there are groups of people like those in Iran and Iranian-Americans who are fighting for democracy, we will stand with you.  Again #freeIran. [applause]

Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX)

MODERATOR:            Our next speaker is a Congressman from the state of Texas.  I think when I think of what he represents to me personally, if you let me describe that it would be courage.  In many fronts, both in person, in public life and private life, to the extent that I’m aware of, but one of the most courageous things he’s done since 2015, I believe, has been to introduce legislation, to designate the primary [0:40:14] of Iranian people, that is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization, requesting accountability for their behavior across the region now within Iran, so please welcome Congressman Ted Poe. [applause]

POE:    Thank you.  Thank you very much.  It’s great to be here.  It’s great to see Dana Rohrabacher here.  As some of you may remember that not too long ago we were in Iraq together and we asked Maliki if we could go down and see Camp Ashraf, before Camp Ashraf moved to Camp Liberty, and he was quite indignant when we insisted on seeing Camp Ashraf ourselves, to see the persecution and the rockets that came in and he denied our request and then ordered us to be evicted from Iraq.  I took that as a great compliment that I was evicted from Iraq, because I wanted to see the persecution of your friends and your families that were imprisoned in Camp Ashraf and then later in Camp Liberty.  It’s a great honor to be here with you.

You have come a long way since 1979 from the revolution and now we have a situation where the ayatollah and the mullahs are in charge of your great homeland.  The ayatollah is at war.  He’s at war with the peoples of the world.  He’s at war with anyone that believes in freedom and liberty.  He’s at first at war with his own people—your families, your friends in Iran, anyone who speaks against the ayatollah and the mullahs, anyone who speaks in favor of liberty, anyone who disagrees with what’s taking place in Iran could get the death penalty.  But let me tell the ayatollah something.  If I were in Iran giving this speech, I would probably be subject to the death penalty, ‘cause I’m speaking against him and his illegitimate regime of mullahs, because they are at war with the people of Iran in Iran.  But he’s also at war with freedom loving people throughout the world—you families, your friends, wherever they are.  Through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism.  And they have all kinds of terrorist groups from Hezbollah to Hamas throughout the world killing people who believe in freedom.  He’s at war with humanity and we need to recognize that.

And you have traveled far.  Many of you have left Iran.  You have friends and family in Europe, in Paris, in France, and other parts of the world.  Some of you made your way to the United States.  You’re in California, in the Midwest, in the Northeast.  And some of you even made your way and found Texas.  God bless you. [laughter]

But meanwhile, you’re really still fighting for freedom in Iran and you’ve lost family members and friends along that long journey of freedom fighting.  And I say to you, “Do not give up.  We’re not through yet.  We are not through.”  We’ve had the hard fight of delisting the MEK and people said it couldn’t be done and we fought the State Department and the State Department lost because the MEK was delisted as a foreign terrorist organization as it should’ve been years and years ago.  And as was said, I’ll tell you who ought to be listed as a foreign terrorist organization is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, because they are a foreign terrorist organization. [applause]

And we finally got your folks moved out of Camp Ashraf after the persecution there.  They said it couldn’t be done and they went to Camp Liberty.  And they said it couldn’t be done that they would leave Camp Liberty, those people who opposed freedom, but it was done and they left and we’re going to fight to make sure that the property that was confiscated by Iraq with the influence of Iran, that belonged to those folks in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is finally released to its rightful owners that have left those two camps, because it doesn’t belong to Iraq.  It belongs to those people who were imprisoned, your friends, and your family.

But we’re not through, because Iran is still in captivity of the mullahs and the ayatollah and we will continue with you on this journey to fight for free Iran and we want to do that through a peaceful regime change so that freedom can take place there.  That is the answer.  A regime change and let the people decide who should be in charge, not the U.N., not the ayatollah, but the people of Iran—your friends and your family—decide who should have governance over (there). [applause]

Many of you know that over the last six months or so I have been battling leukemia, cancer.  And I appreciate the fact that many of you have contacted me, and your prayers and your encouragement in that fight.  And it is being successful, that battle against that cancer. [applause]

God is taking care of me and ‘cause he’s not through with me yet.  And just like I have cancer, and cancer as you know, you have to fight it.  It never just goes away.  You have to fight it, you have to treat it, you have to battle against it.  Well, there’s a cancer in Iran and it’s not going to go away.  We have to fight it.  We have to constantly fight it and be vigilant and do everything we can to remove the cancer that is oppressing the people of Iran and that’s the mullahs that are in charge.  And we will be successful.  I am telling you that we will be successful in fighting that cancer or there will be a liberty in Iran and we will march with you down the streets of Tehran and wave that flag of freedom and liberty and we are going to do it very soon.  And that’s just the way it is. [applause] Thank you very much.  God bless you.

January 27, 2017
US Lawmakers Promise Iranian Opposition Group Tougher Action Against Iran

By Michael Lipin and Shahla Arasteh
A bi-partisan group of U.S. lawmakers has told an Iranian opposition group that it will press for tougher U.S. action against Iran’s Islamist rulers, as Tehran awaits word on whether President Donald Trump will follow through on campaign pledges to take a similarly tough stance.

The half-dozen Republican and Democratic House members made the pledges to the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC) on Tuesday. OIAC, which is allied to exiled Iranian dissident movement Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK, had invited the lawmakers to speak at a gathering in Washington’s Rayburn House Office Building, as part of the group’s years-long efforts to lobby Congress.

OIAC says it advocates for a “democratic, secular and non-nuclear government” in Iran. MEK, which leads the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), seeks to “overthrow” what it calls the “religious dictatorship” ruling Iran. In a statement to the gathering, OIAC political director Majid Sadeghpour said his group looks forward to working with President Trump and Congress to shape a “successful policy” toward Iran, which he called “arguably the greatest threat to U.S. national security.”

Trump has yet to outline his Iran policy since taking office on January 20. But as a candidate, he strongly criticized then-President Barack Obama for joining world powers in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran a deal in which Tehran agreed to stop activities that Western powers feared could be used to develop nuclear weapons, in return for relief from international sanctions. Trump said the 2015 agreement would not work, calling it a “disaster” and pledging to either dismantle or renegotiate it.

Republican House members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Dana Rohrabacher prepare to speak to the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC), an Iranian opposition group, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, Jan. 24, 2017.

Speaking to the OIAC gathering, Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen called for expanding an existing set of U.S. sanctions against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sanctions that are not part of the nuclear deal. “It is time that we put the tools that we have created to use, broadening our sanctions so that they include IRGC-controlled businesses and subsidiaries,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “We must target the (Iranian) regime at every turn, not only enforcing the sanctions that have been too long neglected, but expanding their scope whenever and wherever possible.”

As part of the nuclear deal’s sanctions relief, Iran has been able to sign agreements to buy Western passenger planes for its aging commercial airline industry. Those agreements include state-run Iran Air’s $16 billion purchase of 80 aircraft from U.S. plane-maker Boeing a deal announced in December.

Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman has co-sponsored new legislation that could complicate Iran Air’s efforts to secure the Boeing aircraft. The bill would require the Trump administration to report on any signs of Iran using commercial aircraft for “illicit military or other activities” violating the sanctions relief.

In an interview with VOA on the sidelines of the OIAC gathering, Sherman accused Iran of using “supposedly civilian aircraft” to support war crimes in Syria’s conflict an accusation Tehran has denied.

“We need an ironclad system that makes sure (any newly-acquired planes with American technology) are not used for military or terrorist purposes (by Iran),” Sherman said. He also said U.S. banks should not loan Iran any money to pay for new planes, citing the billions of dollars of sanctions relief it already has received.

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told the OIAC gathering that he believes Washington should intensify political pressure against Iran’s government. “One strategy is to help pro-democracy movements who would replace the mullahs,” Rohrabacher said. He also called for holding Iranian leaders accountable for human rights violations and encouraging ethnic minorities to pursue autonomy.

“I’m willing to help the Azeris, Baluch and Kurds, who are not part of the Persian majority, to create a situation where you have autonomous regions similar to the states of the United States, so that those people’s rights will feel secure as well,” he said.

Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel addresses members of the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC), an Iranian opposition group, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, Jan. 24, 2017.

In separate remarks to OIAC members, Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel said he wants to focus on helping one Iranian opposition group in particular MEK, which completed a two-year-long process of relocating about 3,000 of its Iraq-based exiles to Albania last September.

The exiles had been based in Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq from the 1980s until 2012, when the Iraqi government moved them to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad. The exiles sought international help to leave Iraq as they faced a series of deadly attacks after 2009, when U.S. forces who had occupied the country since a 2003 invasion transferred Camp Ashraf to Iraqi authorities who labeled them a terrorist group. MEK members for years have demanded that the Iraqi government compensate them for property left behind in the two camps.

Eliot said the MEK group has $50 million in assets at Camp Liberty and $500 million at Camp Ashraf.

“We want the Iraqi government to sell these properties and return the money to MEK members. It’s very important,” he told the gathering. “As all of their expenses in Albania are paid by MEK, they need their money to be returned as soon as possible. So I urge Iraq, which the United States has helped for so many years, to honor its commitment to return the money to MEK.”

It is not clear whether or when Iraq will complete that process.

Some U.S. lawmakers have long praised MEK for sharing information with the United States about clandestine Iranian nuclear operations. Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons.