Supporting A Free, Democratic, and Secular Iran

Floor Speech

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Mr. FINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock) for asking me here to talk about this important subject.

Mr. Speaker, I came to speak because the cause of Iran is not just a cause that we should care about for the Iranian people, though we should. As Americans, we are a people whose country was founded because a group of people were unhappy by the tyranny we faced. There is no question they face it over there, as well.

The cause of Iran is one that we should care about because it is in the best interest of the United States to care about it. We live in a world that, unfortunately, is on fire, whether it is in China, whether we see it in Russia, or certainly in Iran.

Iran has chosen to not only take their horrific, genocidal, lunatic policies to kill their own people, to hurt women, and to hurt people who won't abide by their radical Islamic faiths, but they have done it to other people around the world. They are the leading sponsor of terrorism around the world.

We saw this most dramatically just a little over 18 months ago when, on October 7, 2023, 1,200 people, most of which were Jews, but not all, people from dozens of countries, including Americans, were attacked and killed.

We focus on Hamas, but Hamas only exists because Iran funds and supports it. Just as we saw President Trump free the last American citizen who was being held hostage because of Iran, those problems and challenges continue to happen today.

I did a little research. Obviously, I have an affinity for Jewish problems around the world because I am Jewish. I have always been part of a small minority throughout my life. I am one here in Congress, as well, and it is a great honor to be here.

In 1979, 100,000 Jews lived in Iran. The same people who Iran likes to fund to talk about genocide, suffering, and rooting out people and all these problems around the world, Mr. Speaker, you can say: How many of those folks still live in Iran today?

Today, estimates are that 10,000 Jews live in Iran. I am not saying that 90,000 of them have been killed. Certainly, some of them have. Mr. Speaker, 90,000 have left. That is 90 percent of this population, of just one population. There are many populations of people who would be at risk in a place like Iran, but 90 percent have left and fled. Many, by the way, have come to the United States.

They do that because they are not free to live their lives the way they want to live them. Today, when we talk about this, we stand with Iran not only because we believe in freedom for all people around the world but freedom of self-determination and to decide what kind of government we want.

Frankly, we want to allow women to vote, to have equal rights with men, to live in a society where religion is important but is not a tool for oppression.

We care about these issues because they create peace and security in the Middle East. Ultimately, that leads to peace and security here in the United States.

It is my honor to speak here today to support the gentleman and his resolution. We must do everything we can to get these lunatics out of power and allow the great Persian people, where many say civilization began thousands and thousands of years ago, to reseize that initiative that they had at the founding of civilization and to rebuild the kind of society they once had and certainly could have again.

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