Over 150 lawmakers lend support to resistance movement inside Iran as regime's proxies fall

FIRST ON FOX: A bipartisan group of 151 lawmakers is rallying around a resolution to support the Iranian resistance movement ahead of a hearing with an opposition leader. 

The resolution, led by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., expresses support for the Iranian people and their stated desire for a "democratic, secular and non-nuclear" Iran through regime change. 

"The developments of the past year have left no doubt that the source of terrorism and warmongering in the Middle East region is the theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran," the resolution reads. 

"The efforts of Western countries over the past 45 years to change the behavior of this regime have failed, and the ultimate solution to ending the Iranian regime's threats is the establishment of a secular, democratic, and pluralistic republic by the Iranian people and resistance."

The resolution also claimed that in the first four months of Masoud Pezeshkian's presidency, beginning July 28, 2024, some 500 prisoners, including political prisoners and at least 17 women, were executed, and hand amputations increased. 

It also expressed support for Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a leading resistance group known as MEK to Iranians, and her 10-point plan to bring democracy, secular government and human rights to Iran. The plan, which has the support of 4,000 parliamentarians across the globe, calls for installing NCRI as a provisional government for six months to set up elections and a constituent assembly. 

Rajavi, in her opening remarks, will say that the Iranian regime is at its weakest point in decades. 

"The mullahs are surrounded from all sides: by a society that is filled with anger and rebellion, by Resistance Units, and by selfless and rebellious youth, because of its bankrupt economy and corruption in the government, particularly after the overthrow of the brutal dictatorship of Assad and the collapse of the regime's "strategic depth" in the region."

The resolution is sure to rankle Ayatollah Ali Khameni, leader of the current Iranian regime, and supporters of Reza Pahlavi II, whose father ruled Iran in the 1970s, who want to see the younger Pahlavi take power in Iran and deeply oppose the NCRI. 

She will also pay tribute to two resistance leaders, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who have been sentenced to death on charges of "rebellion" and for being members of the MEK. The U.N. has called on Iran to halt their executions. The regime has executed 120,000 on political grounds over the past four decades, according to Rajavi.

Trump has said he would "love to make a deal" with the nation's clerical leaders, but Iran has insisted it will not engage in nuclear negotiations while the U.S. is imposing maximum pressure. 

"Iran's position regarding nuclear talks is clear, and we will not negotiate under pressure and sanctions," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said during a televised joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"There is no possibility of direct negotiations with the U.S. as long as maximum pressure is being applied in this way."