A bipartisan group of senators gathered in the Kennedy Caucus Room on Wednesday to call for a crackdown on Iranian aggression and demand a free and democratic Iran at a luncheon hosted by the Organization of Iranian American Communities.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) all spoke at the gathering about their respective commitments to opposing the mullahs in Tehran and fighting for a return to a democratic Iran. The luncheon featured a keynote address from Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian dissident politician and leader of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, about the people-led movement to overthrow the Iranian regime. 

“I have consistently emphasized that our goal is not to seize power but to restore it to its rightful owners, the people of Iran and their vote,” Rajavi said in pre-recorded remarks. “Our resistance has a practical roadmap for regime change and establishing a free and democratic society. The people, who are deeply discontented and angry, along with the Resistance Units, who are part of the Army of Freedom and the main force for change in Iran. They are preparing an organized uprising.”

Gen. Keith Kellogg, who will serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy, and Amb. Mohammed Al-Hadhrami, Yemen’s ambassador to the U.S., also spoke at the gathering. 

The four senators argued that Iran was at a critical moment of weakness amid the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Israel’s multi-front war against Iranian proxies, draining Tehran’s resources. 

“Iran has been dealt a significant blow. The leadership in the country is on their back feet. The events in Syria demonstrate the fundamental weakness at the core of Iran’s regional strategic policies,” Shaheen said.

“Today, what we’re seeing in the Middle East is that Iran is projecting only weakness. Now is the time to think about how we invest more in the core values that we all share: of democracy, of human rights, of justice for everyone,” she added. “No one knows how to stand up for those values in the face of tyranny better than the Iranian people, as they’ve been doing it for such a long time. The people of Iran know firsthand the dedication and the perseverance that’s needed to stand up to autocracy.”

Tillis argued that now “is not the time to accommodate Iran. This is a time to step up the pressure. This is a historic opportunity to hopefully lay the groundwork for a peaceful and democratic Syria, but along with it, a peaceful and democratic Iran.” 

“We need to hold them accountable,” Tillis said of Iranian leadership. 

Booker said, “The real threat to the thriving of Middle Eastern communities is Iran. We have an urgent obligation now to stand together, not just as Americans, but stand together with global allies in making sure that this regime’s suppression of its own people comes to an end.”

The New Jersey senator also noted his resolution with Shaheen and Tillis protecting Iranian political refugees, arguing that the bipartisan support for the measure shows that “there is no separation between the parties when it comes to standing for justice for the Iranian people.”

Cruz separately noted that Trump’s win had shifted the geopolitical calculus for Iran, explaining that the maximum-pressure campaign that the incoming administration plans to implement will be devastating to Tehran’s nuclear program and ability to finance its terror operations.

“The results on Election Day November 2024 were consequential to the United States and consequential to the world. There is nobody on planet earth that had a worse day on election day than the Ayatollah,” he said. “We will return on January 20 to a maximum pressure policy. We will cut off this cruel and impressive regime from resources from every direction possible, that includes vigorously imposing sanctions, that includes using every tool that we have to shut down the nuclear research facilities.”