As the Trump administration pursues a maximum pressure sanctions strategy against Iran and contemplates potential nuclear talks or military strikes, a new bipartisan bill aims to add another tool to the U.S.’ engagement with Iran: “maximum support” for the Iranian people.

The Maximum Support Act, led by Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), requires the administration to formulate a cohesive and aggressive U.S. government policy for supporting dissidents on a variety of fronts.

The bill would require the administration to issue an interagency strategy on how it will support “the Iranian people in their efforts to bring about a transition to a new political system and government based on the rule of law, democracy, and human rights,” including appointing a special representative to coordinate the policy.

It would require the administration to establish a multiagency task force and strategy on improving internet access and combating censorship for Iranians by providing VPN services, satellite cell connections and eSIM access and countering surveillance and cybersecurity threats from the regime.

The legislation instructs the administration to work to improve U.S. communication efforts with the Iranian people through avenues like social media to provide them with information about the regime’s crimes and support dissident voices.

The bill would further instruct the administration to create a strategy and interagency working group to support and facilitate defections by members of the Iranian government and security forces, including establishing communication methods for such defectors, and to verify and utilize information provided by them.

It would also use seized Iranian assets under U.S. jurisdiction to provide funding to nonviolent protest movements in Iran, including supporting strikers and providing medical supplies. That funding would be subject to strict vetting and oversight. It also instructs the administration to provide intelligence support to Iranian dissidents.

And the bill requires the administration to assess whether to designate Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, arguing that the government body meets the criteria for designation for its actions against the Iranian people.

Some of the programs laid out in the bill, particularly efforts to communicate with the Iranian people, would involve the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which the Trump administration has gutted and is aiming to largely shut down.

A Republican source familiar with the legislation argued that the bill could provide a roadmap for reforming USAGM and pursuing a new path forward, given that the administration cannot legally fully shut down the agency without congressional approval.

“The Iranian regime will fall sooner rather than later,” Wilson said in a statement. “As the fall of Assad in 12 days illustrated, these regimes are a lot weaker than they think they are. I’m grateful to introduce this bipartisan bill which will provide maximum support to the Iranian people in their struggle for democracy and human rights. It’s important that maximum pressure on the regime be coupled with maximum support of the people.”

“The Iranian regime continues to suppress its people through internet censorship and repression,” Panetta said in a statement. “The Maximum Support Act counters these abuses by bolstering internet freedom, seizing regime assets to aid pro-democracy efforts, and supporting those resisting oppression. We must stand with the Iranian people in their fight for freedom and a brighter future.”

The bill is being supported by the National Union for Democracy in Iran and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“It’s high time Washington develops a policy that levels the contest between the most anti-American state and the most pro-American street in the region,” FDD senior fellow Behnam Ben Taleblu said in a statement. “Maximum support for the Iranian people is a perfect complement to maximum pressure, and an increasingly necessary element of the equation with respect to Iran, deal or no deal.”

Andrew Ghalili, a senior policy analyst at NUFDI, called the bill “the strongest bill ever introduced in support of the Iranian people,” 

“It’s the necessary complement to President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign,” Ghalili continued. “This is exactly the kind of decisive action the U.S. should take to align itself with the Iranian people’s vision for a free Iran.”

NUFDI’s vice president, Cameron Khansarinia, said, “Peace in the Middle East is only possible by solving the Iran issue, and the Iran issue cannot be solved with the regime that has sown chaos and instability for 45 years. The Iranian people are fighting for real change and the Maximum Support Act is a perfect complement to President Trump’s strategy to bring about that goal.

The bill is one part — and a significant new element — of a series of Iran-related bills announced by the Republican Study Committee this week to enhance sanctions and otherwise crack down on the regime and its affiliates. The RSC is the largest GOP caucus.

Other bills associated with the initiative include the Maximum Pressure Act, which would codify into law and increase the Trump administration’s maximum pressure sanctions; the Iran Waiver Recissions Bill, which would ban any sanctions relief or waivers for the Iranian regime — likely blocking any nuclear deal; the No Iranian Energy Act, sanctioning Iraqi imports of Iranian energy; the Iranian Terror Prevention Act, placing additional sanctions on the Houthis and other Iranian terror proxies; and the No Sanctions Relief for Terrorists Act, which conditions future sanctions relief for Iran on it ending support for terrorism.

The package of legislation also includes the No Hezbollah in Our Hemisphere Act, which requires the State Department to formulate a strategy for countering Hezbollah in Latin America and potentially sanction Latin American officials supporting the group; the Free Iraq from Iran Act sanctioning Iranian proxy groups in Iraq and banning U.S. funds from supporting them; a resolution urging European allies to implement snapback sanctions on Iran; and the Stop Corrupt Iranian Oligarchs and Entities Act, which requires a comprehensive report on Iranian leaders and their finances.

Some of the legislation had been introduced prior to the RSC’s announcement earlier this week or was previously introduced in the last Congress.