A bipartisan House majority has cosponsored a resolution backing Iranian democracy and denouncing the regime’s escalating campaign of terrorism, with Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) — who announced the milestone — calling the move a stand for a “democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran,” as Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) pointed to President Donald Trump’s legacy of pressure diplomacy, noting such deals succeed when “the world understands it must take him at his word.”
A clear bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives has formally lined up behind H. Res. 166, a resolution condemning the Islamic Republic of Iran’s support for terrorism and oppression, while backing the aspirations of the Iranian people for regime change and democratic reform.
Last week, the resolution introduced by McClintock crossed a crucial threshold, officially securing a majority with 219 cosponsors — 136 Republicans and 83 Democrats.
“This truly bipartisan and broad-based House majority endorses the general principles propounded by Iranian democracy groups,” McClintock said in a public statement, referring to the Ten-Point Plan presented by NCRI’s president-elect, Maryam Rajavi, and backed by over 4,000 lawmakers, 130 former world leaders, and 80 Nobel laureates.
The plan includes universal suffrage, free elections, a market economy, separation of religion and state, gender and ethnic equality, and a nonnuclear, peaceful foreign policy. The resolution further calls for sanctions and international accountability against the Iranian regime’s leadership and military elements such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In exclusive remarks to Breitbart News, McClintock noted that the resolution “should strengthen the President’s hand to know that a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives stands behind the Iranian opposition.”
“The simplest, surest and cleanest path to resolve this threat is to encourage and support the Iranian freedom fighters that are striving to collapse the tyranny from within,” he added.
In February, the bipartisan coalition of U.S. lawmakers introduced House Resolution 166, calling for an end to Iran’s theocratic regime and backing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The resolution, co-sponsored by Reps. Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), affirms support for the Iranian people’s fight against oppression and endorses NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan for a free and democratic Iran.
It also outlines a litany of regime abuses, including:
- Support for terrorist proxies across the Middle East,
- Enrichment of uranium beyond peaceful levels,
- Mass executions and political imprisonment,
- Suppression of ethnic and religious minorities,
- And an ongoing campaign to target dissidents abroad, including in Europe and Albania.
During the congressional hearing at the time, lawmakers condemned Iran’s government as a “pariah, murderous, terrorist regime,” with Rep. McClintock emphasizing that the Iranian regime has become a “supreme source of misery, injustice, and oppression for its own people.”
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) offered his own insights into the resolution’s broader geopolitical implications, praising President Donald Trump’s Middle East strategy as pivotal to pressuring Iran’s regime.
“President Trump has done a masterful job laying the foundation for peace in the Middle East—a feat no one thought possible. He’s given Iran the choice between dropping their nuclear weapons program or facing massive pressure. What makes the President so effective at these deals is that the world understands it must take him at his word. Everyone remembers the fate suffered by Soleimani.”
Iran remains the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, bankrolling proxy militias to destabilize the Middle East and threaten global security. Under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the regime has intensified internal repression, executing more than 1,000 prisoners in 2024 alone — a grim record reflecting growing desperation, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
H. Res. 166, which declares Iran the driving force behind regional terrorism and warmongering, reflects growing bipartisan support in Congress for a harder line on Tehran. The resolution backs efforts to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions, hold the regime accountable for human rights abuses, and bolster protections for Iranian dissidents, including former political prisoners in Ashraf 3 in Albania.
With support from both parties, the resolution sends a strong signal that the U.S. House stands with Iran’s pro-democracy movement. It also reflects lawmakers’ belief that decades of failed engagement strategies have proven that regime change from within is the only viable path forward.
Supporters emphasize that Iran’s women- and youth-led resistance, symbolized by the chant “Woman, Resistance, Freedom,” deserves international backing. As Iran fuels proxy wars in Gaza, Yemen, and Lebanon, and directly threatens U.S. forces, the House is moving toward not just containment, but sanctions and democratic alternatives.
The resolution also reaffirms long-standing positions favoring a strong national defense, rejection of appeasement, and recognition of Trump-era diplomatic gains in the Middle East. It calls for justice for victims of regime atrocities, including the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, many linked to the PMOI/MEK, as highlighted in U.N. human rights reports.
The resolution comes as the Trump administration explores the viability of a negotiated settlement with the Iranian regime to dismantle its nuclear program. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are urging the administration to demand that Iran fully relinquish its uranium enrichment capacity.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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