As the Iranian regime violently cracks down on growing nationwide protests, lawmakers’ attention is again on the atrocities committed at the hands of the Iranian regime. Yet not a single House Democrat has lent support to legislation that would sanction Iran’s supreme leader and his inner circle for mass human rights crimes, according to senior congressional sources familiar with the matter.
The bill, dubbed the Mahsa Amini Act after the 22-year-old Iranian woman who was killed by the regime’s morality police for improperly wearing her head covering, would "impose sanctions on the supreme leader of Iran and the president of Iran and their respective offices for human rights abuses and support for terrorism," according to a copy of the measure obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Amini’s murder last month sparked nationwide anti-regime protests that threaten to topple the hardline Iranian government, which has reacted to the demonstrations with more violence, including beating, imprisoning, and shooting protesters.
The Republican-led bill was circulated to every single Democratic House office, but not a single one has yet to cosponsor the bill, two senior Republican congressional aides told the Free Beacon.
The legislation is part of a larger effort by Republican leaders in Congress to codify a range of sanctions on the Iranian regime for its human rights abuses and support for regional terror groups, including those that have killed Americans. The protests in Iran have been met with a muted response by the Biden administration, which is trying to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. And while many Democrats have issued public statements of support for the Iranian protesters, none have gotten behind Republican efforts to boost sanctions on the hardline regime.
