Parties In House Unite To Call for New Iran Policy

In an unusual bipartisan move, 223 U.S. House Members of both parties joined forces to offer a resolution demanding an end to the theocratic regime ruling Iran.

"The people of Iran must rise up and demand their rights," Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., one of the co-sponsors, told a packed crowd of fellow lawmakers and Iran nationals on Capitol Hill.

He added that the resolution calling for a new U.S. policy toward Iran was backed by 75 House Democrats and 148 Republicans.

Noting that his fellow Californian, conservative Republican Tom McClintock, was also a co-sponsor, Sherman quipped that "we go back 40 years and this may be one thing on which we are on the same side."

"Brad Sherman to Tom McClintock is a wide range of members," he added.

Sherman and other co-sponsors stressed that their resolution calling for a new and tougher policy toward Iran was influenced in large party by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September. Amini, who was visiting her family in Tehran, was detained by the feared Morality Police which enforces strict dress rules for women. After suffering a heart attack while in custody, she went into a coma and was declared dead three days later.

Most recently, support for the resolution was fueled by reports of poisoning of several young girls in schools. Several speakers at the Tuesday session blamed their plight on Iran's supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

One of the Republicans backing the resolution, Alabama's Rep. Robert Aderholt, noted that he belonged to the Albanian Caucus in the House and that Albania was once under an absolute Communist dictatorship.

"But Albania is now open and free, and it is supporting a free Iran," he said.

The resolution is expected to pass the House with ease and a similar version is almost sure to pass the Senate.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.