AJC Statement of Support for the Iranian People

As protests in Iran continue through their third week, millions of Iranians are courageously demanding a better life, basic dignity, and a more peaceful future. These brave individuals are risking everything to confront a radical Islamist regime that has brought repression, suffering, and terror to its own people, the region, and across the globe.

Amid credible reports from human rights organizations that thousands of Iranians may already have been killed, American Jewish Committee (AJC) calls on all people of conscience to stand with the Iranian people. The Iranian regime must immediately end its violence against peaceful protesters and be held accountable for grave human rights violations.

The international community has a moral responsibility to act in solidarity with the Iranian people and to advance a safer region and a more peaceful Middle East. AJC applauds the Trump administration's support of the Iranian people's struggle for freedom.

AJC urges the following actions:

• Accountability: Iran's leadership must be held accountable for its crimes against the Iranian people. Nations should expand coordinated sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses, and enact terrorism designations against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
  
• Global Condemnation: Governments worldwide, including legislative bodies such as the U.S. Congress, should immediately and publicly condemn the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown through formal diplomatic channels, and in UN and other multilateral bodies.
  
• Humanitarian Protection: Countries should offer safe harbor to Iranians who manage to flee and facilitate the exit of those who credibly fear retaliation by the regime.
  
• Access to Information: Governments and partners should support efforts and provide immediate resources to help Iranian citizens evade internet shutdowns and surveillance, and ensure human rights monitors have access to secure communications technologies.
  
• Continued Pressure: State and non-state entities that sustain the Iranian regime should face severe economic, political, and other consequences from the international community.
  
• Support for the Iranian People: The Iranian people deserve a government that respects democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law. The international community should support the aspirations of the Iranian people for a government that meets those standards.