On April 8, 2025 in Washington D.C., in a powerful show of bipartisan resolve, senior U.S. lawmakers, military leaders, and national security experts gathered in the U.S. Senate for a high-level policy luncheon titled “Iran Policy.” The event highlighted growing congressional support for the Iranian people’s right to resist dictatorship and marked the formal introduction of Senate Resolution 145, co-sponsored by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), recognizing the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and assembly and legal political activities and the protection of residents of Ashraf 3, home to the organized Iranian Resistance in Albania.
Speaking with Simay Azadi on the sidelines of the event, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) delivered a direct message to the people of Iran:
“Really, I just want to say to the people of Iran, you are not alone,” he said. “There are freedom-loving people all around the world, especially here in the United States that stand with you in the larger cause for democracy, for freedom, and for justice. And so, please, keep your faith, keep your understanding that you’re on the right side of history, and that together, we will bend the arc of the moral universe more towards the justice that you seek.”
Offering a message of unity and solidarity, he added:
“Because the justice you seek is fully in the interests of free people around the world. We’re all in this together. And I wish you the best. Inshallah, we will see peace and justice in the future for everyone.”
Addressing the gathering earlier that day, Senator Booker emphasized the cross-party consensus on Iran policy and paid tribute to the strength of the Iranian-American community.
“It is so good to be here, and really to be amongst a community that has so much bipartisan support,” he said. “This is one of those issues that’s not right or left, it’s right or wrong.”
Senator Booker highlighted the importance of shared values between the American people and the Iranian people in their quest for justice and democracy.
“Our relationship with the Iranian people and their calls for justice, and the very values which we all adhere to, are crucial,” he said. “More than that, the cultural traditions… these ideals that are universal are what America strives for and yearns for.”
Calling for a unified response to the regime’s repression and regional aggression, he added:
“We must stand for a non-nuclear Iran, an end to what Iran is doing through its proxies, the suppression of freedom and human rights not just in Iran, but for the Ashraf 3 community and others.”
Senator Booker closed his remarks with a vision of hope: “What I really will be proud of… is that one day we will all stand and celebrate that the people of Iran are free again… a nation with a democratic north star, and a people who enjoy the blessings of liberty.”