December 29, 2009 Amid continuing antigovernment protests in Iran and a harsh crackdown by the authorities, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut) spoke to Radio Farda correspondent Hossein Aryan about America’s next foreign policy moves vis-à-vis Tehran. Lieberman said the U.S. Senate will take up an Iran sanctions bill at its next session in January and will press U.S. President Barack Obama to tighten the screws on the Iranian regime.
RFE/RL: You and eight other Senators introduced a Senate resolution about recent events in Iran which was passed unanimously on December 22. What are the main aims of this resolution, and what message do you intend to give to the Islamic Regime?
Senator Joe Lieberman: This resolution which you mention passed unanimously — without a single senator of any party opposing it. [This] was our way of trying to say to the people of Iran, to the people of the Green Movement: we are with you, we see you, we hear you, we stand with you in your quest for freedom because this is fundamental to what it takes to be an American. It goes back to our own Declaration of Independence, and the first sentences that our founders in the 18th century wrote, which is that there is a truth in human events [that] every person is endowed by our creator, by God, with certain unalienable rights: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that is what the…
