1. United States
2. Letter

I am writing to you with a profound sense of urgency and moral responsibility. Over the past weeks, the Iranian regime has escalated its violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, carrying out mass killings, disappearances, and systematic information blackouts. These actions are not isolated incidents—they are part of a deliberate campaign to silence dissent and prevent the world from witnessing the scale of the atrocities being committed. I want to share with you the words of a friend still inside Iran, whose family has been directly targeted: “We haven’t heard from my brother Kourosh, my father, my two other brothers, and my three sisters since January 9th. Friends told me they saw Kourosh shot by a sniper, but we still haven’t found him among the thousands of bodies scattered across the city. The Islamic Republic has cut off the internet and started a massive massacre of the oppressed people of Iran. They killed my nephews and nieces with their hands tied and their eyes closed.” Another message from the same family reads: “Cyrus is no longer with us. He fought bravely with his bare hands against the radical Islamists who occupied Iran and held the people hostage, and lost his life in the way of liberating his country. More than seventy-five thousand young people have been killed, and more than one hundred and fifty thousand have been injured and beaten.” These are not abstract statistics. These are human beings—students, workers, daughters, sons—being slaughtered for demanding basic human rights. Their families are begging the outside world to speak up because the Iranian government has cut off internet access to hide the scale of the violence. The United States cannot remain silent. I urge you to: - Publicly condemn the Iranian regime’s mass killings, disappearances, and information blackouts. - Support and expand funding for secure, resilient internet access for the Iranian people, including through provisions in the NDAA and related programs that enable circumvention of state-imposed blackouts. - Work with colleagues across the aisle to ensure that U.S. policy reflects unwavering support for human rights, regardless of shifting geopolitical sentiment. - Engage with experts such as Yassamin Ansari and organizations advocating for digital freedom, to ensure that U.S. assistance is targeted, effective, and responsive to conditions on the ground. Even though public sentiment toward Iran as a geopolitical actor may be complicated, the moral clarity here is not. The Iranian people are not their government. They are being exterminated by it. Silence enables the perpetrators. Speaking out saves lives. I ask you, as POTUS, to use your voice, your platform, and your influence to ensure that the United States stands firmly on the side of human dignity and against mass state violence. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I hope to see you take a strong and public stand.