A US senator hailed legislation passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to support action against Iran's killing of protesters and systematic persecution of women.

Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said Friday that last year's nationwide unrest showed the depth of the people's desire to live free of the “oppressive mullahs”.

“This resolution recognizes their efforts and encourages the administration to do more to end the regime’s systemic persecution of women and state-sponsored murder of Iranian citizens, and to hold human rights violators in Iran accountable. Supporting the aspirations of the Iranian people must be a key pillar of our Iran policy.”

In January, a bipartisan resolution was introduced in the Senate reaffirming US support for Iranian citizens who took to the streets in peaceful protest and condemning Iranian security forces' human rights violations.

“In the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian people have bravely protested the regime’s brutality and demonstrated their desire for a more peaceful and free Iran,” said Risch in January. “The Biden Administration should step up efforts on helping to end the regime’s systematic persecution of women and holding human rights violators in Iran to account.”

In addition to calling on the international community to continue to publicize and condemn the Iranian regime’s crackdown since protests began, the resolution called for the Biden Administration to strengthen international efforts to impose additional sanctions on officials and entities responsible for the violent suppression of demonstrations.

The resolution also emphasized the importance of the US government and the private sector providing additional support for access to digital communications and internet freedom in Iran.