Senator Gary Peters: You are the voice of people who hope for a better life for their family

Thank you, it’s wonderful to be here as you celebrating Nowruz , the New Year, and celebrate the incredible culture of Iran and incredible history that has existed for hundreds thousands of years in a very special part of the world. And I want to also thank all of you being so active to stand up against what has been happening in a country that you love so much, to bring change there, to bring freedom, to bring opportunity to Iran, and that certainly not going to be an easy task. And as it was mentioned I have been involved in these issues for the last few years in the House, and I have been fortunate enough to be elected to the United States senate, and I am certainly standing up in some very tall shoulders as it mentioned 'Karl Levin' was my predecessor who I know was a strong friend of this community, someone who spoke on regular basis here, and he continues to be my advisor.
As was mentioned this is an issue that I take very personally as well. We need to stand up. We need to be strong as a country. I served in United States Navy reserve, and had an opportunity to be in a Persian Gulf for part of my service, stood out of Strait of Hormuz, and saw the strategic chock point that exist right there.
You have a regime in Iran now that is in my mind threat, not just to just to Middle East, but a treat to the entire world security. That is something that is unacceptable. We need to be strong, United States needs to stay strong, and that is why as we are now embarking on these negotiations with Iran, to hopefully prevent them from ever ever having a nuclear weapon, which is something that is simply unacceptable to entire world community, or should be unacceptable to everyone. We need to be united and we have to send strong single that if they are not at the table negotiating in good faith, they will see more American strength until they are negotiating in good faith, until we get the results that we need. 
I am one of the original co-sponsors on the Kirk- Menendez' bill, which I am sure you all are familiar with, which would ramp up the sanctions. 
When we are united, it should not be a bipartisan issue; we need to move beyond partisanship… We need to continue to be united. So, we are holding off on a vote on that bill, to see what happens in negotiations, but the time limit is not unlimited. We have brought, I believe the Iranian government to the negotiating table because of the sanctions we put in place originally, but there is a time limit. And the time has come for action. 
In my experience in government and in negotiations, when I say the time has come, no matter what time limit you put on the negotiations, if you say it is going to be 2 months from now, 6 months from now, a year from now, they all get done in the last 2 weeks, regardless of what a time frame is. So we cannot keep stretching this out, and I am certainly going to be one that stand up, we are going to give certainly the president the negotiating team the space they need in a short run, but depending on what comes out, we would look at that very closely, as I know my colleagues are, and I believe the congress needs to continue to have a role when it comes to lifting sanctions that are imposed by the US Congress, it is our body, our institution, that needs to be the one involve in the ultimate decision. 
But I just want in my final point just say thank you for being so steadfast. Thank you for organizing, thank you for making sure that this issue is on the forefront of not just the folks in congress but people all across this country. You are the voice of people who have been held down by the regime that does not care about the average person and their dreams and their hopes for a better life for their family. You are that voice, please continue to make that voice heard, and it’s my commitment to you, that every step of the way, I will stand with you, I will have your back.
Thank you so much.