Deborah Koff Ross: “I thank my good friend from Utah (Mr. Stewart). Madam Speaker, on November 4, 1979, the American Embassy in Tehran was…”

“I thank my good friend from Utah (Mr. Stewart). Madam Speaker, on November 4, 1979, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized and Iranians held 50 American hostages for more than 444 days. Each year, on November 4, Iranians celebrate death to America day to commemorate the 1979 seizure of our Embassy. So while we are celebrating Thanksgiving, President's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day, for the last 35 years, Iran has been celebrating, once a year, death to America day. The party with whom we are negotiating nuclear capabilities celebrates death to America day. In 1983, two car bombs exploded in Beirut, killing 300 United States marines. Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants claimed responsibility for this mass murder. Make no mistake, Iran is the lead sponsor of radical Islamic terrorism throughout the world today, including sleeper cells in the United States. As Mr. Stewart just pointed out, last week, Iran's Revolutionary Guard staged war games in the Strait of Hormuz. When they blew up that mock U.S. aircraft carrier, Iran's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, proclaimed that ``Americans are ready to be buried at the bottom of the water''--the supreme commander, leader of the party with whom we are negotiating a nuclear capabilities deal. Madam Speaker, my point is that Iran has a ruthless track record of terrorizing the West, including the United States.…”