Vice President Mike Pence urged the Iranian people to “press on with courage in the cause of freedom” as the United States imposed sanctions on an array of Tehran’s international proxies.

“The United States will not stand idly by while Iranian-backed militias spread terror,” Pence said Thursday at the State Department’s ministerial on religious freedom. “But the people of the United States of America have a message to the long-suffering people of Iran: Even as we stand strong against the leaders in Tehran, know that we are with you.”