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(CNSNews.com) -- As President Bush continues to voice support for democracy in Iran, calls are growing for the U.S. to take more active steps to exert pressure on the Islamic regime and hasten political change.

In a speech at the National Defense University this week, Bush said Tehran should "listen to the voice of the Iranian people, who long for their liberty and want their country to be a respected member of the international community."

"We look forward to the day when the Iranian people are free," he added.

Last month, in his State of the Union address, the president told the people of Iran: "As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you."

Iman Foroutan, director of the U.S.-based Iran of Tomorrow Movement, said most Iranians supported Bush's policy of non-engagement with Tehran and welcomed his expressions of solidarity. But he said it was time for the president to "put those words into action."

He called on the U.S. to declare that the Islamic regime is "an illegal occupier of Iran," a view he claimed had been held by the majority of Iranian citizens over the past two decades.

Washington should also provide "financial and moral support to Iranian opposition groups, Foroutan added.

On Capitol Hill, Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) last month introduced legislation authorizing $10 million in assistance to pro-democracy groups opposed to the Iranian regime.

Co-sponsored by six other Republican Senators, the Iran Freedom and Support Act says to be eligible for funding, groups should oppose the use of terror and support an Iran that is democratic, adheres to non-proliferation treaties, and respects human rights, including equality for women, freedom of speech, press, association and religion.

Santorum said at the time the legislation "will provide much-needed assistance for pro-democracy groups who are committed to advancing democratic ideals and principles, despite living at the hands of a government that views freedom as a threat to their power."

Santorum tied the need for a change of government in Tehran to the terror threat facing Americans "at home and abroad," citing State Department assessments about Iranian backing for terrorism.

Analysts have also argued that regime change would help to resolve another pressing problem - Iran's attempts to acquire a nuclear capability.

Iran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful civilian one, but the U.S. suspects that it is being used to mask a bid to build nuclear weapons. Britain, France and Germany are holding talks with Iran aimed at resolving the standoff, but no breakthroughs have been reported.

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) resident fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht wrote this week that "talking with a democracy about [nuclear weapons] is entirely different from trying to appease a dictatorship, which is what the French, British, Germans, and certain quarters at the State Department and the National Security Council would like to do."

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