Iran

The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, President Biden’s failure to restore it, and the war in Gaza have dramatically increased tensions with Iran. If action is not taken to de-escalate, the United States could be dragged into a full-blown, disastrous regional war across the Middle East. FCNL is working to support robust regional diplomacy and trust-building measures to address the full range of areas of disagreement between the United States and Iran to prevent a worst-case scenario.

Maximum pressure has been a maximum failure.

Former President Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy on Iran was a maximum foreign policy failure. Hardliners in Iran’s government were strengthened after the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal, while poverty in Iran increased and space for civil society dissent shrunk. U.S.-imposed economic sanctions severely impacted Iranian civilians by raising the prices of food and essential medicines with the heaviest burden falling on the most vulnerable, including women, children, and ethnic minorities.

While protests swelled across Iran in 2022 with demands of “Women, Life, Freedom” in response to the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, FCNL expressed support to those standing up for their fundamental human rights and condemned all forms of state oppression. We continue to call on the Iranian government to end its attacks on peaceful protesters and to allow freedom of expression. Without the Iran nuclear deal in place, U.S. policymakers have lost critical diplomatic leverage to negotiate to protect the human rights of the Iranian people.

In the wake of Hamas’ brutal October 7 attacks on southern Israel and Israel’s violent and indiscriminate response, there are significantly heightened tensions across the Middle East with diplomatic solutions seemingly even further out of reach. FCNL is increasingly concerned over the risk of a direct military operation on Iranian territory—along with a possible Iranian government attempt to accelerate its nuclear program in response—and the possibility of a wider conflict breaking out. What’s clear is Congress, and not the president, is the government branch that should decide whether and where the United States goes to war and there is no military solution to these cascading crises across the Middle East.

We urge Congress and the administration to push for the restoration of a diplomatic framework with Iran that curtails nuclear proliferation, supports regional de-escalation, bolsters human rights, opens humanitarian access, and achieves a pathway for peaceful coexistence for everyone in the region.