Washington DC - In an op-ed in the Christian Science
Monitor on July 2, 2008, former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and
NIAC President Trita Parsi argue that there is no military solution to the Iranian
nuclear stand-off and that the tendency to view consequences of war with great optimism
and challenges of diplomacy with great skepticism must be corrected. A PDF
version of the op-ed can be found here.
Washington DC - If diplomacy does not work, the US
should consider the option of doing nothing, explained the Middle East
Institute's former Deputy Director of Near East and South Asia Office, Wayne
White, during a Middle East Policy Council conference. The conference titled
"War with Iran: Regional Reactions and Requirements" was held June 20 on
Capitol Hill to discuss possible regional reactions in case of military action
against Iran.
Tehran has always been quite strident in its response to the possibility of US or Israeli attack. It has either identified reports of imminent attack as part and parcel of “psychological warfare” to intimidate the Iranian leadership into accepting restrictions on its nuclear program - in the words of Iran’s well-known hard-line editor of Kayhan daily, Hossein Shariatmadari, to make Iran “commit suicide out of the fear of death.” Or, it has bluntly asserted Iran’s capability to respond to military attacks in ways that would harm the initiators of such attacks.
Washington
DC - Full transcripts of NIAC's Capitol Hill conference "Breaking the US-Iran Stalemate:
Finding the Nuclear Fix in the Wake of the Majlis elections" with Senator
Dianne Feinstein, Ambassador Tom Pickering and Dr. Hans Blix is now available for
download. Video
of the conference, which discussed extensively the Pickering-Luers-Walsh
proposal for a multinational enrichment facility, is also available. A
complimentary copy of the transcript has been mailed to all NIAC members in the Capitol
Hill club and up.
Due to a
March 31, 2008 Federal District Court ruling in Massachusetts, Iranians around
the world are feeling their grip on their heritage loosen. Artifacts from the
ancient city of Persepolis and archeological site, Chogha Mish that are
currently on display by Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
are now on the chopping block. Due to the court case, Rubin et al v. Islamic
Republic of Iran, these artifacts can now be sold on behalf of several plaintiffs
seeking to recover $259 million in court-awarded damages against the government
of Iran. The following is a brief background of the artifact case and its proceedings.
Washington,
D.C.-"An Iraqi would see himself as an Iraqi first, a Shiite second, and an
Arab third; an Iranian would see himself as an Iranian first, an Iranian
second, and an Iranian third." This comment on the identity of Shiite Muslims
was made by United States Institute of Peace fellow Barbara Slavin during
the June 20 presentation of her new USIP report titled, Mullahs, Money, and
Militias: How Iran Exerts Its Influence in the Middle East on Capitol Hill.
Washington, DC – It is common for politicians and the
media to concentrate on the threat that Iran poses to the rest of the world.
However, little in-depth thought tends to be given to the state’s internal
political situation. This was not the case last Thursday when experts on Iran
met to talk about electoral trends in Iran and their impact on policy.
Washington, DC — A House resolution effectively requiring a naval
blockade on Iran seems fast tracked for passage,
gaining co-sponsors at a remarkable speed, but experts say the measures called
for in the resolutions amount to an act of war.
Does Your Representative Support War With Iran? You may be surprised at the answer; there are already over 169 cosponsors of H.Con.Res. 362. This resolution demands that the president initiate an international effort to impose a land, sea, and air blockade on Iran to prevent it from importing gasoline and to subject all cargo entering or leaving Iran to stringent inspection requirements. Write your lawmaker now!
Washington, DC - A bill that would expand US
unilateral sanctions on Iran was voted out of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.
The Iran
Sanctions Act of 2008 was introduced by Committee Chair Max
Baucus, who labeled it an effective way "to deter the Iranian government
from producing a nuclear weapon."
The original bill replaces Senator
Gordon Smith'sS.970,
the Iran Counter-proliferation Act of 2007, which was introduced in last
September and has 72 co-sponsors. The companion bill, H.R.1400,
passed the House overwhelmingly last year 397-16.
Washington DC - For the past few months, the legal proceedings surrounding
the sale of Persian artifacts on loan to American museums and universities had
remained mostly dormant. That is, until, revelations occurred on three separate
fronts of the issue. In the case of the Northern Illinois case Rubin et al. v
IRI, two very separate developments have occurred. On March 29, new plaintiffs
emerged seeking the clay tablets from Persepolis which are already targeted by
the victims of a 1997 Jerusalem attack, Rubin et al. these additional plaintiffs
want to lay claim to the artifacts so as to sell them and receive payment for a
$2.7 billion decision in their favor.
Washington, DC – Members of Congress chatting to Iranians
on bright red telephones is not what you expect to see on Capitol Hill.
However, that is what happened when the Campaign for a New American Policy on
Iran (CNAPI) held its “Time to Talk to Iran” event last Tuesday. People spoke
directly to ordinary Iranians to show their support for dialogue with the
country, not military action. As Congresswoman Barbara Lee said, “It is time to
talk to Iran. All it takes to begin is one hello.”
Washington, DC-Iranian citizen Mohammad Feda'i faces execution for a murder he committed in reported
self-defense when he was 17 years old.
According to an alert
by Amnesty International, Feda'i was "convicted after an unfair trial" in
which his testimony was inadequately reviewed and for which he did not have
full and fair legal representation. "As a state party to both the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), Iran has undertaken not to execute juvenile offenders: those
convicted of crimes committed when they were under the age of 18," Amnesty
International reports. The judges' written
verdict acknowledged that Feda'i committed murder in self-defense and did not
have "adequate" representation. Yet, the
judges handed down a death sentence in the same document.
Washington, DC - On April 30, the National Iranian American
Council (NIAC) filed a lawsuit against Hassan Daioleslam in response to his
defamatory articles about NIAC. Daioleslam, who has been identified by former members of the terrorist-listed Mujahedin
organization as a member of the group's executive committee, has since early
2007 mischaracterized NIAC's anti-war and pro-diplomacy activities as serving
the interest of the Iranian government. His writings have mostly appeared on
right-wing blogs and in neo-conservative outlets.
Google has a funny way of doing business -- one that involves muddying politics in the Middle East. In recent months, the organization has taken the unprecedented step to rename internationally recognized bodies of water. Google Earth has begun using the controversial term "Arabian Gulf" to the body of water traditionally and internationally identified as the "Persian Gulf." Now many may think: What's in a name? Why would this even be an issue?
Washington DC - NIAC's Senate conference "Breaking the US-Iran Stalemate" with Senator Dianne Feinstein, Ambassador Tom Pickering and Dr. Hans Blix is now available on youtube.
Washington DC - The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) denounces
Senator Hillary Clinton's escalating war rhetoric on Iran. In an interview with
Good Morning America, Senator Clinton promised Tuesday to "obliterate" Iran should
Tehran develop a nuclear weapon and use it against Israel.
Washington
DC - Thousands of priceless artifacts from Persepolis that are on loan to the
University of Chicago risk being auctioned off to the highest bidder. In an
effort to defend the collective cultural heritage of Iranian Americans, the
National Iranian American Council (NIAC) has secured pro bono representation
from with Mayer Brown LLP with connection to the case, Rubin v. Islamic
Republic of Iran.
“The
Iranian-American community has felt helpless in face of this threat to their
historic heritage,” said Trita Parsi, NIAC President. “With Mayer Brown’s help,
we are creating an avenue for the community to have their concerns and
interests considered in this legal battle.”
Washington DC - NIAC has protested Google’s inclusion of the politically divisive term “Arabian Gulf” on its application Google Earth. Historically, the usage of this term for the Persian Gulf has been led by pan-Arab figures such as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to rally the Arab masses against the non-Arab peoples in the Middle East. Read NIAC's Letter to Google.
Opponents
of diplomacy and proponents of war in small minority
For Immediate release
Contact: Emma Mackinnon 202 302 6920
Washington DC - Iranian Americans overwhelmingly support dialogue and
diplomacy between the United States and Iran, a scientific
poll conducted by the University of California Berkeley shows. Support for
military strikes against Iran is minimal in the community. This stands in stark
contrast to sentiments in the Iraqi-American community, who tended to support
the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Washington DC - The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) has been the target of several erroneous, maliciously defamatory opinion pieces by Kenneth Timmerman and Hassan Daioleslam in Frontpage Magazine. The articles are riddled with inaccuracies, misquotations, incorrect links and references to figures that played no role in NIAC's inception, operations, or its development over the years.
Due to a
March 31, 2008 Federal District Court ruling in Massachusetts, Iranians around
the world are feeling their grip on their heritage loosen. Artifacts from the
ancient city of Persepolis and archeological site, Chogha Mish that are
currently on display by Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
are now on the chopping block. Due to the court case, Rubin et al v. Islamic
Republic of Iran, these artifacts can now be sold on behalf of several plaintiffs
seeking to recover $259 million in court-awarded damages against the government
of Iran. The following is a brief background of the artifact case and its proceedings.
Washington,
D.C.-"An Iraqi would see himself as an Iraqi first, a Shiite second, and an
Arab third; an Iranian would see himself as an Iranian first, an Iranian
second, and an Iranian third." This comment on the identity of Shiite Muslims
was made by United States Institute of Peace fellow Barbara Slavin during
the June 20 presentation of her new USIP report titled, 
Washington DC - For the past few months, the legal proceedings surrounding
the sale of Persian artifacts on loan to American museums and universities had
remained mostly dormant. That is, until, revelations occurred on three separate
fronts of the issue. In the case of the Northern Illinois case Rubin et al. v
IRI, two very separate developments have occurred. On March 29, new plaintiffs
emerged seeking the clay tablets from Persepolis which are already targeted by
the victims of a 1997 Jerusalem attack, Rubin et al. these additional plaintiffs
want to lay claim to the artifacts so as to sell them and receive payment for a
$2.7 billion decision in their favor.
