Media

Topic

Iran

Sounding the Alarm on Iran's Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons and its Support for International Terrorism.

Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, its support for international terrorism, its efforts to subvert and attack its neighbors and its collusion with the murderous Assad regime in Syria jeopardize global peace and security.

For decades, AJC has been sounding the alarm on the Iranian threat. After several weeks of careful considerations, AJC decided in 2015 to oppose the Joint and Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. Rather than dismantling Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, as was the original objective, the agreement puts only a temporary freeze on the program while validating Iran’s future status as a nuclear threshold state.

Since the JCPOA is now in place, AJC advocacy continues to focus on two areas:

  1. Ensuring that the international community has the mechanisms in place to enforce the nuclear deal’s restrictions—as temporary and limited as they are—to intrusively monitor Iranian behavior, and reimpose sanctions in the event of any violation.
  2. Highlighting the need to confront Tehran’s regional aggression, the worsening human rights abuses at home and its support for international terrorism. Within this context, we consider it of critical importance to place the entire Hezbollah terror group, which is funded and controlled by Iran, on the EU terror list.

Related events

May 10, 2022

Raisi, the IRGC and Iran’s Future Direction of Travel

In partnership with MEP David Lega (EPP, Sweden) and MEP Frédérique Ries (Renew Europe, Belgium), the AJC Transatlantic Institute hosted Kasra Aarabi, Senior Analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in the European Parliament. Aarabi and MEP Lega discussed a wide range of issues: Iran’s military and security forces with a focus on Shia Militias across the Middle East and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the rise of ‘Imam Sadeghis’ – a cohort of highly indoctrinated technocrats that are just as zealous as the IRGC - and the EU attempts to make sense of the Raisi government and negotiate a new nuclear deal in Vienna.
July 17, 2020

Launch of Transatlantic Declaration: The EU Must Ban Hezbollah

On the twin anniversary eve of Hezbollah's bomb attacks in Argentina (1994) and Bulgaria (2012), the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) called on the EU to finally ban the terror group. The declaration was covered by global media outlets including POLITICO Europe, The Hill, Die Welt, Gazeta Wyborcza and The Jerusalem Post . At the virtual launch event, TFI Chair MEP Lukas Mandl, TFI Vice Chair MEP Dietmar Köster, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal, and the Washington Institute’s Hezbollah expert Matthew Levitt discussed the initiative’s impact. AJC CEO David Harris delivered concluding remarks.
March 20, 2019

40 Years of Theocracy in Iran: Regional Policy and Global Ambitions

Hosted by MEP Ramona Nicole Mănescu, the AJC Transatlantic Institute co-organized with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) a conference in the European Parliament entitled "40 Years of Theocracy in Iran: Regional Policy and Global Ambitions." AJC CEO David Harris delivered concluding remarks.

Media

18/01/2023

AJC Transatlantic Institute Welcomes the European Parliament’s Call for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be Listed as a Terror Organization

Brussels – 18 January 2023 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute welcomes the European Parliament’s call for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to be listed as a terror organization. In an annual report on...

08/12/2022

220 Lawmakers from Europe and North America Urge Terror Listing of Iran’s IRGC

December 8, 2022 – Brussels – Today, 220 lawmakers from Europe, the United States, and Canada urged Western democracies to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies, such as Hezbollah, as terrorist organizations. The legislators’...

21/07/2022

AJC Deplores Belgium-Iran Deal to Release Iranian Terrorist

Brussels – 21 July 2022 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute deplores the Belgian Parliament's ratification of a Prisoner Exchange Deal with Iran, which will likely see the transfer and release of convicted terrorist Assadollah Assadi. 

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10/05/2022

Raisi, the IRGC and Iran’s Future Direction of Travel - Video

As the EU attempts to make sense of the Raisi government and negotiate a new nuclear deal in Vienna, it is vital to understand Iran’s changing domestic land and Tehran’s future direction of travel. Counterpoint host Daniel Schwammenthal is joined by David Lega, a Swedish Member of the European Parliament and the EPP Group Standing and Monitoring Rapporteur on Iran and Kasra Aarabi, Senior Analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

05/04/2022

AJC Convenes Lawmakers from Ten Countries on Transatlantic Responses to Iran’s Nuclear Program

April 5, 2022 — Washington, D.C. —American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) inter-parliamentary group convened a virtual roundtable discussion on transatlantic responses to Iran’s nuclear ambition. Introduced by new American TFI co-chairs Reps. Brad Schneider (D...

17/09/2021

AJC Welcomes European Parliament Condemnation of Hezbollah and Iran

Brussels – 17 September 2021 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute welcomes that the European Parliament adopted with overwhelming, cross-party support a Resolution on the Situation in Lebanon that specifically...

30/06/2021

Is the Iran Nuclear Deal Worth Saving?

At AJC Virtual Global Forum 2021, two foreign policy veterans participated in The Max Fisher Annual Program, The Great Debate: Is the Iran Nuclear Deal Worth Saving? The session pitted Ambassador Gérard Araud, Ambassador of France to the United States (2014-19), the United Nations (2009-14), and Israel (2003-06) against Michael Doran, Middle East analyst and National Security Council Senior Director (2005-07). Moderated by Jason Isaacson, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer.

24/05/2021

High Stakes: What’s Next for U.S. Policy on Iran?

Having carefully studied the JCPOA, AJC opposed the 2015 nuclear accord, believing it was too risky a proposition. Six years on, the world is different, the Middle East is different, and America is different. Join AJC Jerusalem Director Avital Leibovich, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal, AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson, and “People of the Pod” host Seffi Kogen as they analyze what the lifting of US sanctions against Iran could mean for the region.

25/02/2021

Iran Nuclear Talks: 2021 Is Not 2015

Resuming contacts with Iran has become an early foreign policy priority for the Biden administration and Europe. AJC CEO David Harris offers in his latest piece in The Times of Israel six recommendations for any future negotiations with Tehran. Since last year’s Abraham Accords the Middle East has undergone a fundamental shift. Consulting closely with America’s Sunni allies and Israel, President Biden can now rectify the JCPOA’s shortcomings on regional aggression, ballistic missiles, inspections, and the accord’s dangerous sunset clauses, which give the regime a patient pathway to nuclear threshold capability.

19/02/2021

Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) Discuss U.S. Policy on Iran

Over 40 legislators, diplomats, and officials from Europe, North America, and Israel gathered for an exclusive Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) online discussion on the Biden administration’s policy on Iran. Speakers included Rep. Ted Deutch, Chair of the US House Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism, MEPs Anna Fotyga and TFI Chair Lukas Mandl, both members of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.