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:
- 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.
- 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
Media
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.
Have the Transatlantic Stars Aligned on Iran?
Europe and the U.S. have been bitterly divided these past four years on how to counter Iran’s regional and nuclear aggression. Writing in Newsweek, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal argues that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden now has a unique opportunity to forge a united transatlantic front against Tehran. Germany’s sudden call for a robust follow-up deal to the JCPOA and France’s public censure of the regime for its murder of the journalist Ruhollah Zam are promising signs.
The Hezbollah Threat in Hungary and Policy Options for Counterterrorist Efforts
15 December 2020
By Zsolt Csepregi
There are currently numerous terrorist organizations posing significant dangers to European, including Hungary’s security, but none has such an easy access to resources and...
Briefing: Hezbollah in Europe
AJC and the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) have produced an exhaustive, fact-based analysis that makes the case for the full designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. This brochure titled Hezbollah in Europe offers a more specific focus on our continent. It will...
Iran Is More Aggressive Than Ever Before
On 18 October the international arms embargo on Iran expired. The regime can now legally purchase upgraded and advanced weaponry. “This is bad news for the Middle East and sets the conditions for even more bloodshed,” writes AJC Berlin Director Remko Leemhuis in Switzerland’s biggest newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Germany, one of the JCPOA’s signatories, must live up to its special responsibility to help end Tehran’s quest for nuclear arms, its aggression in the region, and its support for terror proxies such as Hezbollah.
The Transatlantic Friends of Israel Meet on Hezbollah
Over 20 legislators from the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) network discussed the Hezbollah threat with leading Knesset Member Avi Dichter, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Doran, and AJC Jerusalem Director Avital Leibovich. In light of Poland’s V4 Group presidency, TFI members Michał Jach, Chair of the Sejm's National Defence Committee, and Michał Kamiński, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Senate, hosted the exclusive virtual gathering in the presence of Israel’s ambassadors to Poland and Czechia.
Launch of Transatlantic Declaration Video: The EU Must Ban Hezbollah
AJC’s Transatlantic Institute and the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), an inter-parliamentary group in the European Parliament with the goal of strengthening the trilateral partnership between the U.S., Israel...
It's Time for the EU to List Hezbollah as a Terror Organization
On 17 July, the eve of the anniversaries of Hezbollah's deadly bomb attacks in Argentina (1994) and in Bulgaria (2012), TFI Secretary General Daniel Schwammenthal and TFI Chair MEP Lukas Mandl co-authored an op-ed in Newsweek entitled "It's Time for the E.U. to List Hezbollah as a Terror Organization."
Webinar: Over 240 Lawmakers Call for EU Hezbollah Ban
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.
Major News Outlets Cover Call for EU Ban of Hezbollah
On the anniversary eve of Hezbollah's bomb attacks in Argentina in 1994 and Bulgaria in 2012, the leadership of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) presented to EU leaders a historic call for an EU ban of Hezbollah signed by over 240 lawmakers from 27 European countries, the U.S., Canada, and Israel. The declaration launch received wide coverage in the international media, including in POLITICO Europe, as well as in newspapers in the US, Germany, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, the Baltics and of course Israel: