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

24/04/2019

Our Futures Depend on the U.S.-Europe Alliance

AJC Miami Director Brian Siegal reflects in the Miami Herald on his three-week journey to five European countries with the GMF’s Marshall Memorial Fellowship. The relationship between Europe and the U.S., based on shared values and interests, remains essential in addressing today’s challenges.

10/04/2019

Counterpoint | Episode 4

Can the EU and the U.S. work together to counter Iran's regional aggression and terror plots in Europe? Tune in to this month’s episode of Counterpoint to find out: Host Daniel Schwammenthal is joined by Michael Doran, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Anders Vistisen, Danish Member of the European Parliament.

19/03/2019

A Kosher Stamp for Terrorists?

AJC Berlin Director Deidre Berger, writing in the “Jüdische Allgemeine,” calls on the German government to outlaw the anti-Semitic terror organization Hezbollah. Germany’s word carries weight. Others would undoubtedly follow. This step would also be a practical contribution in the fight against anti-Semitism and for Israel’s security.

14/02/2019

AJC Congratulates EU Lawmakers on Triggering Debate on Iran’s Terror Plots in Europe

Strasbourg – 14 February 2019 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute congratulated the initiators of today’s European Parliament debate on the recent spate of Iranian terror plots on European soil and the EU’s response to these crimes. 

The debate...

18/12/2018

Counterpoint | Episode 1

Hosted by Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, MEP Monika Hohlmeier, co-author of the report for the Special Committee on Terrorism, and Björn Stritzel, investigative journalist at the BILD newspaper, discussed the findings of the EU Parliament’s Special Committee...

30/10/2018

Europe, the US and the Iran Deal: The Need to Resolve Transatlantic Disagreements

Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal argues in "European View," the journal of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, that Europe and the U.S. ought to cooperate to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional aggression.

04/05/2018

US-Europe Unity Needed on Iran

By Daniel Schwammenthal

The Hill 

4 May 2018

If anyone still wondered whether U.S....

26/04/2018

FDD Reuel Marc Gerecht explains why the US will nix the Iranian deal

Reuel Marc Gerecht, from the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, explains why he believes the United States will withdraw from the JCPOA and what the Europeans can do to maintain good transatlantic relations.

 

26/04/2018

FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz discusses why the U.S. should try fixing the deal with Iran

On April 26th, the AJC Transatlantic Institute interviewed Mark Dubowitz from the Foundation for Defence for Democracies on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Why should the United States try fixing the deal as opposed to nixing it? What role does the EU play in this scenario? These...

22/02/2018

AJC Welcomes MEP Letter Calling for EU To List Entire Hezbollah As A Terror Group  

Brussels – 22 February 2018 – AJC welcomes a letter signed by 60 Members of the European Parliament calling on the European Union Foreign Affairs Council to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.

Co-initiated by Anders...