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

25/10/2016

AJC Transatlantic Institute Welcomes European Parliament’s Condemnation of Iran’s Threats Against Israel and Holocaust Denial  

Strasbourg – 25 October 2016 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute welcomes that the European Parliament today strengthened a key Iran report by slamming Tehran's institutional anti-Semitism and threats against the Jewish state....

20/10/2016

AJC Urges European Parliament to Condemn Iran’s Human Rights Abuses and Holocaust Denial

Brussels – 20 October 2016 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute urges all Members of the European Parliament to support crucial amendments submitted by Marietje Schaake to a key Iran report, which will be voted in plenary next Tuesday in Strasbourg. These amendments correct...

06/10/2016

AJC Transatlantic Institute Deeply Concerned over Weak European Parliament Iran Report

Brussels – 6 October 2016 – The AJC Transatlantic Institute is deeply concerned over the failure of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to mention let alone criticize in its Iran report Tehran’s anti-Semitic propaganda and repeated calls for the destruction...

11/05/2016

Daniel Schwammenthal Addresses European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq

Upon the invitation of the chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq, MEP David Campbell-Bannerman, TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal detailed recent developments in Iran-Iraq relations in light of the JCPOA (Joint and Comprehensive Plan of Action...

18/02/2016

A Rude Awakening for Iran's Foreign Minister

As an encore to Tehran’s recent charm offensive in several European capitals, President Rouhani sent Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to speak before the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. It did not go well.

Mr. Zarif’s visit...

15/02/2016

Videos: Human Rights in Iran and the EU’s Policy of Engagement

Ahead of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif's visit to the European Parliament, TAI on 15 February 2016 co-hosted with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group a panel discussion "Human Rights in Iran and the EU’s Policy of Engagement."...

15/02/2016

Video: Daniel Schwammenthal on EU's Policy of Engagement with Iran

Ahead of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s visit in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal closed the event "Human Rights in Iran and the EU’s Policy of Engagement" with remarks on the EU's role addressing Iran's...

05/08/2015

AJC on the Iran Nuclear Deal

August 5, 2015 – New York -- AJC Executive Director David Harris issued the following statement today on the P5+1 deal with Iran:

When the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was announced in Vienna on July 14, AJC issued a press release...

14/07/2015

AJC Urges Thorough Congressional Scrutiny of Iran Deal

July 14, 2015 - New York - The announcement today of a deal between the P5+1, led by the United States, and Iran on its nuclear program culminates intense and difficult negotiations spanning several years.

"President Barack Obama was determined,...

04/12/2014

Remarks: TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal on Iran at 40th European Parliament - Knesset Interparliamentary Meeting

On 3 December 2014, TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal followed an invitation by the Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Israel to speak at the 40th EP-Knesset Interparliamentary Meeting. Daniel briefed Members of the European Parliament and...