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

17/10/2013

Remarks: TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal addresses European Parliament Hearing on Iranian Nuclear Program

"Verify Before Trust—How to Engage Iran in the Nuclear Negotiations"

European Parliament Hearing on Iranian Nuclear Program

17 October 2013

Daniel Schwammenthal: "...

16/10/2013

Counterpoint: Can Iran Divide the West?

Iran's new government has stated publicly that its strategy in nuclear negotiations is to break the unified US-EU front. Can they do so? Joshua Goodman talks to Daniel Schwammenthal (Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute) and Roland Freudenstein (Deputy Director of the...

16/10/2013

Counterpoint: Any Progress in Geneva over Iran's Nuclear Program?

The P5+1 met with Iranian officials for two days of negotiations of the latter's illegal nuclear program. Years of talks have, to date, failed to make any progress. Was this time different? Joshua Goodman talks to Daniel Schwammenthal (Director of the AJC Transatlantic...

03/10/2013

Counterpoint: Did the Rouhani 'Charm Offensive" Work at the UN?

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani went to the UN to present a softer side to his country. Did it work? Joshua Goodman put that question to Roland Freudenstein of the Centre for European Studies.

18/09/2013

AJC Transatlantic Institute Calls for the Cancellation of Planned Iran Visit

18 September 2013 - Brussels - The AJC Transatlantic Institute called on the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iran to halt plans for a visit to Tehran this fall. At today’s delegation meeting, Chair Tarja Cronberg (Greens/EFA, Finland) announced her...

18/09/2013

AJC Welcomes Release of Nasrin Sotoudeh from Iranian Prison

September 18, 2013 – New York – AJC welcomed the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh from an Iranian prison today. A courageous women’s rights advocate and lawyer, Sotoudeh received the prestigious European Parliament 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Eleven other prisoners of conscience also...

26/07/2013

Finally, EU Makes Hezbollah Pay for Terror in Europe

By Daniel Schwammenthal

Fox News

26 July 2013

"We are all Hezbollah now...

24/07/2013

EU and Hezbollah: Half a Loaf is Far Better Than No Loaf

By David Harris

Jerusalem Post

The European Union has now designated the “military wing” of Hezbollah as a terrorist...

22/07/2013

AJC Transatlantic Institute Welcomes the EU's Designation of Hezbollah's Military Wing

22 July 2013 – Brussels – The AJC Transatlantic Institute welcomed the decision of the European Union at today’s Foreign Affairs Council to list the “military wing” of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

"Today’s decision by EU Foreign...