Dear John,
Today, The New York Times [[link removed]] published an expose on the disinformation and propaganda campaign to promote war, sanctions, and exile opposition figures for Iran. As I told the Times, and as documented in our 2023 report referenced in their article, there has been a heated “competition over who is going to be the dominant voice in the Iranian diaspora” [[link removed]] and it has been fueled by state-sponsored disinformation, online bots, and propaganda channels focused on silencing and intimidating independent voices. The aim: to eliminate any options for Iran besides an unsustainable status quo and foreign military intervention.
For years, we have fought against U.S. pressure policies that have only helped collapse Iran's middle class, provide cover for the Islamic Republic to securitize civil society, and enrich corrupt elites while impoverishing ordinary Iranians. We have argued that a strong middle class and civil society are the key elements necessary for Iranians themselves to be able to challenge the state and chart their own future – and we should support them, not sanction them.
But as I explained yesterday on BreakThrough News with Rania Khalek [[link removed]] , U.S. and Israeli pressure policies – promoted by powerful lobbies, diaspora figureheads, and disinformation campaigns – have instead weakened Iranian society relative to the state so that, instead of a powerful and organized independent movement for democracy inside Iran, outside voices and foreign military intervention can decide Iran's future.
Now, thousands of Iranians have been killed, with countless others wounded, detained, or displaced. The human cost of this moment is staggering. This is a sad and solemn moment for those of us with loved ones in Iran and who hope for a brighter future.
I warned on NPR this week [[link removed]] that it is not up to us who live comfortably abroad to prejudge the will of the Iranian people. Exile figures like Reza Pahlavi appear to have little strategy beyond promoting themselves as the leaders of the opposition, urging Iranians to sacrifice, and hoping Donald Trump — a man who has demonstrated his open contempt for democracy and the right to peaceful dissent here in the United States — will act as Iran’s savior.
This is not the path to a brighter future, it is a path to foreign occupation, war, and further suffering and bloodshed. This does not serve the interests of Iranians or Americans.
That is why we must not relent in warning decision-makers against war and demanding a different approach — one that rejects outside manipulation and instead empowers the Iranian people themselves.
Please join us in urging lawmakers to take those steps now and reject another open-ended military intervention.
TAKE ACTION [[link removed]]
In Solidarity,
Jamal Abdi President, NIAC[[link removed]]
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