Dear John,
It is a deeply painful time to be an Iranian American as we process horrific updates trickling out amid a communications blackout in Iran and an open assault on our rights and democracy here at home.
Ending ICE’s tyranny and violence
Amid heartbreaking and horrifying news out of Iran, more devastation is unfolding here in the U.S. ICE murdered yet another American citizen in cold blood over the weekend. Alex Pretti and Renee Good were courageous Minnesotans and everyday Americans acting to protect their communities from an increasingly lawless and violent agency acting as a domestic occupation force. They should still be alive today. We are joining nationwide calls to demand that the U.S. Senate vote down the Department of Homeland Security funding bill [[link removed]] this week and oppose more funding to ICE, which is harming countless communities - including Iranians across the country. Take action to support this campaign here. [[link removed]]
As Iranian Americans for peace and civil rights, we stand with everyday people resisting government violence and repression everywhere – from the people of Minnesota fighting back against Trump’s lawlessness and violence in America, to the brave people of Iran seeking to determine their own future.
Fighting deportations to Iran
Our team has been actively briefing the media and advocating to policymakers our strong opposition regarding a deportation flight to Iran planned by the Trump Administration this past weekend. As of this email and since we first raised the alarm, some vulnerable individuals were able to be diverted but at least one subset of detainees may have been deported on a smaller flight and more deportations are still planned. We are actively working with legal teams to get emergency relief to detainees and avoid deportation. We reiterate our call [[link removed]] to the Administration to halt these irresponsible and harmful flights, and resume immigration applications - particularly for Iranians fleeing danger.
Iran policy recommendations to U.S. government
Last week, we shared our recommendations we are making for the U.S. government [[link removed]] in order to help, not harm the Iranian people – including opposing military intervention, supporting an independent investigation into rights abuses and the mounting death toll, halting deportations and resuming processing immigration applications for Iranians, and allowing for remittances and internet access.
Victory: Independent UN investigations move forward
On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted in a special meeting to extend the mandate of Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran and the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran so that they can investigate and document rights violations committed amid the December-January protests and press for accountability. NIAC strongly supported the establishment of these mechanisms in 2010 and 2023, respectively, and believe their work is particularly vital in this moment to have an accurate understanding of what happened on the ground, so that information is collected urgently before it disappears, and to pursue accountability. The next step is for these mechanisms to be allocated funding to begin its critical work.
Threat of military action looming
We continue to demand that Iran's future be decided by Iran's people and reject calls for the U.S. to attack Iran, as human rights does not flow through bullets or bombs dropped by external powers. President Trump abstained from intervening at the height of protests, despite suggesting that he may, but has now moved military forces into the region, including a U.S. aircraft carrier [[link removed]] group. While this does not necessarily mean that war is imminent, it does put the U.S. and Israel on potential war footing. We have actively been mobilizing [[link removed]] to get lawmakers to support the Iran War Powers Resolution [[link removed](Preferred)] , and that measure can be triggered by a single lawmaker in the House to receive a vote to prevent the President from waging an illegal war.
Panel discussion this Friday
This Friday at 3pm ET, we’ll bring author Stephen Kinzer, journalist Negar Mortavi, and NIAC's Jamal Abdi for a national webinar co-hosted with Massachusetts Peace Action. Unfortunately, we have received specific threats of violence [[link removed]] from entities attempting to force us to cancel the event. We have moved the discussion online out of an abundance of caution and so that more people can watch. Several organizations reached out to cosponsor the event in solidarity: Just Foreign Policy, Center for International Policy, About Face: Veterans for Truth, Veterans for Peace, and Friends Committee on National Legislation. RSVP here [[link removed]] to join us for a timely discussion on Iran – you won’t want to miss this conversation.
👉 To help you take action and cut through disinformation, we’ve put together a Social Media Toolkit [[link removed]] with concrete action items, talking points, shareable graphics, and further resources. Available in both English [[link removed]] and Farsi [[link removed]] .
In solidarity,
Jamal Abdi NIAC Action Executive Director[[link removed]]
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