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Dear friend,
A disastrous war with Iran seems like it could come any day. Trump is blaming Iran for an attack on Saudi oil facilities1 and is sending more troops to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.2
There’s still hope to stop Trump from unilaterally going to war with Iran. The House passed a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act sponsored by Representatives Ro Khanna and Matt Gaetz that would block funding for a war with Iran without congressional approval.3
Right now, House and Senate negotiators are deciding whether the Khanna-Gaetz amendment to the NDAA will stay in the bill.4
We need all antiwar voices--like yours, friend--to speak up now to make sure the final bill blocks funding for war with Iran.
As Rep. Ro Khanna said on Twitter, “Only Congress has the ability to decide on matters of war on peace. NOT Trump or his administration, NOT defense contractors, NOT Saudi Arabia. The Senate must include my NDAA amendment to prevent Trump from unilaterally starting war with Iran.”
Diplomacy is our best bet to avoid all out war. And it was working--before Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal last year.5
Since then, Trump has imposed severely destructive economic sanctions on the people of Iran. Trump's sanctions have caused widespread human misery6 and shortages of medicine and medical equipment, particularly affecting cancer patients.7
Diplomacy is the best solution to this conflict--and Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif agrees. He’s outlined a proposal for a new agreement with the United States that would see permanent sanctions relief exchanged for Tehran's permanent denuclearization.8
U.S. wars abroad and drone strikes have killed thousands and have done nothing to make us safer. In fact, they’ve done the opposite--the "War on Terror" has fueled anti-American extremism globally.9
The Iranian people have been slowly moving towards moderate politics over the last forty years. But if the U.S., Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Israel go to war with Iran, the Iranian hardliners would take advantage of that and use war to drum up popular support. We could set the clock back forty years in Iranian politics.
Iranians have resisted foreign occupation for centuries. Though the Iranian government is unpopular with a large portion of the population, most Iranians would be united in opposing an American occupation.
As Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Iran has repeatedly said, you can’t deliver democracy to people on the backs of bombs.10
Don’t let Trump launch a devastating, dangerous war.
Thanks for speaking up for peace and justice,
Salma and the team at Demand Progress
Sources:
1. ABC News, "Iran asks West to leave Persian Gulf as tensions heightened," September 22nd, 2019.
2. CNN, "US to send troops and air and missile defense to Saudi Arabia as Trump announces new Iran sanctions after oil attack," September 21st, 2019.
3. Vox, "Progressives just got a major win against Trump on Iran. Can they hold on to it?," July 12th, 2019.
4. The Hill, "Negotiators kick off defense bill talks amid border wall, Iran debates," September 19th, 2019.
5. The New York Times, "To Contain Iran, Trump’s Newest Line in the Sand Looks a Lot Like Obama’s," May 17th, 2019.
6. Jacobin, "US Sanctions Are Designed to Kill," September 4th, 2019.
7. NPR, "Iran Under Sanctions: A Scramble For Cancer Care And Blame To Go Around," August 24th, 2019.
8. CNN, "Iran's Zarif raises the prospect of a new nuclear agreement with Trump," September 23rd, 2019.
9. CATO Institute, "Step Back: Lessons for U.S. Foreign Policy from the Failed War on Terror," June 26th, 2017.
10. United Nations , "Press Conference by Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate," June 2nd, 2004.
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