J Street condemns the Iranian regime’s vile anti-American, anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric; its support for acts of international terrorism including via Hamas and Hezbollah; its destabilizing and violent meddling in the affairs of its neighbors; its provision of drones to Russia for use in Ukraine; and its deplorable domestic human rights record.
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons would pose a very serious threat to American and Israeli interests, and to peace and stability in the Middle East and around the world. J Street therefore strongly endorses a diplomacy-first approach with complementary pressure tools – especially the continued imposition of multilateral sanctions meant to change Iran’s calculus – to ensure that the Iranian regime does not develop a nuclear weapon and to address the other threats it poses to our allies and the region. J Street lobbied for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed to by Iran, the United States and five major world powers on July 14, 2015. We worked tirelessly to ensure the agreement was not rejected by Congress because it blocked all of Iran’s paths to developing a nuclear weapon and was underpinned by a robust regime of international monitoring and inspections. While it was fully implemented, the JCPOA advanced US security interests and removed an existential threat to Israel.
Donald Trump’s decision in May 2018 to violate and abandon the JCPOA was not just an egregious foreign policy blunder, but an unprovoked and unjustified assault on international peace and security. Trump’s abrogation of the agreement — coupled with his administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign of leveling ever-increasing sanctions and belligerent rhetoric against Iran — resulted in a security and diplomatic disaster for the United States. Iran resumed some of its most sensitive nuclear activities, while its hardliners, empowered and emboldened by Trump’s approach, ramped up their destabilizing activities in the region and openly launched missiles against US troops.
A top US priority should again be rolling back such threats from Iran via tough diplomacy. With the collapse of the Assad regime and the significant degradation of Hezbollah’s military capabilities in Lebanon, there is a moment of opportunity now for new diplomatic engagement. Fully and sustainably de-escalating the 2023-2024 conflicts in the Middle East means engaging Iran under its comparatively moderate new president and testing the prospects for mutual agreement on a range of issues, including restoring meaningful limits and monitoring on Iranian nuclear activities.