The American Iranian Council is deeply concerned about the recent outbreak of violence in the Gulf of Oman and state of escalating tensions in the region.  Although relations between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have been poor since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the current situation is among the worst AIC has seen since we began our work twenty-six years ago, and risks breaking out into a fully armed regional conflict.  

The Council urges both the U.S. and Iran to contemplate the policies they have enacted that have led to this dangerous crossroads, and also to consider the deep responsibility they bear to their citizens and the world in ensuring that a peaceful off-ramp for the current tensions be secured.

Last year, the AIC expressed grave concern about the United States’ decision to withdraw from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) without evidence of Iranian non-compliance and/or the support of other signatories.  At the time, we labeled this decision not just provocative but potentially militaristic and moreover, inconsistent with the values of moral leadership and the rule of law that America has long championed.  In the Council’s view this withdrawal was the most significant action leading to the current tensions. Other, more recent moves Washington has made against Tehran, including designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group and the deployment of additional U.S. military equipment and personnel to the Middle East without the support of its allies and to the alarm of many in Congress, have only further stoked tensions while accomplishing little to change Iran’s regional activities