Lobbying 2016: Iranians in America battle over US rapprochement with Tehran
Congress and the White House don’t see eye to eye on burying the hatchet with Iran.
Neither does the million-strong Iranian diaspora in the United States.
A number of Iranian-Americans have joined two competing organizations that share starkly different views about how Washington should deal with Tehran, from ending sanctions to toppling the clerical regime. Both groups claim to represent the "real" Iran while denouncing their rival as a tool of foreign masters, further deepening the already substantial ideological polarization among US policymakers when it comes to Iran policy.
In one corner is the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) , a nonprofit created by a Swedish-Iranian former congressional staffer in 2012 to advocate closer ties with Tehran. NIAC founder Trita Parsi was a staunch supporter of last year’s nuclear deal and now advocates ending the trade embargo, arguing that closer diplomatic and commercial ties will increase US leverage while staving off the risk of war.
