National Iranian Congress
December 5, 2016
The Only Likelihood Of A Nuclear Free Iran
Is A Free, Democratic Iran
How President Trump can secure American interests in the Middle East
The National Iranian Congress (NIC) wishes to extend its congratulations to President-Elect Donald J. Trump
on his victory in the United States November 8, 2016 presidential election. This is an unprecedented achievement in
American politics and we anticipate it will usher in an era of strong, principled American leadership. We believe the
results of not only the 2016 presidential election but also the congressional elections have positioned the United
States government to replace the disastrous foreign policy of the previous administration with a robust foreign policy
agenda for the 21st century – one that returns America to its position of world leadership in achieving peace and
prosperity through undeniable diplomatic, economic and military preeminence.
In this regard, it is our fervent hope that one of the highest foreign policy priorities in the Trump
administration will be to put in place an Iran policy with bipartisan congressional political support that recognizes
the rights of the Iranian people to govern themselves and form a government of their choosing through free and fair
elections. We are committed to forging a close working relationship with the new administration and congress to
implement a wholly new Iran policy which effectively advances U.S. security interests in the Middle East and, at the
same time, supports the Iranian democratic movement in its effort to end the brutal, oppressive religious tyranny of
the Islamic regime of Iran, without resorting to the use of U.S. military force or pursuing misguided nation-building
programs.
In his relentless quest for a nuclear deal with the Islamic regime of Iran, President Obama simply chose to
ignore the fact that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. He abandoned the Iranian freedom
movement in 2009 when the citizens of Iran took to the streets to protest the rigged presidential election and to
remove the Khamenei regime peacefully. The notion that the only alternative to seeking a nuclear deal with the
corrupt Khamenei regime is war is an illusion created by the Obama administration. Obama communicated directly
to Tehran through secret back-channels his willingness to support Khamenei. The truth is that the oppressed
majority of the Iranian people did not then, and do not today, support the Khamenei regime’s nuclear program and
desperately want to be rid of the regime itself.
On July 14, 2015, President Obama entered into an extraordinary nuclear arrangement with Iran, Britain,
France, Germany, the European Union, Russia and China, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
NIC NATIONAL IRANIAN CONGRESS 1
(JCPOA). President Obama and his colleagues succeeded in keeping the American and European publics and their
respective elected representatives in the dark about the agreed terms and conditions to avoid any chance of
interference in getting a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime.
We urge the Trump administration not to legitimize President Obama’s egregious abuse of the US president’s
executive authority in concluding and implementing the nuclear deal or otherwise and bypassing the constitutional
authority of the U.S. Congress by attempting to renegotiate its provisions. Specifically, the National Iranian Congress
calls on President Trump to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and to communicate his Iran policies and plans
directly to the Iranian people as he has done so effectively with the citizens of the United States.
The National Iranian Congress seeks from the Trump administration acknowledgement of a fundamental
truth the Obama administration rejected: the only likelihood of a nuclear-weapons free Iran is a free, democratic
Iran. We look forward to working with a United States government that henceforth remains true to its longstanding
commitment of helping those seeking freedom from oppression. We seek political support from the United States in
the Iranian people’s quest to establish a constitutional republic governed by the will of its citizens and elected
representatives through free and fair popular elections. This approach necessitates no deployment of U.S. military
forces, military attacks by third parties, or nation-building programs. The Iranian freedom movement’s leadership
neither seeks nor desires anything more than the Trump administration’s moral support of its effort to bring about a
transition to a free and democratic Republic of Iran.
As part of putting in place a new Iran policy which supports a transition to a free and democratic Iran, we
urge the Trump administration to take the following steps:
Reinstitute rigorous comprehensive US sanctions against the Khamenei Regime: The revenue flowing to the
Iranian regime from releasing assets and the lifting of sanctions saved the Islamic Republic’s economy from
imminent collapse and effectively subsidized militant groups in Iraq, the Assad regime in Syria, the terrorist groups
Hezbollah and Hamas, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, all of which are Shiite militias. In effect, the Obama
administration has been one of the most effective enablers of Iran’s exploitation of the Sunni-Shiite schism in the
Middle East. Iran’s egregious behavior has only intensified as the regime’s revenues increased under the nuclear deal.
We urge the Trump administration to reverse the Obama policy of subsidizing the activities of the Khamenei
regime – the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. We believe that stringent Iran oil and central bank sanctions
legislation should again be passed by Congress and signed by President Trump as soon as possible. The National
Iranian Congress pursued a relentless and successful campaign from 2006 to 2012 urging the U.S. Congress to
implement these sanctions in the first place. Sanctions would be lifted only when free and fair democratic elections
are held in Tehran.
Cooperate with the NIC in its effort to mobilize Iranian popular opinion and will against the corrupt Islamic
regime of Iran through a concerted, intellectually honest public information campaign:
An effective first step could be the immediate reform Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) headed by the
Secretary of State, specially Voice of America Persian service (VOA-PNN) and Radio Farda. As the relevant U.S.
congressional committees are aware, because of poor State Department oversight, both broadcasts have been
dominated by pro-regime personnel for the past decade. The NIC urges, and will assist in any way appropriate, the
Trump administration to work closely with the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the House Foreign Affairs
Committee to implement a plan they developed to change the VOA management, personnel and programming of
its Farsi-language international broadcasts into Iran, such as VOA Persian News Network and Radio Farda. A
Trump administration Secretary of State would likely find the plan useful in aligning the US-found media
campaigns with U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives in the Middle East generally and Iran specifically.
The National Iranian Congress observes that in spite of, or perhaps because of, the Iran nuclear deal, the
Islamic regime’s nuclear weapons program continues apace. Its expanding ballistic missile program poses evergreater
threats to the region, U.S. allies and U.S. military forces. At the same time, the regime in Tehran is stepping
up its war rhetoric against Israel. These troubling developments are in plain view.
Almost unnoticed in Washington, however, Iran’s internal situation continues to deteriorate to the detriment
of the Islamic Republic even with the relaxation of sanctions and the infusion of capital by the Obama
administration. The $1.7 billion recently delivered to the Khamenei regime has vanished with no trace in Tehran.
Corruption has consumed the decision-making elites, the ideological power structures, and the security elements that
keep them in power. The youthful population is losing its fear of the regime and becoming increasingly vocal and
active for dramatic change. Iran is a youthful country, with 70 percent of the population under age 35 with no
memory of life before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Four decades of Islamic fundamentalist propaganda against the
U.S. and Israel paradoxically have had the opposite of the regime’s intended effects – it has produced a large young
population that is not hostile to Washington and Jerusalem, but friendly; not fanatically attached to fundamentalist
interpretations of Islam, but alienated from them and often from Islam itself.
The National Iranian Congress cannot overemphasize that the effects of the nuclear deal have only
encouraged more abuse from an already brutal regime. Oppression is at its harshest, yet at the same time, events can
be set in motion that will overwhelm the regime’s grip on the Iranian people. Now is the time for the U.S. to end its
perverse policy of supporting the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.