Legislative Outlook: Irresponsible Votes This Week on Iran Bills

We are deeply concerned by the legislative theater planned by the Republican Majority concerning U.S. policy toward Iran. This weekend, we saw the consequences of reckless militarism in the Middle East when Iran launched a massive volley of drones and missiles against Israel to retaliate for Israel’s April 1 bombing of its diplomatic compound in […]

Memo: Senate SHIP Act (S. 1829)

The Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act of 2023 – the SHIP Act (S. 1829) –  introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) – is a deeply reckless proposal that risks sabotaging the global economy in the name of combatting Iranian oil sales.  The bill mandates sanctions on key elements of the global energy and shipping industries, […]

Memo: The SHIP Act (H.R. 3774)

This memo was updated on October 25th, 2023, following the bill’s passage through the House Foreign Affairs Committee H.R. 3774 – The SHIP Act, introduced by Rep. Lawler (R-NY), is a deeply reckless proposal that risks sabotaging the global economy in the name of combatting Iranian oil sales. It was advanced by the House Foreign […]

Mark Kirk’s Fuzzy Iran Logic

On February 19, Mark Kirk, a Republican Congressman from Illinois running for a promotion to the US Senate, delivered a speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to share his views on Iran policy.  While initial reports didn’t indicate anything much new was said by the Representative, who has been calling for a gasoline […]

Insanity: Doing the Same Thing and Expecting a New Result

At NIAC’s policy conference last Tuesday, Ambassador James Dobbins noted that the current debate over Iran is not about the fundamental shift towards diplomacy that is needed to create a more effective Iran policy, but rather a discussion on how to properly implement America’s policy of preemption. “It’s important to recognize that the debate we’ve […]

Debating Iran Policy – Republican experts don’t hold back

Within an hour of having landed at Minneapolis airport (and having to pass up our golden opportunity to visit it’s infamous bathroom), Patrick and I found ourselves going through 3 layers of security and 5 iterations of having our names checked off of the RSVP list for the IRI panel.    No, I promise that […]