{"id":1523,"date":"2025-08-04T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.logicalware.net\/?p=1523"},"modified":"2025-08-05T19:14:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:14:21","slug":"iranian-americans-are-demanding-peace-not-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.logicalware.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/04\/iranian-americans-are-demanding-peace-not-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Americans are demanding peace, not war"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iranian Americans are still reeling from Israel\u2019s attack on Iran in June. For 12 days, we were frantically trying to reach our loved ones across Iran hoping that Israeli attacks would not kill our families as they fled cities, spurred on by cryptic social media threats<\/a> from President Trump.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, more than a thousand Iranians were killed, most of them civilians, and it is likely that Israeli and American bombs will soon fall again if there is no diplomatic settlement.<\/p>\n

As the fog of war clears, an important truth has once again been exposed, which powerful voices in Washington and Tel Aviv have spent years and enormous resources distorting: Iranian Americans firmly believe that diplomacy \u2013 not war and sanctions that destroy innocent lives \u2013 is the most effective path for the U.S. to deal with Iran\u2019s government, whether on nuclear policy, regional stability, or its human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

For years now, an echo chamber on social media has sought to portray Iranian Americans as united in begging Trump and Netanyahu to bomb Iran and “Make Iran Great Again.” On Persian-language satellite networks like Iran International \u2014 created and long funded by individuals closely tied to the Saudi royal family<\/a> \u2013 viewers are led to believe that most Iranians view Netanyahu as a “liberator” and welcome U.S. bombs and sanctions on Iran as tools of freedom.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, voices opposed to war and sanctions have been viciously silenced. Our organization, NIAC, along with countless independent researchers, grassroots advocates, and prominent experts, has long been demonized, including by an oped author in this<\/a> very publication, falsely smeared as part of a vast pro-Tehran conspiracy because of our anti-war, pro-diplomacy stance.<\/p>\n

In reality, our organization and those opposed to war and supportive of diplomacy put the interests of ordinary Americans first, guided by the belief that more war is not good for American security and prosperity \u2014 or for the people and future of Iran.<\/p>\n

Reports from Middle East Eye<\/a> and Politico Magazine<\/a> have detailed some of the scale of the campaign against pro-peace Iranian Americans \u2013 from doctored videos and anonymous bomb threats, to rape and death threats that have driven many out of the public debate.<\/p>\n

Until May 2019, the U.S. State Department was even funding an operation<\/a>, the Iran Disinformation Project, until it was exposed defaming Iranian American journalists, human rights experts, and NIAC as “‘mouthpieces’ and supporters of the Iranian government.”<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a> recently reported that Israel had used social media posts and AI-generated videos during the war on Iran to attempt to incite unrest there, raising urgent questions about the extent of these tactics\u2019 deployment in what Netanyahu has called the “second battlefield” of information and public discourse. Politico also reported<\/a> that a $2 million Israeli government-linked disinformation campaign targeted 128 U.S. lawmakers through hundreds of fake social media profiles, demonstrating that Americans are also on the target list.<\/p>\n

The intent behind a campaign to portray Iranian Americans as supportive of military invasion \u2014 and to silence those who disagree \u2014 echoes the same strategy used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Once again, violence is being repackaged as popularly supported liberation and humanitarianism.<\/p>\n

But when the war long pushed by hawks finally came, many of the Islamic Republic\u2019s staunchest critics inside Iran stood against the foreign bombs falling on their communities<\/a>. Outside Iran,\u00a0pro-war figures<\/a>\u00a0and outlets like Iran International watched their own bases turn against them. Those who\u00a0opposed this violence<\/a>\u00a0weren\u2019t regime sympathizers \u2014 they were, and are, the majority of ordinary Iranians and Iranian Americans.<\/p>\n

That’s why, before this illegal war<\/a> began, our organization launched an independent, comprehensive poll to determine where Iranian Americans actually stand on war, sanctions, and diplomacy. We were driven by concern that outside political interests were distorting our community\u2019s views to sell yet another U.S.-backed regime change war.<\/p>\n

Contrary to what the propaganda machine was churning out, the views of Iranian Americans are clear. Most of us are anti-war, anti-broad sanctions, and pro-diplomacy. In the poll<\/a>, conducted by YouGov in May and June, we found that:<\/p>\n