The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today commended President Trump for pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran and called on the president to avert an “unnecessary and foolish war” by dropping Israel’s “poison pill” demand meant to doom nuclear negotiations.
NBC Reports: “Israel has made clear to the U.S. that it does not want Trump to cut a nuclear deal that leaves Iran with any uranium enrichment capabilities, the U.S. officials and Middle Eastern diplomats said. Trump has expressed an openness to Iran maintaining a civilian nuclear program.”
In a statement, CAIR said:
“President Trump deserves credit for pursuing a nuclear deal with the Iranian government, but it appears he is now falling into a trap set by Netanyahu and pro-Israel warmongers who want the negotiations to fail so that they can drag the United States into an unnecessary war with Iran.
“Everyone knows that the Israeli government’s demand that Iran give up its right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to continue enriching low levels of uranium for civilian purposes is a poison pill meant to make a deal impossible. A deal that verifiably prevents Iran from making a nuclear weapon can easily be achieved without this demand.
“Let’s be clear. There is no reason for a U.S. war with Iran, which does not have, is not pursuing, and could not get away with producing, a nuclear weapon. The manufactured hysteria about Iran pursuing a nuclear weapon echoes the false claims that Netanyahu and others made when pushing our nation to invade Iraq 20 years ago.
“President Trump should drop the poison pill demand and make a nuclear deal that averts an unnecessary and foolish war with Iran, and then he should demand that the Israeli government account for its rogue, unmonitored nuclear weapons program.”
Earlier today, CAIR condemned the Israeli government’s mass slaughter of civilians in the bombing of a residential building in Gaza.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com