Trita Parsi

2010 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order recipient. Executive VP @quincyinst. Wrote Losing an Enemy & Treacherous Alliance.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Told Sir Richard Dearlove (former MI6 Chief) and John Raine of IISS that the military option Israel is pushing the US to take is fanciful and will not work.

But even if it doesn't work, Israel will still see benefit because what it ultimately is looking for is just as much destruction on the Iranian side as possible in order to set the country back several decades.

https://t.co/JgukNlthaX

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Important warning from Israel's former PM Ehud Barak

[Yonatan Touval @Yonatan_Touval]

🚨 Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak issues his starkest warning yet: #Netanyahu may provoke an Iranian missile attack within days, then invoke self-defence to launch a war without Trump's approval -- thwarting Eisenkot's efforts to form a government.

https://t.co/vm8hbjZvkv

[Yonatan Touval @Yonatan_Touval]

🚨 Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak issues his starkest warning yet: #Netanyahu may provoke an Iranian missile attack within days, then invoke self-defence to launch a war without Trump's approval -- thwarting Eisenkot's efforts to form a government.

https://t.co/vm8hbjZvkv

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Wow!

Congressman-elect Richard Ojeda:

“The Iran war is unacceptable. We need to end this war now... We're not the good guys. The good guys don't bomb children in schools... You know, we're in the wrong here, and that's just the way that it is.”

[Eldar Mamedov @EldarMamedov4]

My latest for @amconmag on the talks in Abu Dhabi and how Europe can play a constructive role in ending the war in Ukraine.

With its own security at stake, Europe needs a diplomatic initiative of its own—and serious people to carry it forward.

https://t.co/p4MldzVANL

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said that a long-term US policy of intensive sanctions and a blockade against Iran would only prolong an “unstable status quo” that would eventually escalate into more military confrontation.

However, he said one “walk-away” option for Trump could be to quietly relax the sanctions and blockade while maintaining them “on paper”.

In this case, “Trump walks away and claims to retain the blockade and sanctions infrastructure, but in reality, allows it to imperceptibly wither away,” Parsi told Al Jazeera. “The blockade begins to loosen, sanctions enforcement begins to decay, and slowly but surely, Asian and Middle Eastern countries begin trading with and investing in Iran.”

“A new equilibrium emerges in which sanctions enforcement is strong enough for the US to claim the restrictions are still in place, yet weak enough to prevent Tehran from challenging the new status quo,” Parsi said.

https://t.co/mu9lsG3fzM

[Laura Weiss @LauraEWeiss16]

Sens. BENNET, SANDERS, VAN HOLLEN, DUCKWORTH w/ a joint statement on government funding:

“Any short-term package must include language that restricts the Trump Administration from using appropriated funds to continue his war against Iran.”

More -

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

We are not there yet, but further signs that Trump is most likely to go for the Swiss cheese option I laid out on my Substack earlier this week - walking away while PRETENDING to uphold the blockade:

https://t.co/QTTryiCY6d

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

See leaked report: https://t.co/xOg0WUyQeT

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

In 2025, the Israeli FM commissioned a study from Stagwell Global. The study concluded that one of the most effective ways to reverse Israel's deteriorating reputation was to invoke fear of “Radical Islam” and “Jihadism.”

It showed that messages portraying Israel as a defender of Western values against radical Islam increased support for Israel by an average of more than 20 percentage points across five surveyed Western countries.

With that in mind, now watch Rabbi Chaim Mentz of Los Angeles warn Fox viewers of the danger of Muslims running for office in the US:

“If you notice, a lot of Muslims have started running in elections, and their goal is to destroy America!”

For years, some pro-Israeli groups were quietly funding Islamophobia in the US. Now, the Islamophobia is done in the open, using the same fearmongering the Nazis used against Jews in Germany :(

[Eli Clifton @EliClifton]

One of the biggest donors to American political candidates giving an award to the former head of a foreign intelligence service is certainly a look.

[Stephen Wertheim @stephenwertheim]

This is sheer Hegsethian bloodlust applied to a different war.

[Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy]

A more representative U.N. Security Council can also be a more effective one, argue Zachary Paikin and @tparsi. https://t.co/NHJFqHcryC

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

A walk-away option with Iran is inferior to a diplomatic deal. But for it to even work, it has to be a walk-away option that de facto lifts the blockade and pauses the enforcement of many sanctions. Otherwise, the US and Iran will constantly remain on the verge of war.

https://t.co/D6J47JwzCt

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Told @Judgenap that the Iranians achieved something none of America's military targets have achieved in the past few decades:

Spread the cost of the war so that everyone would suffer from Trump's aggression, not just Iran.

This was a deliberate strategy - Trump's midterm defeat was proof of concept.

https://t.co/UTtyKBK6jY

[John Cusack @johncusack]

So - Tony - what exactly happened then ? US / Isreal states dropped the tnt equivalent power of 7 Hiroshima bombs on a 25 mile open air prison - leaving the people starving - the entire place unlivable .
This is gaslighting of the most heinous kind

[Dr. Nika Soon-Shiong @nikasoonshiong]

Israel is deploying a new influence campaign targeting American voters, using Starboard for “continuous content deployment, optimization, and measurement.”

“This is in response to collapsing public support that extends into conservative & evangelical communities that have long been seen as the electoral lynchpin for Israel’s political support within the U.S.,” @EliClifton told @DropSiteNews.

There are 40 million members of Christian Zionist organizations in America. There are 15 million Jewish people in the world.

[Adrian Elimian @adrianelimian]

🟡 Rep. Ilhan Omar, wants to return to the House Foreign Affairs Committee after Republicans removed her in 2023.

If Omar gets back on HFAC, she could chair its Africa subpanel w/ top Dem Gregory Meeks saying it is Omar’s “choice” on the matter.

from me and @nicholaswu12:

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Trump wants out of the Iran war... Netanyahu’s cabinet reportedly just told the military to get ready for more

Amir Handjani, a Quincy Institute board member, has no doubt Trump wants out, and he says the one thing that can wreck it is Israel striking first and Washington feeling it has to join in.

That would be the third time Iran got hit in the middle of talks.

Amir says Tehran is far more prepared than it was in February and has already said it will fire past the region at any European base that supports the strikes.

He thinks a deal is coming either way, which leaves one open question:

“Are we going to have another war before we get the deal?”

Amir leans no, because Netanyahu’s likely replacement is more measured on Iran.

The risk is whatever Netanyahu does before he leaves.

@ahandjani @WeTheBrandon

[Ben Freeman @BenFreemanDC]

"To fulfill voters' desire to silence the voices that drive America into forever wars that bankrupt Americans at home here are three simple legislative priorities Congress should enact."

A 🧵 on my new syndicated article: