Influential US conservative group launches Iran exile platform

The Conservative Political Action Conference announced the launch of CPAC for Iranians in Exile, a platform it says enables the Iranian diaspora to engage with senior Trump administration officials to oppose Tehran.

The project, launched by CPAC in partnership with the United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), aims to mobilize members of the Iranian diaspora to advocate for human rights, religious freedom, and increased pressure on the Islamic Republic.

CPAC has been a key driver of grassroots support for US President Donald Trump by organizing popular conferences. UANI is an influential advocacy group whose chairman is former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.

“We want to get together all these great voices in the exile community and put a real pressure point on the regime in Iran,” CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp told Iran International.

“There should be great unity amongst people who believe in freedom, religious tolerance, human rights to really put pressure on Iran.”

Schlapp said CPAC is committed to helping create a “new version of the maximum pressure campaign,” referring to the Trump administration’s policy against Tehran.

In 2018, during his first term in office, Trump withdrew the United States from the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and imposed his so-called "maximum pressure" sanctions on Tehran.

The sanctions effectively reduced Iran’s oil exports to as little as 150,000 barrels per day. However, oil sales rebounded to at least 1.5 million barrels per day during the Biden administration.

In February this year, Trump reinstated the maximum pressure campaign, aiming to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero, "deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and counter Iran’s malign influence abroad."

Since early April, Iran and the US have held five rounds of negotiations mediated by Oman to resolve the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. The two sides have agreed to hold a sixth round in the near future, American officials said on Friday.

Iranian diaspora's engagement with Trump administration

UANI, which co-launched the initiative, said in a press release that the project will offer a forum for "civil and respectful debate" across the diverse Iranian diaspora.

“The group will provide direct access to policymakers, including senior Trump administration officials, and support those in the diaspora who oppose the Islamist ideology of the Ayatollahs and who support Iran’s territorial integrity," the statement added.

Jason Brodsky, the UANI's policy director, told Iran International that “CPAC for Iranians in Exile will provide the diverse Iranian diaspora with a unique platform to engage with senior Trump administration officials and US policymakers in Washington to discuss Iran policy and an Iran free from the Ayatollah.”

UANI chairman Mark Wallace also said “The Iranian people, who have suffered under the Ayatollah’s rule for 46 years, have not had a consistent platform to be heard. This initiative is an effort to change that and ensure their voices are not just heard but engaged with.”

The CPAC for Iranians in Exile website calls the platform "a defining opportunity for the Iranian people in their courageous fight to end the despotic rule of the Ayatollah and his cronies."

"All of us are committed to see the end of the Ayatollah’s totalitarian Islamist dictatorship."

CPAC for Iranians in Exile says it will be hosting its inaugural conference later this year in Washington DC with the participation of senior US administration officials and policymakers.