SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
October, 26 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Mana Mostatabi, 202.386.6325 x103, mmostatabi@niacouncil.org
NIAC Statement on Latest Politically-Motivated Iran Sanctions
Ryan Costello, Policy Director with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), issued the following statement regarding the Treasury Department's decision to apply counterterrorism sanctions to on Iran's oil industry:
WASHINGTON
Ryan Costello, Policy Director with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), issued the following statement regarding the Treasury Department's decision to apply counterterrorism sanctions to on Iran's oil industry:
"The primary target of these sanctions is not the Iranian government but Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The Trump administration and the backers of its failed Iran policy have so little faith in their so-called "maximum pressure" strategy, and presumably Trump's own electoral chances, that they are escalating sanctions with the explicit goal of deterring a successor administration from lifting them and returning to the Iran deal. Such cynical maneuvering to defy the American electorate and undermine a future president should be shocking, but the Trump administration has already demonstrated there are no lengths it will not go in undermining America's legitimacy in its quest for conflict with Iran.
"Fortunately, these moves do nothing to restrict a Biden administration's legal authority to return to the sanctions relief commitments under the Iran nuclear deal that Trump discarded, including nuclear-related sanctions relief involving Iran's oil sector. Moreover, in clearly advertising their playbook to create a "sanctions wall" to block a planned return to the Iran nuclear deal, a potential future Biden administration must explain how these sanctions were imposed in bad faith and will not stop him from upholding the commitments the U.S. made.
"For the administration's most vociferous Iran hawks Mike Pompeo and Elliott Abrams, impeding diplomacy with Iran is the ultimate goal, whether with a Biden administration or a second term Trump. Piling sanctions on Iran in this fashion erodes any potential for flexibility in American policy toward Iran and the ability to influence Iranian decision making. Iran will have little incentive to change its behavior on its nuclear program or other issues of dispute with the United States. The path is thus paved for conflict, which Trump may not understand, but Pompeo and Abrams certainly do.
"The Iranian people continue to be the biggest victims of the cynical sanctions campaign, with humanitarian trade systematically stifled amid the COVID-19 pandemic that is once again surging in Iran. Their suffering is all part of a political game by the Trump White House, which views the suffering of innocent Iranians as politically beneficial even as America's diplomatic credibility atrophies and Iran's hardliners gain the upper hand in Tehran. There is an urgent need for a sharp break from this bankrupt policy next year, regardless of the bad-faith political hurdles thrown by the current occupants of the White House."
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 to give voice to the Iranian-American community. From being the trusted voice on U.S.- Iran relations, to pushing forth legislation that protects individuals of Iranian heritage from systematic discrimination, to celebrating our cultural heritage, NIAC creates a lasting impact in the lives of the members of our community.
(202) 386-6325LATEST NEWS
Lina Khan Slams Trump FTC for Giving Oil Executives a Free Pass After Price-Fixing Scandal
Khan accused the administration of "letting off the hook oil executives caught trying to collude with foreign countries to inflate how much people pay at the pump."
Jul 18, 2025
A ban imposed last year by top antitrust enforcer Lina Khan under the Biden administration had stopped two fossil fuel CEOs accused of colluding on oil prices from serving on powerful corporate boards, with the Federal Trade Commission saying at the time that the order would "help ensure American consumers benefit from lower prices at the pump."
But the Trump administration on Thursday signaled no interest in ensuring oil companies won't engage in price-fixing and collusion to boost profits at the expense of working families as the FTC overturned the order that prevented former Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield and Hess CEO John Hess from serving on the boards of ExxonMobil and Chevron, respectively.
Exxon bought Pioneer for $59.5 billion last year, while Chevron's purchase of Hess was announced Friday after months of arbitration proceedings.
The FTC, now led by pro-corporate Republican Andrew Ferguson, said the commission's complaints about Sheffield's and Hess's communications with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) did not "plead any antitrust law violation" or show that the acquisitions of the smaller companies and the CEO's positions on the boards "would be anticompetitive."
The decision, said Elyse Schupak, a policy advocate with Public Citizen's Climate Program, "undermines accountability for the CEOs accused of illegally colluding with OPEC to increase profits by driving up energy prices for American families and businesses."
Khan's investigation last year found the Sheffield had communicated with OPEC about slashing oil production and driving up consumer prices while claiming Biden administration policies were to blame, prompting U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) to say "jail time should seriously be considered" for the CEO.
"The FTC needs to be doing more to fully rout out Big Oil's anticompetitive behavior. But Ferguson has moved the FTC in the complete opposite direction."
The FTC also found that Hess "stressed the importance of oil market stability and inventory management and encouraged [OPEC] officials to take actions on these issues and speak about them at different events."
One analysis by Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project found that price-fixing schemes by corporations—not inflation—were to blame for 27% of the higher prices American families faced in 2021.
Khan on Thursday accused President Donald Trump's FTC of "letting off the hook oil executives caught trying to collude with foreign countries to inflate how much people pay at the pump."
The commission's three Republican members voted to allow Sheffield and Hess to serve on the boards—even as one of them, Commissioner Mark Meador, said that OPEC operates "as a de facto cartel" and warned the FTC "should not hesitate to bring enforcement actions against actual collusion."
Ferguson, meanwhile, claimed that banning Sheffield and Hess from the company boards "would damage the FTC's credibility and undermine its mission"—a statement that was denounced by the government watchdog Revolving Door Project.
"Banning a C-suite executive who tried to inflate oil prices isn't the move that 'damages' the FTC's credibility. It's Andrew Ferguson's willingness to absolve such actions that undermines the agency's mission to promote competition," said the group.
"The FTC needs to be doing more to fully rout out Big Oil's anticompetitive behavior," added Revolving Door Project. "But Ferguson has moved the FTC in the complete opposite direction—signaling to corporate America that they won't be held accountable for fleecing the public."
Schupak said that "while the Trump administration feigns interest in bringing energy prices down, its policies—fast-tracking export projects, rolling back regulatory safeguards, and halting enforcement actions for corporate wrongdoing—reveal the administration is far more interested in boosting the profitability of the oil and gas industry than providing Americans any relief or safeguarding them against corruption."
Keep ReadingShow Less
US Faces 'State of Emergency' for Civil Rights Under Trump: Urban League Report
"What we face today is a deliberate, coordinated effort to deny the future of a more just and inclusive America," said Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, in the latest report on the "State of Black America."
Jul 18, 2025
One of America's oldest civil rights organizations warned Thursday that the country is experiencing a "dangerous tilt toward authoritarianism."
In its annual report on "The State of Black America," the National Urban League said the country is in the midst of a "state of emergency" for racial equality under the second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as it wages war on voting rights protections; guts Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs; turns civil rights investigations into "tools of political retribution"; and embraces social media platforms that promote hate speech and false information.
"Almost daily, since January 20, 2025, the federal government, at the direction the White House, has set fire to policies and entire departments dedicated to protecting civil and human rights, providing access to an equal education, fair housing, safe and effective healthcare, and ensuring that our democratic process is adhered to across the nation," the report says.
It cites the White House's attacks on the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Supreme Court, it says, dealt the "first seismic crack" to the law in 2013 with the Shelby County v. Holder decision, which got rid of the requirement that states with a history of race-based voter suppression clear new voting laws with the Department of Justice.
"Dozens of states have seized on this weakened federal oversight to pass restrictive voting laws—from voter ID requirements that disproportionately burden Black and Latino voters, to aggressive voter roll purges that remove eligible citizens from voter lists, to reduced polling hours and locations in communities of color," wrote Janai Nelson, the president of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in one essay.
Since then, Nelson writes, "The Trump administration has launched a full-scale assault on what remains."
Nelson notes the president's "sweeping executive order requiring individuals to show documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote—and permitting only a narrow set of documents, such as a passport, that many Americans don't have easy access to."
She also notes that the administration "shifted the focus of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division away from protecting voting rights and toward investigating voter fraud, even though such fraud is exceedingly rare."
In another essay, Samantha Tweedy, the CEO of the Black Economic Alliance, described "an all-out assault on... Black liberty, livelihood, history, prosperity, economic power, and opportunity," being carried out "under the false premise and scapegoating of 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.'"
The Trump administration has aggressively sought to purge DEI initiatives and affirmative action from all sectors of public life, banning them from use in the federal government and putting pressure on private corporations and universities to abandon them as well.
Fueling this, Tweedy says, is the "destructive lie" that "for Black people to succeed, others must lose out." The report goes on to cite statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank, Citi, and McKinsey showing that closing economic disparities increases economic prosperity for the entire country.
One of the engines propelling the Trump administration's attack on civil rights has been the DOJ's Civil Rights division itself, which the report says has been "hollowed out and repurposed" to go after universities that pursue DEI initiatives.
The report also singled out Harmeet Dhillon, who Trump tapped to lead the Civil Rights Division, for her past assertions that the 2020 election was stolen and her writings arguing against the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would have restored power to the original law.
The report also highlighted the recent surge of racist rhetoric on billionaire-owned social media platforms, which have abandoned many content moderation policies in recent years.
The report especially singled out the violent shift on Elon Musk's X, which saw a dramatic increase in hate speech against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people after the billionaire bought the platform.
"We are witnessing something more than policy shifts," said the Urban League's president and CEO, Marc H. Morial, in the report's foreword. "We are watching an attempt to turn back the clock to an era when the full humanity of all Americans was not recognized—when the idea of true equality was treated as a threat to the social order."
"What we face today is a deliberate, coordinated effort to deny the future of a more just and inclusive America," Morial said. "And the architects of this effort have made their intentions plain: they would rather see our democracy crumble than cede power to a multiracial, equitable society."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Opponents Urge Lula to Veto Brazilian Lawmakers' 'Legislated Ecocide'
"Lula says Brazil will lead the environmental agenda by example," said one prominent Brazilian climate defender. "A veto, on the eve of COP30, is the perfect opportunity to make the discourse into practice."
Jul 18, 2025
Opponents including native and Afro-descendant communities and environment defenders are urging progressive Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to veto legislation passed Thursday by the lower house of the National Congress that would dramatically weaken environmental protections and Indigenous peoples' control over their own lands.
Bill 2159/2021—commonly called the "Devastation Bill"—was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in a 267-116 vote in the dead of night following its passage by the Senate in May. The vote, which took place at approximately 3:40 am, was called by Chamber of Deputies President Hugo Motta of the right-wing Republicans party. Both houses of the National Congress have strong right-wing majorities; some members of Lula's leftist Workers' Party also voted for the bill.
If approved by Lula, the legislation would introduce an online self-declaration process for environmental licensing for many mining and agricultural projects that critics say will fuel deforestation and other destruction. The bill also speeds up the review process for development projects prioritized by the federal government and eliminates reviews for highway upgrades.
"As approved, the bill encourages deforestation and aggravates the climate crisis," Marcio Astrini, executive director of the Climate Observatory," said following the vote.
"Lula says Brazil will lead the environmental agenda by example. A veto, on the eve of COP30, is the perfect opportunity to make the discourse into practice," he continued, referring to this November's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém.
"We hope that he will meet his campaign commitments and reject this absurd text approved by the Brazilian Congress," Astrini added.
Lula has 15 days to either approve or veto the measure. However, the right-wing congressional majority could overturn a veto, prompting the Supreme Court to intervene.
Proponents argue the bill would simplify the regulatory process.
"Finally, we have improved legislation to unlock investments, streamline the system, and generate opportunities and income for the country," said Pedro Lupion, a deputy from the right-wing Progressistas party representing Paraná and president of the Parliamentary Agriculture Front.
However, Climate Observatory public policy coordinator Suely Araújo said that the proposal represents "the greatest setback to Brazil's environmental legislation" since licensing requirements were introduced in the 1980s.
Some critics of the bill pointed to Article 225 of the Brazilian Constitution, which states that "everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment, which is an asset of common use and essential to a healthy quality of life, and both the government and the community shall have the duty to defend and preserve it for present and future generations."
Brazilian Minister for Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara, a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), said on the social media site X that Thursday's vote "should be forever remembered as the moment when the Chamber of Deputies attacked Brazilian environmental legislation and showed its lack of commitment to the future."
"In the year we will host the COP, our parliamentarians show what example not to set for the world," she added.
Célia Xakriabá, a PSOL deputy representing Minas Gerais, called the bill "legislative ecocide."
Quilombolas—residents of quilombos, Afro-Brazilian communities formed by self-liberated slaves or their descendants—and their advocates also sounded the alarm over the bill, pointing to existing efforts by extractive industries to kick them off their lands.
"The Devastation Bill threatens over 80% of quilombos and 32% of Indigenous lands in Brazil," progressive Rio de Janeiro consultant Lázaro Rosa noted on X. "Let's put strong pressure to ensure this abomination is not approved."
Erika Hilton, a PSOL federal deputy representing São Paulo, said that if the bill is approved by Lula, "mining companies will be able to renew their licenses automatically, without technical studies or prior analysis."
"This is a recipe for new tragedies like those in Brumadinho, Mariana, and Braskem in Maceió," she warned. "Other points of the bill include the end of environmental licensing for agriculture to deforest and the end of control over the use of our water resources... And the Devastation Bill will also destroy the control of pollutant emissions, putting at risk the very air we breathe."
Hilton continued: "Even so, the tendency is that, with the narrative that all our environmental legislation is bureaucracy that hinders development, the deputies will approve this horror. But what country develops with an environmental tragedy every other day? What country develops if children start being born without brains due to pollution, like in the '70s in Cubatão? What country develops if the people no longer have water to drink, air to breathe, and life to live?"
"These are the questions that the deputies are ignoring," she added.
Journalist Amanda Miranda denounced members of Congress who voted to authorize "the destruction of Brazil while its citizens sleep."
"Brazil will be handed over to the interests of businessmen who will help reelect each one of them," she added. "Every climate catastrophe is part of this reckoning too."Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular