United Against Nuclear Iran is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing Iran from fulfilling its nuclear weapons ambitions. It began more than a decade ago toward the end of the George W. Bush administration and is among the few groups today that has continued through both Obama and Trump administrations, having retained its bipartisanship and managed to offer steady and serious assessment.

Alas, recent decisions by various UANI board members in their personal capacities threaten to undermine UANI’s reputation, if not reverse the good work that UANI has done. At issue is the Mujahedin-e Khalq, an Iranian opposition group that emerged as an outgrowth from the merging of Islamist and Marxist intellectual strains in the decade prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. During this period, the Mujahedin-e Khalq distinguished itself with its anti-Western fervor, often targeting American and Western businesses and personnel working in Iran. As opposition to the shah solidified, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gathered widespread public support for the 1979 revolution by obfuscating his goals. He promised Iranians and Westerners alike an Islamic democracy but denied he wanted or would accept personal power.