Trita Parsi
Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Author and analyst specializing in US-Iran relations and Middle East diplomacy.
Affiliations
Conflict-Specific Premises
Military strikes cannot permanently eliminate Iranian nuclear capability - a war with Iran is militarily unwinnable
Iran-Israel War 2026
Iran's nuclear program is at least partly a rational response to legitimate security concerns
Iran-Israel War 2026
Diplomatic engagement with Iran has precedent for producing results (JCPOA 2015)
Iran-Israel War 2026
A negotiated settlement is the only realistic path to ending the Ukraine conflict
Ukraine War
Western military support for Ukraine risks nuclear escalation with Russia
Ukraine War
US vital national interests are not directly threatened by the Iran-Israel conflict
Ukraine War
Positions
Iran-Israel War 2026 · 2026-02-28
Military strikes on Iran will not solve the nuclear problem and will make the region less safe. The only sustainable path is a return to diplomatic engagement - a new nuclear deal that addresses both Iran's security concerns and the international community's nonproliferation interests.
Ukraine War · 2023-04-15
The priority must be ending the killing, not winning the war. A negotiated settlement is the only way to stop the bloodshed and prevent nuclear escalation. Continuing to arm Ukraine without a diplomatic track risks catastrophic escalation for a war that will ultimately end at the negotiating table anyway.