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For Immediate Release
December, 16 2019, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Mana Mostatabi, 202.386.6325 x103, mmostatabi@niacounci.org
NIAC Commends Reps. Grijalva, Omar and Lee for Calling on Trump Administration to Protect Humanitarian Trade with Iran
WASHINGTON
Jamal Abdi, President of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), released the following statement regarding the letter from Reps. Raul Grijalva, Ilhan Omar and Barbara Lee calling for the Trump administration to protect humanitarian trade with Iran:
"After the Trump administration took two key steps in recent months to restrict humanitarian trade with Iran, this letter comes at a critical time. Even as the Iranian people contend with brutal repression from their own government, they are being simultaneously squeezed by crushing U.S. sanctions that have led to shortages of life-saving medicine. Reps. Grijalva, Omar and Lee and all the signers of the letter deserve tremendous credit for highlighting the devastating consequences of Trump's maximum pressure campaign and urging steps to ensure that food and life-saving medicine are not blocked by U.S. sanctions.
"You can't support the Iranian people by banning them, and you can't support them by depriving them of food and medicine. The Trump administration needs to halt its deflection on the humanitarian impact of its sanctions, which is well-documented, and work on a real solution. We urge the administration to halt its targeting of humanitarian trade and respond in good faith to the legislators' inquiry."
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
House Passes NDAA to Push Military Spending Approved This Year Beyond $1 Trillion
Highlighting how the Pentagon is "replete with waste and fraud," one critic called it "a disgraceful and unconscionable misuse of taxpayer money."
Sep 10, 2025
Nearly all Republicans and 17 Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted Wednesday evening for a military bill that would push the figure for defense spending approved this year beyond $1 trillion.
The final vote for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2026 was 231-196, with just four Republicans opposing the bill, which will still need to be reconciled with the Senate's version.
Robert Weissman, co-president of the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen, highlighted after the vote that the House's NDAA authorizes about $883 billion for defense spending—including over $848 billion for the Pentagon, which has never passed an audit—on top of the $150 billion in the GOP budget reconciliation package that President Donald Trump signed in July.
"Throwing a trillion dollars at the Pentagon—an agency replete with waste and fraud—at the same time the Republican Congress and the Trump regime are slashing spending on healthcare, education, housing, food assistance, and foreign aid is a disgraceful and unconscionable misuse of taxpayer money," Weissman said, referring to other provisions in the earlier package.
"On top of the age-old dangerous and wasteful spending, the bill pours billions into new boondoggles like Trump's 'Golden Dome' space interceptor vanity project and supercharges the dangerous development of killer robots for the battlefield," he noted. "Making it still worse is the administration's in-your-face, authoritarian misuse of Pentagon dollars—from the deployment of the National Guard on the streets of Washington, DC, to the illegal and murderous attack on a Venezuelan boat."
Weissman added that "the bill includes some modest, positive requirements to report waste, fraud, and price gouging to Congress and establishes financial penalties if the Pentagon fails its audit. But these small measures do not begin to offset the damage done by the dangerous and wasteful overall package."
House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who voted against the NDAA's final passage, told Politico that "we didn't get any of the amendments and the debates that we wanted; not a single solitary one."
"Meanwhile, all manner of different issues that are pure culture war partisan issues were allowed in," he continued. "I fear that many of those are going to pass."
In a statement after the vote, the Congressional Equality Caucus condemned "six Republican-sponsored anti-LGBTQI+ amendments," including bans on medically necessary healthcare for transgender service members and dependents.
"The National Defense Authorization Act has traditionally received strong bipartisan support, yet for the second Congress in a row House Republicans have tainted a bill aimed at improving the lives of servicemembers with poison-pill riders that threaten our troops' rights, their families' stability, and our efforts to retain top talent," said the caucus chair, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Cailf.).
"Republicans' sacrifice of a strong bipartisan vote for a politicized NDAA to appease the Trump administration and a small slice of their base cannot undo the sacrifice of the transgender service members, cadets, or military dependents that will be hurt by this bill," he added. "Congress should be fighting for those who fight for us—but it's clear the GOP has other priorities. I will keep fighting to prevent the harmful provisions in this bill from becoming law."
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Progressives—Who Reviled Charlie Kirk's Politics—Repudiate His Murder
"Unconscionable acts of violence should have no place in our country," said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar—whom Kirk wanted to denaturalize and deport. "Let's pray for no more lives being lost to gun violence."
Sep 10, 2025
Tuesday's assassination of far-right firebrand Charlie Kirk in Utah drew widespread condemnation from many of the same progressive figures who have previously decried his rampant bigotry, dismissal of gun deaths, and incitement to violence.
"Political violence has no place in this country. We must condemn this horrifying attack," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on the social media site X. "My thoughts are with Charlie Kirk and his family."
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said on X that she was sending "sincere condolences to Charlie Kirk's family."
"Violence is unacceptable, always," she added. "Though I disagree with nearly everything he said publicly, I never lose sight of others' humanity. He was someone's son. He was someone's husband. He was a father to two young children. Praying for the [Utah Valley University] community impacted by this horrific act of gun violence."
Today’s act of political violence in Utah against Charlie Kirk is absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we should all agree on this: political violence is wrong, and has no place in our democracy
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@crockett.house.gov) September 10, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Another "Squad" member, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—whom Kirk wanted to strip of her US citizenship and deport to Somalia—posted that "political violence is absolutely unacceptable and indefensible."
"Unconscionable acts of violence should have no place in our country," she added. "Let's pray for no more lives being lost to gun violence."
Kirk, the 31-year-old CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University. The assassin's identity is still not known; The Washington Post reported that "a person of interest is in custody and being interviewed by officials."
Kirk's last words were a characteristically racist attempt to deflect an audience member's question about US mass shootings—one of which occurred at a Colorado high school on the same day as his assassination.
The irony of Kirk's murder was not lost on numerous observers, some of whom posted video of him saying in 2023 that "I think it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment."
Others noted that Kirk incited violence, including during an April Fox News interview in which he said the far right has "got to start breaking heads and teaching hard lessons that we're not going to be passive any longer."
"Bloodshed is inevitable," he added.
Still, even staunch critics of Kirk and his politics in the United States and abroad condemned his murder.
"There is never any place for violence in our politics," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement. "The only way to work out differences in a democracy is to work them out together—peacefully through our political system."
"The ACLU condemns this horrific act and extends its sympathies to the family of Charlie Kirk," Romero added.
Scottish lawmaker and former First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf said on social media that "I couldn't have disagreed more with Charlie Kirk on virtually every political issue he debated."
"But that is the point, he debated," Yousaf added. "In any society, let alone a democracy, violence can never be justified. I hope God eases the suffering of his wife, children, family, and friends."
I'm horrified by the shooting of Charlie Kirk at a college event in Utah.Political violence has no place in our country.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Political violence must be condemned. Always.I’m praying for Charlie Kirk and his family.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Civil rights attorney and transgender rights activist Alejandra Caraballo was among those who expressed deep concern over the direction in which the nation is heading.
"We are in a 'years of lead' scenario where political violence has become normalized," she wrote on the social media site Bluesky. "This is not good for anyone and is deeply dangerous. This level of political violence is not compatible with a functioning society."
"I'm honestly terrified of what the right will use this as justification for," she said of Kirk's assassination. "They're itching to engage in violence against their enemies and this will give them the excuse to do so. This is why political violence is never acceptable. It just descends into uncontrollable chaos and more violence."
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As Charlie Kirk Killed on Utah Campus, 3 Teens Hurt in Colorado High School Shooting
"What does it say about us that the news of a conservative political activist getting assassinated may need to compete for coverage with yet another school shooting?" said one podcaster.
Sep 10, 2025
As condemnation of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk continued to pour in on Wednesday, details emerged about another shooting, at Evergreen High School in Colorado, that left at least three teenagers in critical condition.
"What does it say about us that the news of a conservative political activist getting assassinated may need to compete for coverage with yet another school shooting?" writer and podcaster Manny Fidel asked on social media.
Kirk, the 31-year-old CEO and co-founder of the right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot during an event at Utah Valley University. Kirk's spokesperson, Andrew Kolvet, and US President Donald Trump confirmed his death. There is no suspect in custody.
Footage shared on social media shows that just before Kirk was shot in the neck, a member of the crowd asked him, "Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?" Kirk responded, "Counting or not counting gang violence?"
March for Our Lives, which launched in the wake of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was among the organizations and public figures who weighed in on Kirk's apparent assassination.
"Gun violence spares no one," the group said. "The shooting of Charlie Kirk makes clear that this crisis doesn't care about ideology or politics—it endangers us all. We know the solutions: stronger background checks, extreme risk protection orders, accountability for the gun industry, and more. What stands in the way is not a lack of answers, but political obstruction. Every day of inaction costs lives. It's long past time for leaders of every party to choose people over politics and act."
March for Our Lives also called out the Trump administration for various actions it has taken since the president returned to power:
Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts said, "The problem with allowing guns everywhere is that no one is safe anywhere."
Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Utah 36th in the country for "gun law strength." The Utah Valley University website says in part that it "complies with state law with regard to weapons" and "allows concealed firearm permit holders to possess their concealed firearm on campus."
Watts and March for Our Lives were among those who highlighted that the Kirk shooting coincided with the one in Colorado. The gun violence prevention organization said, "Another group of kids left to live with fear and trauma, because our so-called leaders would rather protect the gun lobby than protect the people they serve."
As The Denver Post reported on the shooting in Evergreen, Colorado:
Hundreds of police and law enforcement officers responded to the high school at 29300 Buffalo Park Road for an active shooting, which county officials first reported on social media at 12:40 pm.
Three people from the high school were being treated at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood on Wednesday afternoon and were in critical condition, spokesperson Lindsay Radford said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office later confirmed on social media that "one of the three students transported is the suspect," and the school, which over 900 children attend, has been cleared by law enforcement.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said that "I am closely monitoring the situation at Evergreen High School, and am getting live updates. State troopers are supporting local law enforcement in responding to this situation. Students should be able to attend school safely and without fear across our state and nation. We are all praying for the victims and the entire community."
Polis separately addressed Kirk's shooting, saying that "political violence is never acceptable, and I condemn the brutal and inexcusable attack on Charlie Kirk in Utah. This is a challenging time for so many in our country, but any divisions we face will never be solved by trying to hurt each other. I am sending hope and love to his friends and his family in this dark hour. I encourage everyone to be stronger and disagree better and peacefully."
Like the governor, Fred Guttenberg, who became an activist against gun violence after his 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was murdered in Parkland, took note of both shootings. He declared that "it is time for Republicans and Democrats to find a way to work together to reduce gun violence."
Also acknowledging both shootings, Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-Pa.) said: "Gun violence and political violence cannot continue to devastate our communities. We need gun reform now."
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