A tight-knit group of neocon dead-enders is pushing Iran to the forefront of the GOP's foreign policy agenda

by Sina Toossi, June 06, 2015

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In a recent TV ad, a van snakes its way through an American city. As the driver fiddles with the radio dial, dire warnings about the perils of a "nuclear Iran" spill out of the speaker from Senator Lindsey Graham and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The driver then steers the vehicle into a parking garage, drives to the top level, and blows it up in a blinding flash of white light. Words shimmer across the screen: "No Iran Nuclear Treaty Without Congressional Approval."

While diplomats from Iran and the "P5+1″ world powers work to forge a peaceful resolution to the decade-long standoff over Iran's nuclear enrichment program, a well-financed network of "experts" – like the "American Security Initiative" that produced the above "Special Delivery" ad – is dedicating enormous amounts of time and energy to weakening public support for the talks in the United States.

These think-tank gurus, special interest groups, and media pundits have peddled a plethora of alarmist narratives aimed at scuttling the diplomatic process – and they've relied far more on fear mongering than facts.

So who are these people?