Since the United States and Israel went to war against Iran, perhaps no one in America has been quoted more often as a critic of the conflict than Trita Parsi, co-founder of the think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
From the far-left Democracy Now! and The Nation to Steve Bannon’s pro-MAGA War Room podcast to television networks CNN, MS NOW, and Al Jazeera, Parsi has said again and again that President Donald Trump faces a quagmire in Iran and that diplomatic accommodation with Tehran’s ayatollahs and generals is the only way out. Parsi’s writing in Quincy’s online magazine and his own newsletter on Substack also reports what he describes as threats to the U.S. from the Islamic Republic, often attributing them to “sources in the Iranian capital.”
“Tehran is likely to target American data centers in the UAE,” he wrote in May, essentially warning the U.S. and Israel not to abandon the ceasefire that took effect in April by resuming attacks against Iran. “Tehran sees an opportunity to cripple the UAE’s ambitions to become a global artificial intelligence hub.”
In the eyes of some inside the Trump administration, Parsi isn’t just another Washington pundit eager to share his point of view. The State Department has launched an investigation of Parsi and could try to deport him, according to U.S. officials and documents reviewed by The Free Press. Parsi was born in Iran, grew up in Sweden, has lived in the U.S. for over 25 years, and holds a green card.
