page_title: Political positions of Tulsi Gabbard
section_title: Iran
hierarchical_section_title: Political positions of Tulsi Gabbard / Foreign policy / Specific nations and regions / Iran
caption_attribution_description: English: Senator John McCain (R-AZ) speaks during a press conference held by the US congressional delegation at the Halifax International Security Forum 2014. He is joined (left to right) by Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Senator-elect Tom Cotton (R-AR), Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).
context_page_description: Gabbard's political positions are broadly similar to those of other 2020 Democratic primary contenders on healthcare, climate, education, infrastructure, and criminal justice reform, but she has distinguishable positions on issues ranging from Democratic Party internal politics to foreign affairs.
  For Gabbard, foreign and domestic policy are inseparable. She criticizes what she terms the "neoliberal/neoconservative war machine", which pushes for US involvement in "wasteful foreign wars". She has said that the money spent on war should be redirected to serve health care, infrastructure, and other domestic priorities. Nevertheless, she describes herself as both a hawk and a dove: "When it comes to the war against terrorists, I'm a hawk", but "when it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I'm a dove."
context_section_description: In 2013, Gabbard co-sponsored and voted for the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, which imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
  In 2014, Gabbard described Iran as the "world's leading state sponsor of terrorism".
  Despite her initial criticism of it, Gabbard voted in favor of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement with Iran that imposed restraints on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. She opposes the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and has said that as president she would reenter the agreement, but also negotiate on remaining issues in order to find a diplomatic solution and deescalate tensions.
  In May 2019 Gabbard warned about the danger, costs, and consequences of a potential war with Iran and criticized the Trump administration for elevating tensions. She said it would be illegal for the Trump administration to take action against Iran relying on a 2001 law that authorized the use of U.S. Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks and any "associated forces".
  In January 2020 Gabbard denounced President Trump's assassination of Iran's Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis as an act of war against Iran without Congressional declaration of war and thereby violation of the U.S. Constitution. She questioned what the actual goal of the U.S. administration in Iraq is and warned of an Iranian retaliation that could lead to a devastating war. Gabbard said the U.S. regime change wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria caused Iraq and Syria to seek support from Iran and thereby created the growing influence of Iran in Iraq and Syria which the U.S. now attempts to counter militarily. After U.S. troops announced they suspended their anti-terror operations in Iraq to concentrate on handling the fallout from Soleimani's assassination, Gabbard said the act of war against Iran broke the fragile alliance between Iran, Iraq and the U.S. in combating ISIS, potentially causing a resurgence of terrorist groups. Iran's withdrawal from the JCPOA means Iran gets closer to acquiring nuclear weapon capability according to Gabbard, who requested an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Syria to prevent the U.S. getting into the "quagmire" of a prolonged militarily "tit-for-tat". She would deescalate tensions with Iran by ending the "crippling" economic sanctions and reentering JCPOA to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapon capability. The intelligence briefing by the Trump administration did not convince Gabbard about the alleged "imminent threat" by Soleimani and gave "no justification whatsoever for this illegal and unconstitutional act of war". In her view, President Trump's actions showed a lack of basic understanding and foresight in national security. Gabbard held a floor speech in the House to advocate for passing H.Con.Res.83 which reasserts the Constitutional authority of Congress to declare war and specifically directs the President to terminate the use of U.S. Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran. H.Con.Res.83 passed the House with a 224-194 vote. Since 2018 Gabbard had repeatedly attempted to insert amendments into the National Defense Authorization Act to prevent the President from starting a war with Iran without Congressional approval, and she introduced the No More Presidential Wars Act to define starting or joining a war without Congressional approval an impeachable "high crime and misdemeanor", but these previous legislative efforts did not find majorities in Congress. Her campaign streamed a panel discussion with Stephen Kinzer and Dennis Kucinich on the Iran–United States relations in a collaboration with Kim Iversen.
caption: US congressional delegation at Halifax International Security Forum 2014
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