Last week, the White House\u2019s official rapid response account on X posted a graphic from a pro-Israel think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), alongside text falsely claiming that Tehran\u2019s uranium enrichment accelerated due to the loosening of sanctions under former United States President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s uranium enrichment was capped at 3.67 percent under the 2015 nuclear deal signed under President Barack Obama, far below the 90 percent required to make weapons. Tehran accelerated the enrichment only after President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark deal in 2018.<\/p>\n
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It shows how the FDD\u2019s<\/a> talking points on the US-Israel war on Iran are being picked up by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n The organisation, which had fiercely opposed the 2015 nuclear deal, occupies a carefully cultivated position in the corridors of power in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n Its experts appear across major US news networks, often introduced as nonpartisan analysts. Its reports circulate through the US Congress and White House. Its website prominently states that it accepts no funding from foreign governments. And its name itself \u2013 invoking the defence of democracy \u2013 lends it an air of institutional legitimacy few politicians publicly challenge.<\/p>\n But behind that image sits a network of former Israeli military and intelligence officials who have spent years pushing the US towards confrontation with Iran.<\/p>\n Now, a former senior official from FDD Action, the organisation\u2019s lobbying arm, has joined Trump\u2019s Iran negotiating team<\/a>. On Saturday, Trump appointed Nick Stewart<\/a> to the Office of the Special Envoy for Peace Missions, reportedly adding him to the US negotiating team engaging with Iran alongside envoy Steve Witkoff.<\/p>\n Stewart is not a career diplomat. He served as managing director of advocacy at FDD Action, where he has publicly argued for a more aggressive posture towards Iran, including military pressure<\/a>. He also served at the Department of State in the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n Federal lobbying disclosures show FDD Action spent $150,000 lobbying<\/a> the US government in the first quarter of 2025 on issues including Iran sanctions legislation, US arms sales to Israel and the United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025.<\/p>\n According to its website, FDD Action offers lawmakers and officials \u201cdirect support including legislative drafting assistance, private briefings, policy analysis, and training, all at no cost\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is simple,\u201d it states, \u201cto ensure that those responsible for America\u2019s national security have the expertise and tools they need to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n The appointment of a senior figure who previously worked for a lobbying group advocating a harder line on Iran has raised questions about Washington\u2019s ability to pursue negotiations independently, particularly as pro-Israel advocacy networks gain increasing influence inside Trump\u2019s foreign policy circle.<\/p>\n What is the FDD?<\/p>\n The FDD\u2019s origins go back to 2001. According to the Carnegie Endowment<\/a>, three major pro-Israel donors incorporated an organisation called EMET, Hebrew for \u201ctruth\u201d, shortly after the start of the second Palestinian Intifada, a mass uprising against the Israeli occupation. The word \u201cintifada\u201d, which means \u201cshaking off\u201d in Arabic, has been considered provocative in several Western countries, including the US.<\/p>\n In an application for tax-exempt status filed with the US Internal Revenue Service, one of the founders reportedly wrote that the organisation aimed \u201cto provide education to enhance Israel\u2019s image in North America and the public\u2019s understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations\u201d, the Carnegie Endowment reported.<\/p>\n After the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, EMET changed its name to the FDD, and over the next two decades, Iran became central to the organisation\u2019s work.<\/p>\n In congressional testimony during debates over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), FDD Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz pushed for expanded sanctions targeting entities linked to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stricter enforcement measures and limits on sanctions relief.<\/p>\n Around the same period, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace described the FDD as supplying the \u201cintellectual firepower\u201d behind pro-Israel advocacy efforts in Washington.<\/p>\n While the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) \u2013 a pro-Israel lobbying and election campaign-financing group considered one of the most influential lobbying organisations in the US \u2013 had \u201caccess to financial contributors\u201d, Carnegie wrote in 2011, the FDD provided \u201ccrisp talking points\u201d delivered by \u201ccredible experts\u201d through \u201ccongressional hearings, on opinion pages, and on TV and radio\u201d.<\/p>\n Over time, the FDD has helped shape the way Israeli security positions enter the US political mainstream, repackaged through policy papers, congressional testimony, sanctions proposals and television appearances before often resurfacing in Washington policymaking itself.<\/p>\n \u201cNo organisation has been better at providing this kind of intellectual firepower than the little-known Foundation for Defense of Democracies,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n Trump first presidency and his Iran policy<\/p>\n During Trump\u2019s first presidential term from 2017 to 2021, many of the positions long advocated by the FDD were reflected in US policy, particularly after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and launched his \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d sanctions campaign against Tehran.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vehemently opposed the nuclear deal, which had put limits on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n FDD itself later said that senior adviser Richard Goldberg<\/a>, while serving on Trump\u2019s National Security Council, helped coordinate key elements of the \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign \u2013 a sweeping strategy of sanctions and economic isolation aimed at crippling Iran\u2019s economy and weaking its government.<\/p>\n According to his biography on the FDD\u2019s website, Goldberg worked on congressional sanctions efforts targeting Iran and played a role in expanding US missile defence cooperation with Israel.<\/p>\n Questions surrounding the FDD\u2019s relationship with Israel have intensified after media reporting about the Israeli lobby in the US.<\/p>\n The FDD has rejected accusations that it acts on behalf of a foreign government. Al Jazeera contacted the FDD for comment but received no response by the time of publication.<\/p>\n Still, the organisation\u2019s own Israel programme outlines positions that closely mirror the Israeli government\u2019s regional worldview.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael is America\u2019s most valuable, reliable, and vulnerable ally in the Middle East,\u201d the programme states on the FDD\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n It argues that \u201cthe vast majority of Israel\u2019s enemies are America\u2019s enemies\u201d, particularly Iran and its allied armed groups across the region that Tehran calls the \u201caxis of resistance\u201d.<\/p>\n The programme also characterises Qatar and Turkiye as \u201cMuslim Brotherhood-aligned countries\u201d advancing \u201can anti-Israel agenda while waging a potent influence campaign in Western capitals\u201d.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the FDD states that its goal is to \u201cdevelop policy options that address the threats facing Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n Previous reporting by Slate and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also documented FDD-sponsored trips to Israel for American academics, which critics argued promote a largely right-wing Israeli security perspective similar to tours organised by other pro-Israel advocacy groups.<\/p>\n Former Israeli security officials at the FDD<\/p>\n Inside the FDD\u2019s think tank arm is a dense network of former Israeli military and intelligence officials, many of whom have spent years advocating for aggressive sanctions on Iran, closer US-Israeli strategic alignment and military confrontation with Tehran.<\/p>\n Jacob Nagel<\/a>, a senior fellow at the FDD, served for decades in Israel\u2019s military, the Ministry of Defence and Prime Minister\u2019s Office. From 2016 to 2017, he served as the acting head of Israel\u2019s National Security Council and Netanyahu\u2019s national security adviser.<\/p>\n Nagel also led Israel\u2019s team involved in negotiations surrounding the Iran nuclear deal and previously served in Unit 8200, Israel\u2019s signals intelligence division, which has faced criticism over its surveillance of Palestinians.<\/p>\n Eyal Hulata<\/a>, another senior international fellow at the FDD, served as Israel\u2019s national security adviser from 2021 to 2023 after a long career in Israel\u2019s intelligence community.<\/p>\n According to his biography, Hulata coordinated Israel\u2019s national strategy on Iran while in office.<\/p>\n Other fellows include Jonathan Conricus<\/a>, a former international spokesperson for the Israeli military who spent years serving as a combat commander in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and Tal Kelman<\/a>, a retired Israeli major-general who previously headed strategic planning for the Israeli air force.<\/p>\n The presence of multiple former senior Israeli security officials inside an organisation that presents itself in US media as an independent US think tank has fuelled scrutiny over the FDD\u2019s claim to political neutrality.<\/p>\n Trump-era influence<\/p>\n The FDD\u2019s ties to Trump-era foreign policy circles extend well beyond Stewart. Retired Lieutenant General HR McMaster<\/a>, Trump\u2019s former national security adviser, now chairs the FDD\u2019s Center on Military and Political Power.<\/p>\n