The US Must Help De-Escalate the Growing Israel-Iran Conflict Now!

Today I’m writing to urge you in the strongest possible terms to press the White House and Secretary of State to use all possible diplomatic methods to de-escalate conflict between Israel and Iran. As lawmakers, you must exhaust all diplomatic channels and leverage international pressure to deescalate this conflict immediately. The United States cannot simply set back and let this aggression continue. It poses grave risks to regional and global security. This so-called "threshold war" dynamic, where a nuclear-armed state uses force to prevent another from acquiring nuclear weapons, sets a dangerous precedent that threatens to undermine longstanding non-proliferation norms and governance frameworks. Israel's preventive strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have sparked a deadly cycle of retaliation, with both sides trading strikes on military and civilian targets. This is a rapidly deteriorating situation and it risks spiraling into a wider regional conflagration, with other actors like the Houthis in Yemen already drawn in. Diplomacy's window appears to be closing as well, with nuclear talks called off and Iran considering withdrawing from the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty. This reckless military action by Israel will likely have the opposite of its intended effect, accelerating, not reducing Iran's pursuit of a nuclear deterrent. The commitment trap now in play leaves both sides unable to back down without accepting an intolerable outcome. We cannot allow this unstable threshold dynamic, devoid of traditional deterrence frameworks, to become the new model for nuclear rivalries globally. Allowing this precedent of preventive warfare against nuclear programs to stand unchallenged on the world stage risks prompting a catastrophic unraveling of the nuclear order. Peace and stability hinge on reviving nonproliferation diplomacy and renouncing the normalization of aggression seen here. The devastating human costs and existential risks of escalation cannot be overstated. You must use all possible means to bring about a de-escalation of the current “threshold war” and bring peace to the Middle East. Thank you for your attention to this matter.