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The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, often called WINEP, was founded in 1985 by people connected to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby. It describes itself as independent and nonpartisan. Actor and activist John Cusack, in a widely shared list of the institutions behind the push for war, called it "a spin-off of AIPAC" (Cusack on X, June 19, 2025). Its fellows testify before Congress, serve in administrations, and appear constantly in the press. This page covers what it recommended on Iran, and a 2012 video in which its research director explained how America could be brought to war with Iran.

February 2026: "launch limited military strikes"​

On February 25, 2026, three days before the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the Washington Institute's managing director, Michael Singh, published "Trump's Best Options on Iran: Limited Strikes and Continued Military, Economic, and Diplomatic Pressure." He recommended that the United States "launch limited military strikes" on Iran's missiles and security targets, while arguing against a full regime-change war (Washington Institute, February 25, 2026). The United States went far beyond "limited." Once a respected institute tells Washington that "limited" strikes are the moderate choice, war itself has already been accepted as the baseline.

2012: "How America 'Gets to War'"​

The most revealing Washington Institute document is a video. Posted on October 9, 2023, the day after the Hamas attack on Israel, it shows Patrick Clawson, the institute's director of research, speaking in 2012 on the subject "How America 'Gets to War'" with Iran. The poster wrote: "They've been looking for an excuse to go to war with Iran for a LONG time. This video is from 2012, but wasn't leaked until 2020. They're saying point blank what they need to do to start a war with Iran" (Operation Libertas on X, October 9, 2023; about 220,000 views). The words in the 70-second clip were not transcribed in the captured material; readers can watch it at the link.

The theme of the clip matches a 2009 paper by the Brookings Institution, which openly discussed provoking Iran so that an American response would look justified (see Brookings, "Which Path to Persia?").

Among the war's top cheerleaders​

Journalist Eli Clifton reported in April 2026 that the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the American Enterprise Institute, the Hudson Institute, "and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy were among the top think tanks cheerleading the war in Iran" (Clifton on X, April 14, 2026).

Other papers​

The institute's output on Iran, as cited in the captures, includes a 2020 policy paper by Ariane Tabatabai, "Nuclear Decision-Making in Iran: Implications for US Non-Proliferation Efforts" (source list, Linnaeus, June 21, 2025), and a December 30, 2025 paper, "Iran's Failing Eastward Pivot? The Limits and Risks of Russia-China Alignment" (@RutkowskiDr on X, March 9, 2026), published weeks before the war and arguing, by its title, that Iran's great-power partners would not rescue it. Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser, chose the Washington Institute as the venue to declare in 2023 that the U.S. recognized "Israel's freedom of action" against Iran (The Intercept, May 24, 2023).

Status: Michael Singh, Patrick Clawson, Ariane Tabatabai, Jake Sullivan, Eli Clifton, and John Cusack are alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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