Can a video campaign sway US support for the Iran nuclear deal?

The Clarion Project has a series of seven videos that urge Americans to write to their representatives in congress.

By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN
Updated: JULY 29, 2015 19:02
Can a video campaign sway US support for the Iran nuclear deal?
The Clarion Project is hoping to convince US Congress to vote no on the Iran deal by enlisting the help of the American public.
In March, the non-governmental organization unveiled the first video in its series of seven short films warning about the dangers of the Iran deal. Ever since world powers signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, the NGO has shifted its gears to focus on the vote in the US Congress to urge politicians to vote 'no' on US approval of the deal.
Starting from July 20, Congress was given 60 days to review the Iran nuclear agreement, hold hearings and ultimately choose to vote to approve or disapprove of the deal.
Ryan Mauro, the Clarion Project's national security adviser, spoke with The Jerusalem Post Tuesday to discuss the videos, each of which are in a distinct style. Some satirize the deal with cartoons, others invoke Adolf Hitler and past failed peace agreements, while another one envisions a dystopian future where the US has sunk into chaos and rioting because of a nuclear battle in the Middle East.
He said that the video campaign took off because Clarion saw that the deal "wasn't going to be good for the United States, good for the region or even good for the Iranian people who have to suffer under this oppressive regime."
The first video in the series, released in March is titled "Say NO to a Nuclear Iran!" To date, it has been viewed 157,000 times.
The most watched video in the series is "Super Power Poker - Live From Iran," a cartoon depicting a poker match between Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini, US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi King Salman.
Mauro says the variety of videos was done in a way that people can send a video to "your brother and another one to your friend and another one to your coworker based on whichever message you feel will best reach them so they can be informed on the dangers of Iran and the dangers of this deal."
Superimposed on each video is a link to a site called Act to Impact, which  takes viewers to an online form in which they can email their congressional representatives with two versions of a letter that urge a 'no' vote.
Mauro said that it is likely Congress will vote 'no' to the agreement, but that it will then be vetoed by US President Barack Obama. If that happens, Congress then has the ability to vote to override his veto but will need a two-thirds majority to do so. The last step, Mauro says, is "obviously more difficult."
He said that the campaign calls for citizens to pressure their elected officials and said that people can also urge their particular state to divest from Iran.
According to the project, over 1.5 million people have watched the videos to date and 50,000 letters have been sent to members of Congress.


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