Alleged Role of U.S. Think Tanks in Promoting Military Action Against Iran: A Report
A report published by Responsible Statecraft on April 14, 2026, alleged that several Washington, D.C.|Washington-based think tanks played a prominent role in promoting United States|U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran in the months leading up to a conflict that began on February 28, 2026 (Lobe, 2026).
According to the report, four different Artificial intelligence|AI programs (Gemini (chatbot)|Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude (language model)|Claude, and Grok (chatbot)|Grok) identified the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Hudson Institute, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), and the Heritage Foundation as among the most prominent institutions advocating military action against Iran between July 1, 2025, and February 27, 2026 (Lobe, 2026).
Think tanks identified
The AI models ranked FDD as the most prominent war promoter. The report noted that FDD's original 2001 IRS filing described its mission as "providing education to enhance Israel's image in North America and the public’s understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations" (Lobe, 2026).
The Heritage Foundation, which identifies with an "America First (policy)|America First" foreign policy, published a report in March 20025 [sic; likely 2025] calling for a "strategic partnership" with Israel. The other three think tanks (AEI, Hudson, WINEP) were described as falling into the Neoconservatism|neoconservative camp, with support for Israel as a central principle (Lobe, 2026).
Other think tanks cited by at least one AI model included the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), the Center for Security Policy (CSP), the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the Atlantic Council. According to Claude, ISW's "framing of Iranian threats consistently supported the case for military actions." ChatGPT noted that CSIS and the Atlantic Council had "mixed views internally" but that some fellows supported military strikes (Lobe, 2026).
Comparison with Iraq War advocacy
All four AI models found a significant overlap between the think tanks that promoted the 2003 invasion of Iraq and those identified as promoting war with Iran. The report highlighted the role of Richard Perle (dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" of AEI), who served on advisory boards of FDD, WINEP, Hudson, CSP, and JINSA, and was a signatory of the 1997 Project for the New American Century (PNAC). PNAC included future George W. Bush administration officials such as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliott Abrams (Lobe, 2026).
According to Grok, "the same networks drove both campaigns two decades apart." The report noted that after the Iraq War became unpopular, neoconservatives such as Douglas Feith and Scooter Libby moved to the Hudson Institute, and FDD effectively became "the successor-vehicle for the Iraq War neoconservative network, rebranded and refocused on Iran" (Lobe, 2026).
Methods and limitations
The AI models were asked to identify the ten U.S. think tanks most prominent in print, broadcast, online, and social media in promoting a U.S. attack on Iran during the specified period. Each AI defined "prominence" differently – for example, ChatGPT used "most consistently visible," while Grok ranked only those whose experts dominated United States Congress|congressional testimony and media appearances. Grok identified only six think tanks, noting that prominence dropped sharply after the top tier (Lobe, 2026).
The report's author, Jim Lobe, is a contributing editor of Responsible Statecraft and formerly served as chief of the Washington, D.C.|Washington bureau of Inter Press Service. The report was published by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which advocates a non-interventionist U.S. foreign policy (Lobe, 2026).
See also
References
Lobe, J. (2026, April 14). Blame these think tanks for the Iran War. Responsible Statecraft. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-war-think-tanks/