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The unprecedented step taken by the Obama Administration to dialogue directly with the community demonstrated how Iranian Americans have increased their influence in the nation’s Capitol over the past decade. While NIAC staff is in close contact with top U.S. officials - including at the White House - regarding issues like preventing war, supporting human and civil rights, and opposing sanctions that hurt ordinary people, the meeting was the first time that a broader group of Iranian-American community leaders was engaged as a whole by a Presidential Administration. Previous Administrations had conducted similar sessions, though Iranian Americans were included as part of a more general Middle-East diaspora or Muslim roundtables.