Six years ago, a group of political leaders such as former American ambassador to the United Nations, Mark Wallace, ambassador Dennis Ross and former CIA director James Woolsey, established an advocacy group called "United Against Nuclear Iran" (UANI), aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. This has been done through exercising pressure on companies and institutions which deal with the Iranian government. UANI influenced the decisions adopted by the Congress. This led Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, to admit that "the strongest group active in the United States against Iran is UANI.”