The Mullahs' Washington Mouthpiece?

By Robert Spencer

“Throughout the recent crisis,” the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) announced last week, “NIAC has been in contact with the White House almost daily to convey the views of our community, and policymakers have been listening.” It “strongly condemned the crackdown” in Iran “and called for new elections as the best way to end the violence.” It has also called upon the mullahs to “immediately release opposition figures, human rights defenders, and all other persons arrested for contesting the election results,” as well as “immediately halt state-sanctioned violence against the Iranian people.”

This is all to the good, especially because, as the NIAC itself puts it, “since its inception in 2002, NIAC has grown to become the largest Iranian-American grassroots organization in the country, with supporters in all 50 states.” That the largest Iranian-American advocacy group in the country would stand against the Iranian regime’s repression of the Iranian demonstrations is welcome; however, for all its apparent advocacy of freedom for Iranians, the NIAC has consistently opposed the tough measures that would truly aid genuine fighters for freedom in Iran -- and has also opposed the steps that the United States and the West must take to defend themselves against the increasingly bellicose and brutal Islamic Republic. Read more ...

Source: Human Events

Rise of the 'Iran Lobby': Teheran's front groups move on - and into - the Obama Administration

By Clare M. Lopez

A complex network of individuals and organizations with ties to the clerical regime in Tehran is pressing forward in seeming synchrony to influence the new U.S. administration’s policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. Spearheaded by a de facto partnership between the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other organizations serving as mouthpieces for the mullahs’ party line, the network includes well-known American diplomats, congressional representatives, figures from academia and the think tank world.

This report-- documenting the rise of what can accurately be described as the “Iran Lobby” in Washington, D.C.--is derived entirely from unclassified open sources and describes in detail the activities, linkages, and objectives of this alarming alliance between NIAC, CAIR and others that is aimed at co-opting America’s foreign policy in the Middle East and specifically with Iran. Read more ...

Source: Center for Security Policy

Iranian Regime's Lobby Becomes Active in Congress

Next Tuesday, on November 18, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) will host a congressional briefing. Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Representative John Tierney (D-MA) are amongst the speakers. They will be talking about the new president’s policy towards Iran.

It is deeply concerning that a discredited group within the Iranian-American community, with blatantly obvious connections with the Islamic Republic, should be allowed to freely influence Washington’s political circles to the detriment of the American peoples’ and ultimately, the world community’s interests. It is also shocking and difficult to explain that a group labeled by the Iranian regime as the “Iranian lobby” could so easily penetrate the US Congress.

NIAC has been trusted, supported and promoted by the Iranian regime and this is the root cause of its deep discreditability within the Iranian community. Nevertheless, some American interest groups have invariably promoted such organizations to influence the US policies towards Iran.

NIAC was founded and grew strong during President Bush’s time in the office. This was mainly due to the disconcerted policies and illusory hopes adopted by his administration for engaging with Tehran which inevitably prepared favorable grounds for the formation of such groups in the first place.

Source: Progressive Iranian-American CommitteeNIAC
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

The Fraud of the National Iranian American Council

By Hassan Daioleslam

National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president Trita Parsi have arranged to receive congressional appropriated funds from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) through an expedited process. They have spent these funds on trivial activities aimed at enhancing false-flag Iranian NGOs, that were in fact managed and controlled by Iranian Deputy Ministers or high level officials - making a mockery of the term “Non-Governmental.” At the same time, NIAC and Trita Parsi have lobbied the congress to stop appropriating other funds meant for dissident democratic movements and NGOs in Iran through non-NIAC channels. While NIAC’s actions appear paradoxical, it is a cohesive, targeted and deceptive tactic that has three distinct but related goals:

- to block resources to the NGOs not controlled by the government,

- to provide resources to their showcase NGOs,

- and to funnel the American taxpayers’ money to the Iranian lobby in the US to benefit Tehran’s goals.

NIAC’s actions with respect to the congressional appropriated funds are suspect of defrauding American taxpayers and deserve nothing short of a full congressional investigation. FrontPage Magazine

Source: FrontPage Magazine

Trita Parsi, Bob Ney, and Iran's Oil Mafia: Penetrating the US Political System

By Hassan Daioleslam

Inside the National Iranian-American Council.

Robert William (Bob) Ney is a current federal prisoner and a former Ohio Congressman from 1995 until November 3, 2006. On October 13, 2006 Ney pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff lobbying and bribery scandal. Ney reportedly received bribes from Abramoff, other lobbyists, and two foreign businessmen – a felon and an arms dealer – in exchange for using his position to advance their interests.

Conspicuously missing from this dossier of disservice to the country is Ney's masterful creation of an active and disguised Washington-based lobbying enterprise for the Iranian theocratic regime, The National Iranian-American Council (NIAC). NIAC is an effective node of Tehran's comprehensive US lobbying web. This article will address the creation of NIAC, the motives underlying its formation, NIAC's manifesto, Tehran's role, NIAC's connection to Iran's oil mafia, and NIAC attempts to penetrate the US political system. Read more ...

Source: Intellectual Conservative