NIAC Resource Page

aka National Iranian American Council

Part of the FDI Truth Project

Exposing the Pro-Tehran Lobby

FDI President Kenneth R. Timmerman exposed NIAC's latest efforts to infiltrate Congress and their ties to prominent Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD-08) during his 2012 Congressional campaign.

Earlier articles on the Pro-Tehran lobby:

  • Feb. 23. 2007: The Mullah's Voice, the unofficial Iranian lobby in Washington. This is the story that first focused attention on NIAC.
  • For more, see Hassan Daioleslam's detailed expose, Iran's Oil Mafia.

Hassan Dai has posted many of NIAC's internal emails and documents that detail their efforts to lobby Congress to lift U.S. sanctions in favor of the Tehran regime.



The National Iranian American Council, NIAC, has become the leading edge of the pro-Tehran lobby in Washington, DC.Trita Parsi

FDI has been exposing their activities from the very start, when NIAC founder Trita Parsi  held his first fund-raisers in California in 2003.

In some of the blog posts below, you find links to other websites with original NIAC documents revealed during NIAC's failed lawsuit against critic Hassan Dai. NIAC tried unsuccessfully to subpoena FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman in their failed lawsuit.

Dec. 20, 2012 - Pro-Tehran group seeks an end to sanctions. The National Iranian-American Council, which has consistently lobbied the U.S. government to end sanctions and engage in direct negotiations with the Tehran regime,has sent a letter to President Obama signed by 24 U.S. and European "experts," arguing that sanctions will not compel the regime to halt its nuclear weapons program. NIAC's goal, once again, is to get U.S. sanctions lifted and to provide "cover" to the Obama administration for its efforts to craft a "grand bargain" that would guarantee U.S. recognition for the Islamist regime in exchange for window-dressing concessions by Tehran. According to Hassan Daioleslam, who won a landmark defamation suit against NIAC earlier this year (see our Sept 20, 2012 entry, below), this latest NIAC letter received a "warm reception in Tehran," where a group of former regime diplomatsreported on the NIAC effort with the title, "Did the Iran Lobby Speak Out?"

Sept. 20, 2012: Judge vindicates Hassan Dai. The Free Beacon newspaper in Washington, DC wrote a detailed account of NIAC’s failed lawsuit against Iranian-American human rights activist Hassan Daioleslam. FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman, now a candidate for Congress in Maryland, who is quoted in the article, pledged to conduct a Congressional investigation into NIAC’s alleged ties to the Iranian regime and for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, FARA

Sept 14, 2012: The End of NIAC as we know it. A federal judge in Washington, DC on Thursday dismissed the long-standing NIAC lawsuit against Iranian-American activist Hassan Daioleslam, who has claimed in numerous news articles and opinion pieces that NIAC founder Trita Parsi acts as a “lobbyist” for the the Islamic Republic of Iran. You can download the judgment here. Judge Bates also ruled that NIAC was liable to pay Dai seventy percent of his expenses, which could amount to several million dollars. This will effectively bankrupt NIAC – unless, of course, his masters decide to foot the bill. Parsi has become the darling of the George Soros Left. Since President Obama took office, Parsi has been invited to the White House and to private dinners with Sec/State Hillary Clinton.

It may be no coincidence that, as Mark Langfan argues in this compelling analysis, the Obama administration seems to have developed a tragic new concept of “red lines” when it comes to dealing with a nuclear-armed Iran: “Let's wait to attack Iran until Iran actually builds a nuclear bomb, and then we can't attack Iran because Iran has the nuclear bomb. “ Drawing on the unclassified annual “721 report” the CIA presents annually to Congress on the WMD capabilities of rogue states, Langfan argues that the overwhelming majority of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was produced since 2009, “so Obama can't blame Iran's U235 enrichment on Bush. The 721 reports prove Iranian enrichment happened on Obama's "watch."

In his opinion, Judge Bates cites email exchanges between Hassan Dai and FDI founder and CEO Kenneth R. Timmerman (NIAC tried unsuccessfully as part of its harassment campaign to compel Timmerman’s testimony in the case). Judge Bates noted on p 14 that “Timmerman pushed [DAI] to muster more factual support for his allegations…In other words, Timmerman asked precisely the sorts of questions that an editor should, and defendant apparently responded to them appropriately.”

Timmerman commented: “I am pleased that I was able to assist Hassan Dai in firming up his important research into the lobbying activities of Trita Parsi and NIAC, which always seemed to correspond to the letter to the policy goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Sept 2, 2012: Why NIAC and IRI apologists are mobilizing against Ken Timmerman. Please read this important post by FDI advisory board member, Dr. Arash Irandoost, regarding malicious, defamatory emails being circulating by NIAC sympathizers in Texas.

Aug 15,  2012: NIAC lobbies candidates and incumbents. In a brazen lobbying email sent to Members of Congress and candidates, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its left-wing allies offered an “off-the-record policy and messaging webinar” on Iran policy, featuring NIAC president Trita Parsi, to be conducted on Sept 12 at 2 PM Eastern time.

NIAC and its associates have consistently sought to lobby Congress and the executive branch to remove sanctions on Iran and negotiate with the Iranian regime.  During the 2008 election campaign, NIAC blasted the outgoing Bush administration for failing to “reach out” to Tehran, despite the fact that the U.S. held no fewer than 28 high-level negotiating sessions with Iranian regime officials from 2001-2008, to no avail.

May 5, 2012: Iranian-Americans protest appearance by pro-Tehran lobbyists Trita Parsi in Sweden.
More than 1,400 Iranian-Americanssigned a letter to the Swedish Foreign Ministry to protest their hosting an event with Parsi in Stockholm, one month after a U.S. court rejected NIAC defamation experts in their harrassment lawsuit against Hassan Dai.

 
Jan. 4, 2012: Grover Norquist, Mullah's Ally. Anti-tax campaigner Grover Norquist has used the resources of his Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) organization to help hard-left and pro-Tehran groups lobby against U.S. sanctions on Iran, a new report reveals. Norquist ally, Michael Ostrolenk (see photo), offered the ATR office suite to host a meeting to establish an anti-sanctions lobbying coalition in November 2007 that was spearheaded by Trita Parsi and his National Iranian-American Council (NIAC). Ostrolenk's group, the American Conservative Defense Alliance (ACDA) was "a founder and leader" of the anti-sanctions effort, known as Campaign for a New American Policy for Iran (CNAPI), the report states.

Norquist appears to have understood he was skating on thin ice, and never publicly signed on to CNAPI's pro-Tehran lobbying campaign, even though he allowed them to use the ATR office for organizational meetings.  As Parsi himself pointed out in an email to other members of the anti-Bush administration alliance, Norquist was a big get. "He exemplifies not just a powerful voice in the Republican Party, but also an important figure that can provide transpartisan legitimacy to our efforts," Parsi wrote.

CNAPI's efforts against U.S. sanctions on Iran were supported in part by George Soros through his Open Society Institute, which paid the salary of a CNAPI staffer. The coalition included the hard-left Institute for Policy Studies; the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), J Street, and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) .

"The founder of NIAC, Trita Parsi is an unpopular figure within the Iranian-American community, as can be seen from his high disapproval ratings in a July 2011 poll of over 1800 Iranian Americans taken by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran," writes Iranian-American activist Manda Zand Ervin. "If Mr. Norquist is supporting these apparently unabashed lobbyists out of a humanitarian concern for the people of Iran, he should know that a large majority of Iranian people have no problem with economic sanctions if they result in the removal of this illegitimate, dictatorial regime," she added.


Oct. 11, 2011: No-show for NIAC show. After two months of large-scale campaign of emails, advertisements,  phone calls, and personal invitations, fewer than 20 people showed up for the NIAC show on Capitol Hill last week.  So much  for an organization that falsely claims to be the largest Iranian-American organization with more than 4000 members and 43000 active supporters! The pathetic showing came despite a boost from a Department of State website, a popular pro-Tehran website run by a NIAC sycophant, and from Rep. Jim Moran. Read this update from our advisory board member Dr. Arash Irandoost. [Photo: NIAC founder Trita Parsi with Hooman Majd, who boasts in his own memoire that he has worked as "an unpaid advisor to two Iranian presidents," Khatami and Ahmadinejad.]

  Oct. 10, 2011: Friday Night Massacre at VOA. The Voice of America's Persian service has eliminated four top broadcasters known for their anti-regime positions, in what appears to have been a Friday Night Massacre orchestrated by NIAC protegé Ramin Asgard, now the director of VOA Persian. When he was still at the U.S. consultate in Dubai, Asgard worked closely with NIAC founder Trita Parsi, offering to allow Parsi to "handpick Iranian-Americans to staff the State Department’s primary field office on Iran," according to a former aide to Sen. Tom Coburn (R, OK). The broadcasters fired included Jamshid Chaharlangi, Ahmad Batebi, Kianoush Sanjari, and Kourosh Seyhati.

FDI sources say that Asgard is hoping to fire more anti-regime journalists, while adding to the five young NIAC members recently brought on board from southern California, to complete the VOA's transformation into the Voice of the Mullahs. A recent evaluation of VOA broadcasting that appears to have given support to Asgard's makeover was authored by Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American "scholar" who has worked as Ahmadinejad's "voice" during his vistis to New York.

Iranian regime intelligence planted a story with Press TV several months ago alleging a sexual harassment investigation against Chaharlangi, when in fact no such investigation was under way nor allegations made. Press TV is widely believed to be controlled by Iran's ministry of information and security, MOIS.
Aug. 31, 2011: Facebook blocks anti-NIAC "cause. Internet giant Facebook has taken down a prominent "cause" that had attracted close to 3,000 supporters, ostensibly because its title, "NIAC is a Lobbyist for the Islamic Republic of Iran," might be considered defamatory. Despite a spate of email requests from members to re-instate the page, Facebook "Causes" executive Sydney Fleischer refused, suggesting instead that the activists choose a different name for their action. According to one of the activists, FDI advisory board member Arash Irandoost, NIAC has boasted of having "taken down" the anti-NIAC page from Facebook's Causes website. "Unlike Trita [Parsi - NIAC's president] we are not driven by money. We are doing what we believe to be morally right. I, much like you, am driven by conviction and values," Dr. Irandoost said in an email.

So far, Facebook has taken no action against a replacement "cause" page set up yesterday. This cause had the straightforward title, "United Against NIAC."  FDI has joined this "cause" as a supporter and urges our readers and supporters to do the same. (A similar page, "National Iranian American Council and Trita Parsi, Myths vs. Facts," has also been set up.

• NIAC efforts to compel testimony from FDI fail in court. A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, DC yesterday rejected long-standing efforts by NIAC to compel testimony and documents from FDI in relation to NIAC's lawsuit against Hassan Daioleslam. In an early subpoena, served on FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman at his residence in January 2010, NIAC demanded that he produce “any email, article, letter or work, published or unpublished, public or private that you (or anyone under your (direct or indirect) direction, supervision or control) has produced or has in your possession regarding....the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The court quickly rejected that demand as an open-ended fishing expedition, but NIAC took 18 months to serve a new subpoena, claiming in court documents it couldn't locate Mr. Timmerman's residence, even though they had already served him at that location! Yesterday's court order vindicates FDI's efforts to quash the subpoena.

"Plaintiffs had ample opportunity to depose Timmerman prior to the February 4, 2011 discovery deadline," the Court order reads. "The Court then provided plaintiffs with additional time to depose Timmerman, allowing, them up until May 13, 2011 to take the deposition. Although plaintiffs maintain that their failure to depose Timmerman is attrributable to Timmerman's attempts to evade service of process, the court finds this explanation unpersuasive, given that (1) plaints appear to have known Timmerman's home address throughout this litigation..."

In fact, the court documents allege some troubling connections involving NIAC's attorney, Afshin Pishevar, of Rockville, MD.

"Plaintiffs’ have conveniently neglected to advise the court in regard to the service issue, that Abraham Pishevar, the father of plaintiffs’ present counsel, Afshin Pishevar, worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of Timmerman, has been to Timmerman’s home on numerous occasions in conjunction with campaign conferences, and has taken photographs of Timmerman and the inside of Timmerman’s home which, (Timmerman was subsequently informed) Pishevar provided to the Iranian government," the court documents revealed.

Perhaps encouraged by the successful efforts to get inside Timmerman's house, NIAC attorneys now wanted to get inside Timmerman's computer. Wisely, the US District court said no.

May 23, 2011: DACOR rejections calls to cancel Trita Parsi. Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) has rejected calls by Iranian-Americans to cancel Trita Parsi's presentation on May 24. The group will host Parsi at a Forum on Iran at noon at its historic mansion, known as Bacon House, at 1801 F street, NW in Washington, DC, despite protests by Iranian-Americans that Parsi represents the positions of the Iranian regime. FDI joined other Iranian-Americans in a letter urging DACOR to cancel Parsi's presentation. "The Iranian-American community considers the "self-appointed" Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) an intellectually dishonest regime apologist and an unofficial and unregistered lobby for the Iranian regime. He contributes to the regime’s agenda and serves the interests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran, not the Iranians, nor the Iranian-Americans. In a recent survey, 96% of the Iranian-Americans expressed that Trita is a lobbyist for the Iranian regime," the letter states.

A separate letter, sent by Walton Martin of the Iran Information Project and and Dr. Gill Gillespie of the Iranian Refugees Action network, notes that internal NIAC documents show NIAC's "intent to outright deceive Congress, the NED, Iranian-Americans and Americans as a whole under the guise of pretending to pursue human rights issues."

May 17, 2011: Iranian-Americans Step Up Protests of NIAC Misrepresentation. Iranian-Americans have written a series open letters over the past few weeks to protest the misrepresentations of NIAC and its founder, Trita Parsi. The latest installment, released today, was addressed to General Wesley Clark, took part in a recent forum with Paris. "Dr. Trita Parsi and NIAC are shunned by the Iranian American community. We overwhelmingly believe that he is a lobbyist for the Islamic Republic. In a survey conducted of NIAC by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran, over 95% of the Iranians believe that NIAC does not represent their interests or their views," writes Sheri Alavandian of the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran. She added that documents and emails that have come to light in NIAC's lawsuit against Hassan Dai "clearly shows NIAC has been advocating for policies favorable to the Islamic (non)Republic government in Iran." The documents also indicate that NIAC may have misused funds obtained from the National Endowment for Democracy, Ms. Alavandian writes.

May 8, 2011: FDI Joins Iranian-American Activists Calling on UCLA to disinvite Iran-regime apologist Trita Parsi. In a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a group of Iranian-American activists, joined by FDI, called on UCLA to cancel its invitation to Trita Parsi to address an upcoming forum on Iran. As the letter states, "the Iranian- American community considers Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) an intellectually dishonest regime apologist. He contributes to the regime’s agenda and serves the interests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran." Read the full letter here.

April 25, 2011: Trita Parsi hits brick wall in Canada. Following an oped by FDI president Kenneth Timmerman and Canadian human rights activist and advocate Sayeh Hassan in the National Post on Friday, pro-Tehran lobbyist Trita Parsi appears to have backed out from participating in the Ottowa Iran conference.  (See April 22, below). More to come as the details emerge...

Parsi and friends continue to try to curry favor with the Obama White House. A key Parsi sponsor and funder, Noosheen Hashemi, founder and chairman of the Hand Foundation and the PARSA Foundation, paid $35,800 to attend an Obama celebrity fund-raiser  on April 20 at billionaire Marc Benioff's San Francisco home.

The PARSA foundation has given grants worth more than $400,000 recently to NIAC, according to its own website. Most of these grants came after NIAC reportedly had advised the State Department and the White House not to openly criticize the Iranian regime for its crackdown on protesters after the June 2009 election fraud in Iran.

April 22, 2011: Conference on Iran to feature Tehran apologist. In an opinion column in today's National Post, FDI president Kenneth Timmerman and Canadian human rights activist and advocate Sayeh Hassan urged the Canadian authorities to cancel a scheduled speech by Trita Parsi at a conference on Iran to be held in Ottowa next month.The conference will be sponsored in part by the Canadian Department of National Defence and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), making the invitation of a known pro-Tehran advocate all the more questionable. "Given the leadership role the Canadian government has taken in condemning Tehran’s human rights violations, pushing for smart sanctions and showing support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran, it is therefore surprising that the Ministry of National Defence and CSIS, two entities responsible for the safety and security of Canadians, did not perform due diligence on Trita, the founder of the Teheran-friendly NIAC," we argue.

The Canadian Parliament calls Ahmadinejad's regime "a threat to peace, human rights, and international law." Read their ground-breaking report (PDF file)
 
March 17, 2011: Have an opinion on Trita Parsi and NIAC? Take this online survey. Is Parsi an Iranian regime agent? A human rights activist? Should NIAC be shut down? Be forced to answer questions on its ties to regime officials? Take the survey here.

Jan. 8, 2010: NIAC - a False Friend of the Green Movement. Hassan Daioleslam reveals the "sea change" Trita Parsi and his pro-Tehran lobbying group have undergone since the green movement came on the scene this year. In Jan. 2008, when an Iranian-American asked him why NIAC didn't stand up against human rights abuses in Iran, Parsi demurred, saying 'we do not have the expertise' in the area... Now, of course, NIAC is trying to make people believe that they are in the forefront of the Green movement. Their agenda? Same as before: no U.S. sanctions on Iran, and no credible military option - just what Tehran wants.

Dec. 2, 2009: Trita Parsi faces tough question from American University students. Asked to defend his pro-engagement policy toward Iran, NIAC founder Trita Parsi  says that the U.S. is not legitimizing the Iranian regime through talks. He also claimed, against all evidence, that the leaders of the Green Movement inside Iran seek to "reform" the Islamic Republic. An American University student quoted a recent statement by former president Khatami - the father of the "reform" illusion movement - who recently said that the regime was illegitimate and "reform" was "no longer an option."

Meanwhile, emails between Parsi and Iran's Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations have surfaced in a lawsuit pitting NIAC against Hassan Daioleslam. These emails, reproduced in an essay by Mr. Daioleslam in the American Thinker, caused him to retort that "Trita Parsi Reports to Tehran."

Nov. 19, 2008: NIAC attempts to silence critics. FDI has received emails from a number of Iranian-Americans who tried to attend the NIAC event on Tuesday, but were turned away when they tried to register online on the pretext the event was "overbooked." However, NIAC set up a special line at the entry to admit friends of NIAC who had not pre-registered. NIAC goons also attempted to prevent a credentialed reporter unsympathetic to their views from entering the conference room, only to be rebuked by a staff member of conference organizer, Sen. Thomas Carper (D, DE). To prevent embarassing questions (for example, about NIAC's alleged violation of its grants from the National Endowment for Democracy), NIAC staff turned off the microphones positioned at the back of the room, so that unmiked questions from the floor could be screened by Parsi and rephrased to his liking.

Nov. 17, 2008: Newsmax.com: Suspect Group Asks Obama to Stop Pressuring Iran. Excerpt:

Among those who will present the proposals on Tuesday is Joseph Cirincirone, an arms control advocate identified as an “advisor to the Obama transition team,” and Trita Parsi, a pro-Tehran activist who has been lobbying Congress for several years to lift sanctions against Tehran and end U.S. support for the pro-democracy movement. [...]
“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,” the Progressive American-Iranian Committee said in an editorial published on Saturday.

“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 U.S. Congress,” they added, referring to Parsi’s National Iranian American Council, which is sponsoring Tuesday’s event.

Condemnation of the NIAC conference have come in from all sides. FDI has received statements from monarchist, nationalist, center-left and independent groups. NIAC critic, Hassan Dailoleslam, told FrontPage magazine on Monday he believes the Obama administration will be forced by reality to reject NIAC's capitulationist entreaties and "adopt a more robust policy than what President Bush has been pursuing. Shortly after, those who favor Iran will portray the Obama administration as being under Israeli’s orders and infiltrated by Neocons."

Nov. 14, 2008: Update. Next Tuesday's meeting will begin at 2:30 PM in room 902 of the U.S. Senate Hart building. It is being sponsored by Sen. Thomas Carper (D, DE), who will also give a keynote address, as will Rep. John Tierney (D, MA). NIAC, which is organizing the event, is attempting to prevent Iranian-American activists from attending this meeting, by requiring prior registration. (RSVP to Hormoz Rashidi at
rsvp@niacouncil.org or (202) 386-6324). This is typical for NIAC, and for NIAC president Trita Parsi, who knows that his capitulation policies are deeply unpopular with Iranian-Americans. Parsi has refused to debate with critics such as Hassan Daioleslam or with FDI.
ACTION: Call Sen. Carper's office: 202-224-2441, and Rep. John Tierney's office 202-225-8020 using the script below.

URGENT ACTION:  Nov. 13, 20008: PROTEST NIAC CAPITULATION PLAN

Call Sen. Carper's office: 202-224-2441, and Rep. John Tierney's office 202-225-8020 using the script below

NIAC is at it again. Now they are working together with pro-Tehran regime policy analysts, to propose a disastrous “new” policy for the incoming Obama administration toward Iran.

According to a report from the Associated Press today, they will present their proposals next Tuesday in Congress. Key among the proposals: the U.S. should "back off" on economic and military threats.

"Threats are not cowing Iran and the current regime in Tehran is not in imminent peril," according to a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press.

The NIAC-sponsored report, written by former U.S. ambassadors Thomas Pickering and James F. Dobbins, Columbia University scholar Gary G. Sick and 17 other experts, calls on the new administration to  "open the door to direct, unconditional and comprehensive negotiations at the senior diplomatic level,” the AP reported.

Recall that Pickering and Dobbins have been working for many years with another pro-regime lobbyist, Hooshang Amirahmadi, and his discredited American-Iranian Council. As for Gary Sick, he coordinated Iran policy in the White House of Jimmy Carter – a credential that ought to disqualify him from uttering the name of “Iran” ever again.

Amirahmadi was recently humiliated during several trips to Tehran by regime government ministers who ridiculed him for trying to curry favor in Washington and Tehran.

URGENT ACTION: CALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO PROTEST THIS GATHERING.

Suggested script:

I am calling to urge you to oppose a new plan being proposed to the Obama administration next Tuesday, that calls for negotiations without preconditions with the clerical dictatorship in Iran.

This plan is being proposed to you by a group of well-known pro-Tehran lobbyists, with no claim of representing the Iranian people or their aspirations.

The Foundation for Democracy in Iran and other pro-democracy groups strongly reject negotiations with the Tehran regime. Negotiations will only embolden the regime to continue its support for terrorism abroad and repression at home. Negotiations are the wrong policy at the wrong time.

[And if you have more time, you can include this]:

Instead of loosening sanctions, as NIAC and the pro-regime lobbyists are urging, I urge you to support stronger, multilateral sanctions at the UN Security Council, and continued financial  sanctions through the U.S. Department of Treasury.

A senior French government official, recently visiting Washington, urged the new administration to abandon the folly of negotiations with Tehran.

“We’ve been negotiating with the Iranians since 2003,” said French nuclear advisor Therese Delpech. “We came to the conclusion that they are not interested at all in negotiating, but in buying time for their military (nuclear) program.”

PLEASE CALL:

The Good Guys: Call these members to urge them to intervene with their colleagues to cancel this meeting:

• Sen. Joe Lieberman (D, Conn). Since the report will be presented by law professor Richard Parker of the University of Connecticut, Sen. Lieberman needs to be kept in the loop and can help. Tel: 202 224-4041. Key staffer on Iran: Joe Goffman and Vance Serchuk.
• Rep. Eric Cantor (R, Va). 202-225-2815. Chief of staff, Rob Collins.

• Rep. Trent Franks (R, Az). 202-225-4576 Key staffer: Rebeccah Heinrichs.
• Rep. Brad Sherman (D, Ca). 202-225-5911. Key staffer for Iran: Don MacDonald.
• Rep. Steve Rothman (D, NJ). 202-225-5061. Key staffers: Bob Decheine and Shelly Stoneman
• Rep Steve Israel (D, NY). 202-225-3335. Key staffer, Michael Ryan.
• Rep. Roy Blunt (R, Mo). 202-225-6536. Retiring as minority whip but staying in the House. Key staffer: Brian Diffell.
• Rep. Paul Broun (R, Ga). 202-225-4101

The Bad Guys: Call these members to shame them for supporting a radical, terrorist regime that continues to murder Americans in Iraq, that represses its own women, jails its journalists, and murders its children.

•Sen. Chuck Hagel (R, NE). Hagel is retiring after this term, but has been a strong NIAC supporter.202-225-4224.
 Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D, MD). Van Hollen has helped NIAC in the past and is the chair of the DCCC.  Tel: 202-225-5341. Chief of Staff: Karen Robb.

• Rep. Jim Moran (D, Va). Moran is arguably NIAC’s biggest supporter. He needs to be shamed.202-225-4376. Chief of Staff: Phil Sunderland

On the Fence: Call these members to urge them to get involved.

• Rep. Howard Berman (D, CA). Rep. Berman is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee. 202-225-5021 Key staffer for Iran: Alan Makovsky.

June 19, 2008: NIAC  reportedly spent U.S. Congressional funds on regime-affiliated agencies in Tehran! In stunning revelations that appeared inFrontpage magazine today, Iranian research Hassan Daioleslam reveals that the National Iranian American Council used money from a 2002 grant from the National Endowment for Democracy to train officials at an Iranian state-affiliated agency in Tehran, contrary to the stated purpose of the NED grant. While the money was appropriated by Congress to promote civil society in Iran, NIAC "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," Daioleslam writes. Among the Tehran-based "NGO's that were assisted by NIAC under the NED grant was an outfit called Hamyran, which "is not an NGO but a government initiated false flag agency... managed by the deputy minister and undersecretary of health, Hossein Malek-Afzali," Dailoleslam added. A second "NGO" aided by NIAC under the NED grant was the Family Planning Association, also headed by Malek-Afzali and Iranian government official Safieh Afshari.

May 15, 2008: NIAC and Parsi file lawsuit against critics. The National Iranian American Council and its president, Trita Parsi, have filed a civil lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Columbia against Hassan Daioleslam, alleging that recent articles he has published defamed and harmed their reputation. In a press release today, NIAC claimed that Daioleslam "mischaracterized NIAC's anti-war and pro-diplomacy activities as serving the interest of the Iranian government." (Gee, if this were true, it sounds like what the New York Times does with Republicans every day!). "[D]despite NIAC's efforts, Daioleslam has continued to do nothing but defame NIAC through defamation," the press release states. The group, which Daioleslam has called "the Iranian lobby" in the United States, then tossed out a piece of malicious slander of its own, alleging that Daioleslam "has been identified by former members of the terrorist-listed Mujahedin organization as a member of the group's executive committee," an allegation which they know is demonstrably false.

In the complaint, NIAC claims that factual assertions made by Daioleslam "are false," even though Daioleslam backed up those assetions with documents made available through Internet links so that readers could judge the merit of his claims. NIAC and Parsi take issue with Daioleslam's account of how NIAC was founded, its relationship to Iranian oil consultant and middle man, Siamack Namazi, the efforts of former Iranian deputy foreign minister Sadegh Kharrazi to encourage the creation a pro-Tehran lobby, and Parsi's part in releasing to the public a 2003 negotiation offer by the Iranian regime, which Washington rejected after Tehran was caught backing the May 2003 al Qaeda attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In a recent interview with Frontpage magazine, Daioleslam describes in detail the Iranian government strategy to create a pro-regime lobby in the United States, and attributes that strategy to Sadegh Kharazzi.  Trita Parsi and Siamak Namazi used precisely the same logic in a 1999 paper they co-authored and presented at an international conference, in which they advocated the creation of an "Iranian-American lobby... needed in order to create a balance between the competing Middle Eastern lobbies." (Daioleslam's response in Persian is here.)

In recent months, Iranian-Americans have protested NIAC events in California and elsewhere. So far, Iranian-Americans have responded overwhelmingly in Daioleslam's support. "We should treat this lawsuit as if we were all sued by NIAC," one UCLA student wrote. "It should be treated like a political campaign, where Mr. Daioleslam should not have to worry."

Update: Dr. Mohammad Parvin, director of MEHR, has  taken apart NIAC's recent efforts to recast themselves as a human rights organization. "Being exposed and on the run, NIAC has discovered that to remain an active promoter of IRI, a little lip service to human rights doesn’t hurt," Dr. Parvin writes at FrontPage magazine.

April 7, 2008: Iranian-Americans petition Sen. Feinstein to withdraw from NIAC event. The Mission for the Establishment of Human Rights in Iran (MEHR) has launched an on-line petition, asking Sen. Diane Feinstein to withdraw from tomorrow's NIAC event on Capitol Hill. Noting the Senator's reputation as a human rights advocate, MEHR said, "NIAC is a group that lobbies for the unconditional relations  with the religious dictatorship in  Iran  and for making this possible has tried hard to de-emphasize the daily human rights violation in  Iran. Reza Pardisian has included full contact information for Sen. Feinstein. And Dr. Saeed Ganji has faxed a more detailed letter to Sen. Feinstein, urging her to withdraw from the NIAC. event.

Dr. Mohammad Parvin and Hassan Daioleslam reveal in "Flirting with the Mullahs" that an Iranian-American Democrat party activist, Afshine Afshar, has played an active role in the "Iran lobby," setting up the Iranian Trade Association in 1997 to introduce U.S. oil companies to senior Iranian government offi8cials.

Aug. 3, 2007: Iranian scholar Hassan Daioleslam dissects the "disinformation campaign" by pro-Iranian regime circles in policy think tanks. Focusing on Ray Takyeh of the Council on Foreign Relations, Daioleslam argues that they have attempted to paint the regime as pragmatic, cooperative on terror, reasonable on nuclear issues, and no threat to U.S. security or regional stability. According to this view, "All US has to do is to offer more carrots to the Iranian regime to have them behave in a friendlier manner," he argues.

In earlier articles, Daileslam has exposed NIAC (see below) for championing the viewpoint of Tehran in Washington; most recently, NIAC has attempted to appropriate the issue of human rights, he wrote.

NIAC carefully filtered access to the July 26 event, preventing more than a dozen Iranian-American human rights activists from expressing their views. Among those prevented entry to the Congressional meeting room were Dr. Manouchehr Ganji and Manda Zand-Karimi.

See also Sen. Jon Kyl's policy prescriptions on Iran

July 25, 2007: Policy alert: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and sponsors in Congress will host a panel this Thursday, July 26, that will be chaired by Trita Parsi, a Swedish-Iranian also known as the "mullah's voice" in Washington.

The informal hearing will take place from 12:00-2:30 PM in room B369 of the Rayburn House Office Building tomorrow. In a Frontpage magazine column this week, FDI President Kenneth R. Timmerman explains that Parsi and his group have consistently opposed U.S. Assistance to pro-democracy groups in Iran, and have advocated in favor of expanded U.S.relations with the Iranian regime, making his presence at such a panel a travesty.

This is still time to prevent this from happening. FDI calls on supporters to call Alex Arriega at Amnesty International, the nominal sponsor of the event. She can be reached at 202-544-0200. Alternately, phone Amnesty' Middle East Advocacy director, Mr. Zahir John Mohammad, at 202-675-8755.

Please also call Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D, MD), who booked the room for this outrageous event. His office: 202-225-5341.

There are plenty of authentic victims of Iranian human rights abuses available in Washington, DC for such a hearing, as well as authentic spokespersons for those victims. Trita Parsi is not one of them.

July 25, 2007: Trita Parsi and NIAC are trying to silence independent writer and freedom activist Hassan Daioleslam, who for years had worked with the Liberation Movement of former Prime Minister Mehdi Barzagan, by sending threatening letters to Voice of America. As noted yesterday by Omid Biniaz at the American Thinker, Parsi and NIAC were attempting to use "bullying and intimidating tactics" against VOA by fake threats of legal action. Ms.Biniaz welcomed legal action by NIAC, since "Iranians would welcome the opportunity to hear Mr. Parsi, under oath, explain his relation with Tehran and a potpourri of felons close to them."

In a press release in April, NIAC openly slandered Mr. Dailoleslam by calling him "a Marxist Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) supporter," because an MEK-affiliated website had picked up one of his articles exposing NIAC's ties to the Iran oil mafia. In fact, in a statement released today, Mr. Dailoleslam said that while many Persian-language websites picked up his article, "This by no means suggests I am affiliated to any of them." He accused NIAC of launching a "disinformation campaign to create a smoke screen hiding its disguised relations with mullahs," and stated categorically, "I have never been in MEK or worked with MEK."

It is also worthwhile noting most public references in English to the Mujahedin-e Khalq use the abbreviation MEK, but that the Iranian regime in its publications almost always refers to the group as MKO.

Mr Dailoleslam revealed in his statement that in addition to working with Barzagan in Iran, he was in charge of collecting donations in Europe along with two other members of Barzagan's Freedom Movement, an opponent of the MEK.

March 26, 2007: The California Assembly will hear legislation on Wednesday, March 28, at 9 AM, that would require the State pension funds to disinvest from companies doing business in Iran. The pro-Tehran group NIAC has come out against the bill. Why? Because it just might convince major multinational companies to rethink their business in Tehran. Four trade unions have already come out in favor of the bill.

Last week, legislators in Maryland introduced similar legislation. Here's a round-up of the current Disinvest Terror campaign.

Feb 23 , 2007: FDI Executive Director exposes NIAC Dirctor Trita Parsi as "the Mullah's Voice," at Frontpagemag.com

- In a symposium with Michael Ledeen, Patrick Clawson, Andy McCarthy, and Steve Schippert, FDI Director Timmerman argues that the United States should increase pressure on the regime on human rights and other issues, roll up their networks in Iraq, and insist on compliance with UN Security Council resolutions without further negotiations. Read the details here.

April 26, 2005:  Iranian-Americans blast anti-sanctions activists. The Iranian-American Jewish Federation (IAJF), led by Sam Kermanian, has joined the growing ranks of Iranian-American groups to expose the agenda of an anti-sanctions lobbying group that shares many of the same policy objectives as the Islamic Republic. The National Iranian American Council (www.niacouncil.org) has been seeking for years to organize Iranian-Americans to lobby Congress against the sanctions and in favor of open economic ties with the clerical regime in Tehran. Also opposing NIAC's latest efforts to create false facts (such as a "scientific" poll showing that Iranian-Americans want sanctions to be lifted so they can invest in the Islamic Republic of Iran is the nationalist, secular Marzepourgohar movement, led by Roozbeh Farahanipour. Click here for the full text of the IAJF and MPG statements.

Earlier, the Iranian-American Republican Council denounced the NIAC poll, which claimed that four out of five Iranian-Americans opposed the Iran Freedom Support Act (see April 14, below). The IARC urged Iranian-americans to make their views known directly by phoning or writing to members of Congress in support of HR 282, and demanded NIAC's "immediate and clear retraction [of] false claims of representing the views of Iranian-Americans."

May 22, 2003: Exiles call for protest of pro-Tehran meetings in California next week. A new pro-Tehran lobbying group, the "National Iranian American Council," an apparent successor to Housang Amirahmadi's American Iranian Council, plans to hold two meetings in California on May 30 and May 31, which have angered Iranian-Americans seeking to promote democracy in Iran. Among the announced speakers are U.S. Representatives Bob Ney (R, Ohio) and Mike Honda (D, CA). The opposition groups have called on supporters to protest the pro-Tehran meetings at the following times and locations:

1) Friday, May 30 at 6:30 PM at the Santa Clara Convention Center, room 210, located at 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA (Tel: 408-748-7000) at 6:30 PM,

2) Saturday, May 31, at 2 PM, in front of the Sheraton Hotel, 1108 N. Mathilda Ave, Sunnyvale, CA (408-752-8000).

3) Sunday, June 1 at 2 PM, in front of the wyndham Hotel Orange County, 3350 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA (across from South Coast Plaza), 714-751-5100.