The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The Iran Lobby?

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The National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a group run by Trita Parsi that has argued for more engagement with Iran and against sanctions, has gained increasing influence during the Obama administration. But a groundbreaking report in the Washington Times by Eli Lake based on internal documents, has provided evidence that NIAC may be violating the law by working as a lobbying organization for a foreign government without registering as such.

Another interesting disclosure in the story:

The organization has between 2,500 and 3,000 members, according to Mr. Parsi, but had fewer than 500 responses to a membership survey conducted last summer, internal documents show. Yet NIAC asserts that it is the largest such group and represents the majority of the nearly 1 million Iranian Americans.

During the elections and the turmoil that followed, Parsi was a leading proponent of the idea that if President Obama were to make a statement in solidarity with the protesters, that it would enable the regime to brand them as tools of America and thus undermine the cause of freedom. And the media, which were inclined to support Obama's approach, frequently trotted out Parsi as a spokesman for Iranian Americans.

Back in June, I profiled Amir Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident exiled to the U.S., who disagreed strongly with the Parsi view, and thought that Obama should be clearly articulating support for the protesters. Yet voices like Fakhravar's were drowned out by the mainstream media.

View all comments (12) | Leave a comment

David| 11.13.09 @ 12:37PM

The following statement was issued by NIAC in response to today’s article in the Washington Times:

Washington DC – NIAC is proud of its work to advance US national security through a smarter and more effective policy on Iran. NIAC rejects the insinuations made by Washington Times that its activities are in violation of tax laws, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and lobbying disclosure laws.

NIAC has provided tens of thousands of documents and all its financial records in order to prosecute a defamation case against Hassan Dai. Those documents prove the allegations made against NIAC are completely false. The judge denied Dai’s motion to dismiss the case on 18 out of 19 counts. Realizing this, the defendants have decided to maliciously leak those documents to a reporter at the Washington Times, Eli Lake, in an attempt to litigate the case in the media rather than in a court of law.

NIAC is a 501 (c)3 educational organization representing Americans of Iranian descent. It engages in educational, advocacy and limited lobbying activities in accordance with US laws and regulations. NIAC does not lobby on behalf of the Islamic Republic. NIAC advocates on behalf of the Iranian-American community, who overwhelmingly oppose the policies of the government of Iran.

Mr. Lake’s article does not present any evidence for any of its claims and stops short of making any direct accusations. Instead, it makes insinuations and engages in conspiratorial speculation, presumably with the aim of sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of the public about NIAC and fabricating a controversy around the organization.

This follows by now a familiar pattern in which neo-conservative activists have sought to smear and defame NIAC by making accusations, innuendos and speculation, without providing any evidence to back their claims.

In fact, evidence is to the contrary. Why would Ambassador John Limbert, a former hostage imprisoned for 444 days by the government in Iran, join the advisory board of an organization that supposedly represents the interests of the very same government that imprisoned him? This claim is illogical at best and ludicrous at worst.

Mr. Lake has selectively focused on emails and documents that fit with his pre-determined verdict against NIAC. Though the basis of Lake’s article is misinformation about NIAC provided by Hassan Dai, Lake did not ask a single question about our lawsuit, why it was filed, our understanding of Dai’s political motivations and Dai’s connections to the Iranian terrorist organization, the Mujahedin-e Khalq. NIAC encouraged Lake to investigate the evidence of Dai’s role in the Mujahedin-e Khalq. However, Lake declined to investigate his own sources.

It is clear that some neo-conservative elements wish to divide the Iranian Diaspora at a time when unity is needed more than ever for the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people to be achieved. While some prominent figures in the Iranian Diaspora have misunderstood NIAC’s activities, we are reaching out to them and we refuse to walk into this trap of pitting members of the community against each other.

NIAC has given the Iranian-American community a powerful voice in Washington DC that has effectively pushed for greater focus on human rights in Iran, opposed war between the US and Iran, opposed broad-based sanctions that hurt the Iranian people while strengthening its hard-line government, and supported diplomacy between the two countries to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner.

http://www.niacouncil.org/inde.....;Itemid=59

hass| 11.13.09 @ 12:46PM

500 responses out of a total membership of 3000 is actually a pretty good rate. And the Eli Lake article itself clearly says that two lawyers reviewed the "evidence" and could not find a case against NIAC or Trita Parsi.

WestWright| 11.13.09 @ 1:25PM

Appears that the NIAC Counsel/PR has commented, I wonder what else Mr. Lake or Ledeen have to say about this org?

Anthony| 11.13.09 @ 1:26PM

This article is hardly groundbreaking. It's all been reported before and just brought up to light again beacuse neocons cant seem to force Obama to go to war with Iran.

GreenD| 11.13.09 @ 1:28PM

Mr. Fakhravar is a protege of Richard Perle the neocon warmonger.

JP| 11.13.09 @ 1:55PM

Anthony and GreenD,

And the Iranians and Saudis continue to fight us through thier Wannabist proxies. Just think, we even paid half a million dollars for Major Hasan's education! What's a few skyscapers and some property worth, when you've got perhaps 50,000 proxies living amongst the infidels.

liz| 11.13.09 @ 2:02PM

JP: Trying to link Iran to "Wahabist" (Wannabists?) or 9-11 is too laughable. FYI the Saudis are US allies and are opposed to Iran.

David| 11.13.09 @ 2:11PM

There's an interesting take on the controversy here:

http://thefastertimes.com/dipl.....alty-cont/

"... NIAC has taken a leading role in denouncing the regime’s crackdown on protesters, calling for new elections, and demanding that human rights issues be put on the engagement agenda. Furthermore, the group’s blog played a key role in disseminating information about this summer’s protests and their repression, much of it deeply damaging to the regime. To state the obvious, it is hard to see how these actions are consistent with a desire to further the regime’s interests. But perhaps Lake will explain to us how disseminating videos of the regime shooting and clubbing protesters is simply a cunning plot by the devious Parsi to win support for Ahmadinejad in Washington..."

Liz| 11.13.09 @ 3:43PM

An alternate link for the Daniel Luban article cited is here:

http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/

Cyrus| 11.13.09 @ 3:55PM

What this is all really about is the NeoCons trying to undermine Ambassador Limbert's appointment to the State Department to deal with Iran matters, because he is considered to be insufficiently hawkish and/or pro-Israeli. Since they can't attack him personally, they are trying to smear NIAC, because he once served as a boardmember of NIAC. This is simply guilt-by-association.

John Barreuter| 11.13.09 @ 4:28PM

I don't care who is behind what. Trita Parsi is clearly an agent of Tehran posing as an independent player in Washington. The Green movement and the Iranian opposition also consider him a crook. Who else is acting for Tehran?

tpajax| 11.15.09 @ 12:10AM

"Clearly" and agent? Boy how silly that those two lawyers that reviewed the evidence didn't think so, eh?? And who exactly is the spokesman for the "Green Movement" and when did they vote on Trita Parsi?