The Iran lobby is used to describe the coalition of organizations that seek and have sought to influence the foreign policy of the United States toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Within the Islamic Republic of Iran exists an official agency called 'The Supreme Council for Iranians Living Abroad'. This agency was formed at the highest levels of the Iranian regime at some point in the early part of the decade with the specific objective of “establishing specialized groups and non-governmental bodies among Iranians living abroad.” [1] The rise of the Iran lobby began shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 where strong opposition to U.S. policy reigned supreme in the Middle East. In 2010 the impact the sanctions implored after three years of negotiation attempts between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Western powers indicate that the policy of appeasement with Iran failed and it has been replaced by policy of coercion and isolation.[2] The pro-Tehran campaign was mainly launched during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami. Its first goal was to hide Khatami's irrelevance and lack of power in Iranian politics, and to represent the “reform government” as an irreversible trend which the U.S. should accommodate and get along with. [3]
Trita Parsi is the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and an expert on U.S.-Iranian relations, Iranian politics, and the balance of power in the Middle East. He is also the author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States.[4] According to his personal Curriculum Vitae, Parsi “established the first lobby group in the U.S. to support the normalization of ties between Iran and the U.S.” and lobbied “U.S. Congress, EU and Swedish Parliaments” on behalf of Iranians for International Cooperation (IIC), a former Iran lobbying organization where Parsi once was president. [5] Parsi also leads a coalition of approximately twenty organizations that suggest U.S. government engagement with Iran.[2]
In 1999, Trita Parsi who was living in Sweden, together with Siamak Namazi from Tehran, elaborated a seminal paper and discussed the way to create an "Iranian American lobby in U.S." They wrote: "This lobby is needed in order to create a balance between the competing Middle Eastern lobbies. Without it, Iran-bashing may become popular in Congress again." They went into details about the functioning of the AIPAC (the Israeli lobby) and argued that the Iranian lobby should follow the same path. [3]
Treacherous Alliance, Parsi’s book, claims that Israel has tried to prevent a formation of an alliance between the U.S. and Iran since 1992. According to Parsi the Israeli lobby is influential, powerful and in total control of U.S. foreign policy toward Iran; Parsi furthers this message by claiming that the Israeli desire to isolate Iran, has been transferred to the U.S. policy toward Iran. In 2007 Parsi and his partners claimed that "the U.S. has refused to start a dialogue with Iran for the past 26 years." [6] Contrary to Parsi's 2007 claim, is Parsi's 2000 declaration of praise to the United States Secretary of State’s actions to open dialogue between the U.S. and Iran, in a statement titled “IIC welcome’s U.S.’s olive branch” he wrote: “Secretary Albright's speech at the Asia Society is the first indication of a genuine willingness from the U.S. Administration to improve ties with the Iranian government… the Iranian Government should seize this opportunity to speed up the slow train of dialogue.” In a second statement titled “Ball in Iran's court: Will Iran grasp the opening offered by the U.S.?”[6]
On December 28, 2006 the governmental newspaper Aftab in Iran published an interview with Trita Parsi. In his introduction, the editor underlined the role of Iranian American lobby on the behalf of the Iranian regime and described it as the Mullahs' "unofficial diplomacy."[7]
In response to U.S. sanctions, a 2007 report from Parsi to Tehran explained the background on the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI) coalition and proposed the idea that the coalition should transition into an anti-sanction lobby. The report entitled “lobby groups” explains the first years of CNAPI’s activities:
Mr. Parsi has boasted in an interview with Eli Lake of the Washington Times of his connections to the political elite of Washington DC. Lake wrote, "Mr. Parsi's history suggests a continuing commitment to changing U.S. policy on Iran, and he has clearly become more influential in Washington DC since the change of administrations." He goes on further to demonstrate his connectivity by stating in internal e-mails that he learned of Mr. Obama's speech to Iranians on the occasion of the Persian New Year in March (Nowruz address) several hours before it was posted on the Internet. Lake also noted that Trita Parsi has given lectures at the CIA, visited one-on-one with the Secretary of State and has made calls to the White House regarding Iran. [10] [11]
Recently, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, unofficial spokesman for Iran's opposition Green Movement and acclaimed Iranian filmmaker reported to the Washington Times that "Trita Parsi does not belong to the Green Movement...his lobbying has secretly been more for the Islamic Republic."[10]
The Iran lobby consists of a complex network of individuals and organizations with ties to the clerical regime in Tehran that is pressing forward in seeming synchrony to influence the new U.S. administration’s policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. The structure of the Iran lobby within the United States is informal and indirect, as lobbying for the Islamic Republic to the government of the United States is illegal. According the the Congressional Lobby register, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act database, there are no registered lobbying firms for the Islamic Republic[12], and only one individual representing Iran in the United States at the United Nations.[13]
Sadegh Kharazi, the former Islamic Republic of Iran deputy foreign minister, who lived in the U.S. between 1989 until 1996, designed the structure of the Iran lobby in the Western world. In an interview with Shargh newspaper on May 28, 2006, he talked about the Iranian regime's means of countering U.S. policies and also ways to counter the Israeli lobby in the U.S..20 [14] He openly admitted that there is an Iranian lobby in the U.S., and emphasized that this lobby should remain disconnected from the government of Iran; however, "the government should support it, promote it and then can rely on it." Kharazzi stated.[3] In conjunction with Titra Parsi, Kharazi helped create a U.S. oriented lobby group in Sweden, Iranians for International Cooperation (IIC), whose main objective was “the removal of U.S. economic and political sanctions against Iran, and the commencement of an Iran-U.S. dialogue.”[2]
The structure of the Iran lobby can be divided into two distinct but related groups that impact U.S. policy toward the Government of Iran. The first is the regime's lobby present in media, think-tanks and other various organizations. These organization's activities are focused on government policy and the U.S. Congress. The second group operates in conjunction with U.S. business interests, particularly with the oil industry. These organizations aim at the Iranian market and fear that firm policies toward the Islamic regime will harm Iranian global interests.[3]
Several organizations non-profit and 501(c)(3) educational organizations lobby and advocate decision makers in the interest of the Iranian people and the Iranian regime. There is no denying that American policy toward Iran has been impacted directly by these organizations. These organizations include but are not limited to: the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Campaign against Sanction and Military intervention in Iran (CASMII), the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI), the American Foreign Policy Project, and other organizations and individuals including well-known American diplomats, congressional representatives, figures from various fields of academia and think tanks. [1][13]
The most prominent organization representing Iranian interests in the United States is the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). The NIAC is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization "dedicated to advancing the interests of the Iranian-American community."[4] According the the NIAC website it was “founded in early 2002 by Alex Patico, Trita Parsi, Babak Talebi, and Farzin Illich as a 501(c)(3) non-profit education organization with the express mission to promote Iranian-American civic participation.” The NIAC makes it well known that it has no affiliation with the U.S. government or the Islamic regime in Iran. The NIAC FAQs further explain that “Trita Parsi continues to work for NIAC as President.”[4] Parsi is the president of National Iranian American Council (NIAC) labeled by pro-governmental press in Tehran as “the Iranian lobby in Washington”[2] Adding to the credibility of the NIAC, the advisory board members consist of former Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, and John Limbert, a former U.S. hostage in Iran.[10]
In November 2009, the NIAC came under scrutiny when Washington Times national security correspondent Eli Lake alleged that the organization, registered as a 501(c)(3) educational organization, could be "operating as a advocacy group in violation of federal law".[10] During the George W. Bush administration, NIAC argued against U.S. funding of activities to promote democracy in Iran, arguing that it would hurt the opposition by tainting them as U.S. tools.[10]
Hassan Daioleslam, an Iranian analyst, published a report about the "Iran's Oil Mafia, Penetrating U.S. Congress" published by FrontPage magazine, speaking to the influence of the NIAC, who was also an advisor to the convicted Congressman Bob Ney. Immediately after the article was published, in a very organized manner, the Iranian governmental newspapers came to NIAC's rescue and wrote that "the Neocons and the Israeli lobby are attacking the Iranian lobby". [15][3]
Although the NIAC's goal is to empower Iranian Americans to participate in civic life, they have been very focused on U.S. policy toward the Iranian regime in their policies and activities. Parsi wrote in his last article that "the U.S. and Iran [can] share the Middle East...Current facts on the ground are quite different -- Iran's regional influence is unquestionable and rolling Iran back out of Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, and perhaps even Gaza may no longer be realistic...sooner or later, Iran and the U.S. must learn how to share the region.”[3][4]
In an interview with Hassan Daioleslam in FrontPage magazine about the NIAC, Daioleslam stated that “the first step to render the Iranian prestige to its people, at least in the U.S., is voicing the fact that this regime does not represent the Iranian nation. NIAC does the opposite. In fact they have bent backward to present data that the Iranian people support these barbaric rulers. This is not empowering the Iranian Americans.”[3]
In the many organizations in the United States interested in U.S. policy toward Iran, a new entrant in this lobby is the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI). The CNAPI bills itself as:
CNAPI is the the main pro-engagement organization that has lobbied for friendlier policy with the Islamic Republic. The NIAC has openly been coordinating with CNAPI and other coalitions to create a consolidated front for Iranian policy. [2] CNAPI’s official partners include more than three dozen organizations, among them CASMII, CAIR, the Episcopal Church, NIAC, and the Open Society Policy Center. The list of CNAPI leading experts is likewise an interesting one that includes: Amb. James Dobbins, Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation and a retired career State Department diplomat; Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, the Senior Military Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation; Phil Giraldi, former CIA counterterrorism specialist; the writer Stephen Kinzer; Ambassador William Miller, Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Ambassador Thomas Pickering and of course, Trita Parsi.[1]
Close to indistinguishable from CNAPI in purpose and some membership names is the American Foreign Policy Project (AFPP) which launched on November 18, 2008 with the issuance of a “Joint Experts’ Statement on Iran” at a Capitol Hill panel presentation held in the Senate Hart Office Building. The event was moderated by NIAC’s Trita Parsi.[1]
AFPP’s experts list reads like a remix from other Iran lobby entities and includes: Ambassadors James Dobbins, William Miller, and Thomas Pickering; Professors Gary G. Sick and Juan R. Cole, Philip Giraldi, Stephen Kinzer, Trita Parsi, and James Walsh.[1][11]
AFPP compiled a plan of advice for the incoming administration in 2008 urging Obama to “deal successfully with Iran in the future”. AFPP's “five-step strategy” urges the United States to abandon regime change in Tehran, to acknowledge Iran’s bid for hegemony in the region, and re-engage in the Arab-Israeli “peace process.”[17]
The Campaign Against Sanction and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) was founded by Abbas Edalat, an adjunct professor at Sharif University in Tehran connected to the inner circle of the Iranian regime and a group of “Iranian and non-Iranian academics, students and professionals of different political and ideological persuasions” at a meeting in London in December 2005.[1] CASMII describes itself as a campaign organization whose purpose is to oppose all forms of international pressure on Iran and identifies lobbying and public advocacy as its chosen means to disseminate its views, and has a policy to defend the Iranian regime's nuclear ambitions as peaceful.[3][1]
Half of the founding board members of CASMII came from Trita Parsi's circle and NIAC.[3] Including Alexander Patico, a founder of NIAC, a member of its board of directors until 2008 and currently a member of its advisory board, serves on CASMII’s board of directors. Daniel Pourkesali is also a member of the CASMII International Steering Committee and is also an active member of NIAC. [1] CASMII, among other public relations activities, regularly organizes trips for political groups in the U.S. to visit Iran.[3]
The American-Iranian Council (AIC) was formed in 1997 as a bi-partisan think tank focused upon promoting better relations between the United States and Iran. Former United States Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was the original honorary Chair of the organization. The AIC is an academic research and education organization that is focused upon improving the dialogue between two countries that often fail to take into account misperceptions, misunderstandings, and mischaracterizations. The AIC seeks to help policy makers as well as concerned citizens become better aware of the interests in common to both countries. The AIC was granted permission by the U.S. government to open an office in Iran.
In 2007, the AIC helped to arrange a meeting between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and U.S. academics, business leaders and members of the media. The difficulties and problems in the ongoing relationship between the two countries was the primary topic of the discussion.
In 2003, the AIC helped Iran initiate an offer to the United States, known as the "Grand Bargain". Before invading Iraq, the Bush administration rebuffed a series of overtures from Iran's reformist government -- among them offers to help the United States stabilize Iraq after the invasion -- which culminated in a secret proposal for a grand bargain resolving all outstanding issues between the United States and Iran, including Iran's alleged support for terrorism and the development of its nuclear program. The United States, which had branded Iran part of the "axis of evil," decided on a confrontational approach. (See PBS Frontline Documentary showing on October 23, 2007.)
The AIC has a prominent board which includes many of the top academics, diplomats, and business leaders. AIC's honorary board includes secretary Donna Shalala, and its Board of Directors is composed of, Thomas Pickering, former Senator J Bennet Johnson, former Vice-Chairman of Chevron Richard Matzke, Dr. Fereidun Feksharaki President of FACTS, and Professor Hooshang Amirahmadi of Rutgers University, Ambassador Sargent Shriver, R.K. Ramazani, Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau, Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Judith Kipper, Roy Mottahedeh.[18]
A relatively new organization on the Washington think-tank scene that has weighed in with policy recommendations on Iran for the Obama administration is the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), established in February 2007.[1]
In September 2008, CNAS produced a report intended specifically for the next U.S. administration entitled “Iran: Assessing U.S. Strategic Options.” The report boasts a clutch of Iran and U.S. foreign affairs experts among its authors: James N. Miller, Christine Parthemore, Kurt M. Campbell, Dennis Ross, Suzanne Maloney, Ashton B. Carter, Vali Nasr, and Richard N. Haas.[1]
Among the policy experts tapped to contribute to the CNAS Iran report are names notable as much for their linkages to other individuals and groups affiliated with the Iran lobby as for their policy recommendations seeking dialogue with Tehran.[1]
American think tanks and academic circles provide a unique opportunity for Iranian officials to be recycled as scholars. Iranian regime influence is present within various American think tanks and academic centers.
It is difficult to believe that only in Boston, three of Iranian former deputy foreign ministers have been recruited by the most prestigious universities: M. J. Mahallati, Farhad Atai, both academicians as well as board member of ILEX foundation in Boston. Then there is Abbas Maleki, deputy foreign minister of Iran for eight years who was also an advisor to the Supreme Leader until he started his U.S. career at Harvard University.[3][19][20][21]
Amazingly, Maleki does not hide his intentions. In his recent visit to Tehran, he gave several speeches and outlined the way of countering U.S. control in the Middle East. In the clearest ways, he talked about the campaign of misinformation that seeks to influence American public opinion.[3]
There is a difference between those who genuinely believe in a friendship with the Iranian regime and those who intentionally and systematically manipulate U.S. public opinion and the decision making system. However, their goals are the same, that no harsh U.S. policy ever be adopted against the Iranian regime. [3] Note that the latter uses deceptive means to hide the Iranian regime's weaknesses, to misrepresent the Mullahs' motives and to intentionally ignore the Iranian threat to world security and to U.S. national interests to achieve their goals.
The major consolidated objective of the Iran lobby is to weaken U.S. support for Israel.[1] A large-scale campaign against Israeli support has another side handled by the Iran lobby. That is to exonerate Iran from major responsibility in regional problems, in hostility with Israel, in the spread of fundamentalist terrorism in the Islamic world, and in destabilizing the entire Middle East. Specifically, Parsi’s writings defend the Iranian regime in a whole range of issues, specially its actions against Israel. [2]
Titra Parsi centers his writings on the premise that the Iranian regime seeks its legitimate place in the region and could coexist peacefully with the U.S. therefore, Iran does not pose a threat to any nation or country. Parsi states throughout various writings that Iran has made goodwill gestures towards U.S. but has never been compensated for its friendly acts.[2]
Additionally, the lobby generally advocates permitting the Iranian nuclear program's progression with no serious consequences from the United States, while advocating for an “evenhanded” policy that would ban all nuclear weapons in the Middle East; many prominent think tanks and Middle East experts have been lining up to this policy. [1]