Iran Lobby

Exposing the Activities of the lobbies and appeasers of the Mullah's Dictatorship ruling Iran

Introduction

Who are we- Objectives

We are a group of Iranian professionals, technocrats, intellectuals and entrepreneurs in the Diaspora community who aspire to establish a free and democratic Iran where respect for human rights is the cornerstone of governance. We are committed to bring global attention to the Iranian regime’s gross human rights violations, which have robbed the Iranian people of their most basic freedoms for the past 40 years.

Many of us have been victims of the Iranian regime’s atrocious conduct and have had firsthand experience with its brutality. Most of us have siblings and other immediate family members in Iran and are in constant communication with them.

While we would like to see the Iranian people secure major changes in Iran by themselves and for themselves, we understand that Western policies of appeasement have provided unwarranted, unjustified assistance to the regime. This has been a key factor in prolonging its survival, to the great detriment of the Iranian people’s interests and their noble objective.

As such, the Iranian regime has established a massive, intricate and sophisticated network to influence the opinions of policymakers and the public, and to help shape a conciliatory policy conducive to the ayatollahs’ interests.

It is incumbent upon us to expose the Iran Lobby, which consists of numerous groups and individuals who seek to influence western policies toward Iran and often advocate positions indistinguishable from those of the Iranian regime.

The Iran Lobby whitewashes the Iranian regime’s military expansionist ambitions, its deplorable human rights record, its misogynist and repressive laws, intolerance, political persecution, sponsorship of terrorism, and its development of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, and often goes out of its way to conjure up and recite excuses and justifications for Tehran’s malign and egregious conduct.

Lobbying Strategies

The Iran Lobby is aware of the regime’s many failings and acts accordingly, adopting the following strategies:

  • To whatever extent possible, lobbying groups and individuals avoid openly supporting the regime to avoid being undercutting their own credibility by being directly identified with the mullahs.
  • They indirectly provide support to the regime by deflecting focus on key issues such as popular grievances in Iran and suppression of the population’s most rudimentary rights. And they tend to divert public attention by emphasizing opposition to economic sanctions and military operations.
  • They claim Iran’s rulers are divided into two camps: moderates and hardliners. Western leaders, they maintain, must engage in dialogue with the moderates and offer concessions to prevent the hardliners from gaining more power at the expense of the non-existent moderates.
  • Tehran’s lobbyists hide behind the Iranian people, falsely ascribing broad opinions to them in order to justify the regime’s behavior.
  • The regime’s lobbyists and apologists viciously attack the democratic opposition in Iran and seek its demise. They say Iran is too important to be ignored and claim there is no prospect for regime change by the people and resistance. Thus, in the absence of a democratic alternative, it is necessary to fully accept and engage in dialogue with the mullahs.
  • The lobbyists and apologists say the opposition movement is divided and has no chance for success. They falsely state that the principle opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), has minimal public support when in fact the Iranian regime continuously warns about the opposition’s impact, influence, and presence.
  • The lobbyists and apologists on occasion, when their hand is forced, mildly criticize the regime’s record on human rights and other less important issues to falsely create an impression of impartiality and credibility to continue their function. [1]

Iran’s lobbying efforts in the US are openly acknowledged by the regime. Former Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Sadegh Kharazzi said “The government should support it [lobbying], promote it, and then can rely on it.” [2]

One of the key outfits lobbying for Tehran is the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). This role began with Trita Parsi, a Swedish-Iranian citizen who moved to the US to establish a lobbying organization that would ostensibly represent the views of Iranian-Americans but in reality echoed the Iranian regime’s policy positions.

There can be no doubt that NIAC is closely associated with the Iranian regime or that it mirrors its foreign policy goals. And there is abundant evidence Trita Parsi (currently at Quincy Project) has collaborated with the regime’s leadership.

We realize this website and our endeavor merely scratches the surface of the Iran lobby. More resources and attention are warranted to determine the full scale of the Iranian regime’s efforts to secretly influence decisions in Washington.

[1] A defector of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) said, as a strategy, secret agents were allowed to criticize the regime if at least 20 percent of the time they directed their attacks at the PMOI/MEK.  The MOIS then reproduced in its propaganda the negative comments directed against the opposition group.

[2] “Iran’s Lobby in the US,” by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com, May 8, 2008.