The Iranian opposition in exile has begun lobbying in the US to gain the support of President Donald Trump.
And to accomplish this, a lobbying company close to the Republicans, called “Special Guests Publicity”, has been engaged, which has connections to Trump’s inner circle.
This lobbying company has agreed to help promote the views of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in the United States media.
According to the filings, NCRI, the diplomatic arm of the exiled opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), has contracted with Special Guests Publicity LLC, a PR company based in North Carolina.
The Trump administration has reportedly been negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran, having previously withdrawn from the Obama-era agreement. After threatening Iran with air strikes, Donald Trump turned to diplomacy to seek a negotiated solution with Tehran but failed to discourage Israel from taking unilateral military action.
While Special Guests Publicity’s main client is NCRI, the money for the consultancy works actually came from two little-known companies in the UK, Media Strategy Consulting Ltd (MSC) and Globeevents Consulting Ltd (GC).
Media Strategy Consulting claims on its website that it is a non-profit organization made up of journalists, lawyers, bankers, MBAs, lobbyists, speechwriters and marketing experts, although it does not name anyone specific. The company’s former director was Seyed Agha Shaheen Pour Ghobadian Zadeh, who was previously a registered lobbyist for the European Union.
Its current director is Eli Farham, who also created the website for Globeevents Consulting and a host of other Iranian organizations. In a 2014 press release about the persecution of Christians in Iran, she listed Media Strategy Consulting as her organization.
“Special Guests Publicity” was founded by Gerald McGlothlin, a publicist and media producer who is also the CEO of CleanTV. On its website, Special Guests Publicity has also promoted the Chinese anti-communist group Shen Yun, which has been criticized as a cult by some. Shen Yun is also close to the right-wing news website The Epoch Times.
Pamfleti