{"id":14686,"date":"2022-12-24T11:39:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T08:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/?p=14686"},"modified":"2022-12-31T08:09:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T04:39:44","slug":"inside-the-messy-iranian-diaspora-groups-lobbying-capitol-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/posts\/14686","title":{"rendered":"Inside the messy Iranian diaspora groups lobbying Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"
An Iranian political-militant group previously on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations now has an outsized influence in Washington.<\/div>\n

On a grey December day on a patch of grass near the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, a small group of protesters stood chanting.<\/p>\n

Waving flags and carrying posters with photographs of people who died in Iran over the past three months of anti-regime demonstrations, the protesters called for revolution and \u201cregime change in Iran by the people of Iran.\u201d The photographs of the regime\u2019s victims outnumbered the people demonstrating on the Capitol grounds.<\/p>\n

A bipartisan group of senators welcomed the event\u2019s organizers into the Kennedy Caucus Room the next day for a briefing. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez attended, as did Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Cory Booker, and Alex Padilla. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, Roy Blunt, and John Boozman also attended the event. All the lawmakers made public comments.<\/p>\n

But the group organizing the event, the Organization of Iranian American Communities, is tied to a shadowy Iranian diaspora group with a troubled past. The People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, also known as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), is an Iranian political-militant organization that was previously on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.
\nExperts say the Iranian diaspora tends to fall into several loose categories: political opposition groups like the monarchists led by the late shah\u2019s U.S.-based son, backers of advocacy group the National Iranian American Council, smaller human rights organizations, and organizations linked to the MEK.<\/p>\n

\"Radio

Life is forbidden in the Cult of Rajavi<\/p><\/div>\n

All these different factions are doing outreach on Capitol Hill. The MEK-linked groups are the most visible.
\nDuring the Iranian revolution, the MEK members had Marxist-Leninist leanings and were blamed for the death of U.S. personnel. Several sources described the MEK as a cult. It has also been accused of human rights violations.
\nThe MEK’s longtime leader, Massoud Rajavi, vanished from the public eye in 2003. It is unclear whether Rajavi is alive or dead. His wife, Maryam Rajavi, now runs the organization from its compound, Camp Ashraf-3, in Albania. Members of the MEK are allegedly asked to pledge loyalty to the Rajavis. Maryam Rajavi addressed the senators via video link during the Dec. 8 briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would argue that it\u2019s very adequately described as a cult,\u201d said Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, describing the MEK. \u201cIt\u2019s an organization that is widely loathed by Iranians. The major opposition voices who have gained a lot of prominence in this protest movement routinely condemn the MEK and distance themselves from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re also authoritarian. People want to move on from the Islamic Republic\u2019s authoritarianism. They don\u2019t want another cult of personality and this anti-democratic, sketchy cult,\u201d Toossi said.<\/p>\n

I would argue that it\u2019s very adequately described as a cult. \u201d<\/p>\n

SINA TOOSSI, CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY, ON THE IRANIAN DIASPORA GROUP KNOWN AS THE MEK<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In an email to National Journal, Majid Sadeghpour, a representative of the Organization of Iranian American Communities, described it as a \u201cnon-partisan and independent all-volunteer organization\u201d that \u201cadvocates for a democratic, secular and non-nuclear Iranian republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the organization\u2019s community supports Rajavi\u2019s 10-point plan for the future of Iran and the MEK\u2019s National Council of Resistance of Iran, an organization the group formed when it went into exile in the 1980s.
\nDuring Iran\u2019s revolution in 1979, the MEK supported the Islamists who overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. But the group soon split from the Islamic clerics and went into exile in France. Its members later fought on the side of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, making them wildly unpopular among Iranians.<\/p>\n

\"Rajavi

Photo: President of the National Resistance Council of Iran Massoud Rajavi, left, meets with and the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Iraq in June 1986.<\/p><\/div>\n

But after the U.S. took the MEK off the terror list in 2012, it quickly developed a vast network of supporters among influential people in U.S. politics, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Sen. Joe Lieberman, and former National Security Adviser John Bolton. The National Council of Resistance of Iran has an address on Pennsylvania Avenue and has registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.<\/p>\n

Groups like the Organization of Iranian American Communities and its local offshoots began springing up across the United States. Pompeo spoke at an event organized by the OIAC in Washington on Dec. 17.<\/p>\n

Experts say the group pays tens of thousands of dollars for speeches at its events. It also pays people to show up and sit in the audience of its conferences and attend rallies. Yet no one knows precisely where the money comes from. Experts say the group received funding from Saddam Hussein\u2019s government. Some claim they now receive money from Saudi Arabia, Israel, or other powers that oppose the Iranian regime, but no smoking gun definitively proves these connections.<\/p>\n

\"MEK

MKO Terrorist Group Hires Top US Lobbying Firm BGR<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is not a small operation. One of [their] conferences probably runs the entire budget of some of the other diaspora groups for the entire year,\u201d said an analyst who did doctoral research on the group but asked to remain anonymous to avoid backlash. \u201cOnce you start to pull the strings of who pays for it and all of that, the thread crumbles really quickly.
\n\u201cThey say it\u2019s based on donations, that it\u2019s based on their popularity, and they can fundraise and things like that,\u201d the analyst added. \u201cThey\u2019ve been doing this\u2014the lobbying game, the congressional game\u2014for decades. They are a well-organized, well-heeled, well-funded, and well-remunerating organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

To what extent lawmakers are aware of the group\u2019s origins is unclear. National Journal reached out to all lawmakers who attended the Dec. 8 Senate briefing for comment.<\/p>\n

Juan Pachon, the communications director for Sen. Menendez, said the Foreign Relations Committee chair is \u201cproud to continue his decades-long work of engaging with Iranian-Americans from across the country, including those whose friends, family members, and colleagues have been repressed, tortured, and killed for opposing the regime for decades.\u201d
\nSpokesmen for Sens. Tillis and Boozman said the lawmakers were contacted by constituents and asked to offer remarks during the event.<\/p>\n

During the briefing, Menendez praised the MEK\u2019s organization, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Sen. Blunt referenced a trip he had made to Albania, where the MEK\u2019s main headquarters are now located.<\/p>\n

The ongoing protests in Iran, which began in mid-September following the death of a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran\u2019s morality police, have sparked a flurry of outreach and lobbying on Capitol Hill from a variety of Iranian diaspora groups and human rights organizations. All the organizations oppose the Iranian regime and its brutal crackdown on demonstrators. But they appear to have little else in common.<\/p>\n

Numerous people contacted by National Journal asked to speak anonymously for fear of online harassment or death threats. Many described the current atmosphere within the Iranian diaspora as \u201ctoxic.\u201d
\nBorzou Daragahi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the internal debates between Iranian diaspora groups are largely removed from what takes place in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more they can unite around a common and all-inclusive agenda in support of the people inside Iran, who are the ones risking their lives, the better,\u201d Daragahi said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019re doing that now.\u201d
\nDespite the MEK\u2019s visibility, other Iranian diaspora groups have had some successes working in Washington.
\nThe National Iranian American Council collaborated with Rep. Ro Khanna\u2019s office on a recent letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling for protections for Iranians fleeing persecution, according to the group\u2019s president. NIAC has drawn backlash from critics who argue that its advocacy benefits the Iranian regime, a claim the organization rejects.<\/p>\n

\u201cUrgent action must be taken regarding Iran\u2019s horrifying execution of protestors and violent repression of peaceful protests,\u201d Khanna told National Journal in an email. \u201cI sent a letter to Secretary Blinken and Secretary Yellen outlining what I believe the administration must do in response, including providing protection to Iranians fleeing persecution and funding internet access in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

NIAC has advocated for U.S. efforts to support Internet freedom in Iran, which would help protesters organize. That includes providing clarity to tech companies about what they can offer Iranian citizens to circumvent the regime\u2019s crackdown on internet access without running afoul of sanctions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been encouraging [the administration] to do outreach to tech companies to really make clear what is permissible,\u201d said NIAC President Jamal Abdi. \u201cThis is purely about what we can do to support the Iranian people and condemn the government. We\u2019ve held in the past couple weeks a few dozen meetings at the grassroots level with lawmakers and staff here in D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

While various organizations hold frequent meetings on the Hill, Toossi at the Center for International Policy noted that the MEK-connected groups are the most persistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they are very organized and the members they have are very ideological, and they are well-funded, they are like a small special-interest group,\u201d Toossi said. \u201cThese kinds of small special-interest groups have an outsized influence in Washington. They get their people into offices. It\u2019s a very sophisticated operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Cristina Maza – The National Journal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Iranian political-militant group previously on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations now has an outsized influence in Washington. On a grey December day on a patch of grass…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[178,20],"module":[81],"ctype":[17],"blog":[109],"class_list":["post-14686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mujahedin-khalq-opposition-group","tag-pmoi-iran-people","tag-third-view-mek","module-article","ctype-story","blog-western-bloggers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=14686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}