FDR_Reagan
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This is from CNN yesterday:
"an analyst told CNN."
CNN, June 15, 2025
But who is this propagandist supposed "amalyst", Trita Parsi?
www.camera.org
Parsi’s dissertation on Israeli-Iranian relations served as the basis for his book Treacherous Alliance (2008, Yale University Press). Parsi is a resident alien, with Swedish and Iranian passports, not an American citizen, although he runs an organization that claims to represent Iranian-Americans...
Upon coming to the United States in 2001, Parsi worked as a managing director for Hooshang Amirhadmadi of the American Iranian Council (AIC) while completing graduate study. Parsi also served on Capitol Hill as a staff member to U.S. Rep Bob Ney (R-Ohio). Ney served from 1994 until his resignation in 2007 amidst accusations of influence peddling to international businessmen. Ney was found guilty of receiving bribes from foreign lobbying groups...
While Parsi was on the congressman’s payroll, Ney pushed for the relaxation of sanctions on Iran, according to records subpoenaed in Ney’s prosecution. This documentation, as an article in The American Thinker notes, suggests that Ney “personally lobbied” former U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax sanctions on Iran so the congressman’s overseas clients could sell U.S.-made airplane parts to the Iranian government. Washington had designated Tehran a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984.
Before launching NIAC, Parsi was “affiliated with a group called Iranians for International Cooperation. Parsi himself has described this group as a lobby group.” ...
NIAC was formed following the release of a 1999 paper by Trita Parsi entitled “Iranian Americans: The Bridge Between Two Nations.” The paper was authored by Parsi and an Iranian businessman named Siamak Namazi and was presented at a conference in Cyprus organized by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Center for World Dialogue...
On June 10, 2008 the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI) and its official partner organization, NIAC, sought to have Americans call their representatives and senators and urge them not to attack Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons efforts.
NIAC also opposed the employment of Ambassador Dennis Ross, President Clinton’s lead Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, in the Obama administration, according to a Washington Times report based on e-mails petitioned in a court case (“Exclusive: Iran advocacy group said to skirt lobby rules,” Nov. 13, 2009)...
NIAC’s then-assistant legislative director, Patrick Disney, expressed his concerns in a July 2008 memo obtained by The Washington Times. Disney “quoted the Lobbying Disclosure Act—a law that says even the preparation of materials aimed at influencing legislation or policy must be disclosed to the public—and said he and a colleague should register as lobbyists.”
“Under this expansive view of ‘lobbying’,” he said, “I find it hard to believe Emily [Blout], and I devote less than 20 percent of our time to lobbying activity. I believe we fall under this definition of ‘lobbyist. ‘ ”...
According to The Washington Times, the newspaper “asked two former federal law-enforcement officials to review documents from the case showing that Mr. Parsi had helped arrange meetings between members of Congress and Mr. [Mohammed Javad] Zarif.”..
former FBI Special Agent in Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism, Kenneth Piernick, said, “It appears that this may be lobbying on behalf of Iranian government interests...
According to documents, Mr. Parsi appeared at times to be coordinating his advocacy work with Mr. Namazi, who was until 2007 a managing director of a company called Atieh Bahar. Atieh Bahar is the international consulting arm of the Atieh Group, a Tehran-based holding corporation for concerns that have contracts both with Iranian government ministries and Iran’s banks, as well as international firms looking to do business in Iran. Had Congress lifted sanctions, Atieh Bahar stood to benefit...
noted in Commentary magazine (“The 36-year project to whitewash Iran,” May 21, 2015), Parsi emails to Zarif also indicate that NIAC was attempting to arrange meetings between Zarif and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) in 2007...
One internal NIAC document from 2008 obtained through court proceedings has NIAC then-legislative director Emily Blout stating that in one month, NIAC met with more than 50 members of Congress alone....
NIAC also sought to have former President Bill Clinton give a paid speech at a NIAC fundraising gala. ..
In her “Trita Parsi and the National Iranian American Council v. Daioleslam Seid Hassan” deposition, Blout says “NIAC must increase its lobbying effort.”...
Court Decision
Dai then sued for damages against NIAC and Parsi. In a February 10, 2015 decision in the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, two circuit judges and a senior circuit judge forced NIAC to pay $183,480.09 in monetary sanctions to reimburse Dai for expenses incurred fighting the defamation lawsuit brought by NIAC in 2008, referred to above...
Iranian filmmaker and unofficial spokesman for Iran’s opposition Green Movement Mohsen Makhmalbaf, told The Washington Times, “I think Trita Parsi does not belong to the Green Movement. I feel his lobbying has secretly been more for the Islamic Republic.” (“Exclusive: Iran advocacy group said to violate lobby rules,” Nov. 13, 2009)...
“You cannot find any difference between [NIAC’s] statements and the Iranian regime’s statements. Either officially or unofficially they are following the path of the regime,” explained Amir Fakhravar, a once-jailed Iranian dissident who heads the Iranian Freedom Institute from the United States.
"an analyst told CNN."
CNN, June 15, 2025
But who is this propagandist supposed "amalyst", Trita Parsi?
CAMERA Special Report: The National Iranian American Council; Tehran's Best Friend in Washington
The National Iranian American Council, a voice for Iranian Americans, or a de facto lobby for Iran's Islamic Republic? CAMERA's Special Report finds it's
www.camera.org
Parsi’s dissertation on Israeli-Iranian relations served as the basis for his book Treacherous Alliance (2008, Yale University Press). Parsi is a resident alien, with Swedish and Iranian passports, not an American citizen, although he runs an organization that claims to represent Iranian-Americans...
Upon coming to the United States in 2001, Parsi worked as a managing director for Hooshang Amirhadmadi of the American Iranian Council (AIC) while completing graduate study. Parsi also served on Capitol Hill as a staff member to U.S. Rep Bob Ney (R-Ohio). Ney served from 1994 until his resignation in 2007 amidst accusations of influence peddling to international businessmen. Ney was found guilty of receiving bribes from foreign lobbying groups...
While Parsi was on the congressman’s payroll, Ney pushed for the relaxation of sanctions on Iran, according to records subpoenaed in Ney’s prosecution. This documentation, as an article in The American Thinker notes, suggests that Ney “personally lobbied” former U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax sanctions on Iran so the congressman’s overseas clients could sell U.S.-made airplane parts to the Iranian government. Washington had designated Tehran a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984.
Before launching NIAC, Parsi was “affiliated with a group called Iranians for International Cooperation. Parsi himself has described this group as a lobby group.” ...
NIAC was formed following the release of a 1999 paper by Trita Parsi entitled “Iranian Americans: The Bridge Between Two Nations.” The paper was authored by Parsi and an Iranian businessman named Siamak Namazi and was presented at a conference in Cyprus organized by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Center for World Dialogue...
On June 10, 2008 the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI) and its official partner organization, NIAC, sought to have Americans call their representatives and senators and urge them not to attack Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons efforts.
NIAC also opposed the employment of Ambassador Dennis Ross, President Clinton’s lead Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, in the Obama administration, according to a Washington Times report based on e-mails petitioned in a court case (“Exclusive: Iran advocacy group said to skirt lobby rules,” Nov. 13, 2009)...
NIAC’s then-assistant legislative director, Patrick Disney, expressed his concerns in a July 2008 memo obtained by The Washington Times. Disney “quoted the Lobbying Disclosure Act—a law that says even the preparation of materials aimed at influencing legislation or policy must be disclosed to the public—and said he and a colleague should register as lobbyists.”
“Under this expansive view of ‘lobbying’,” he said, “I find it hard to believe Emily [Blout], and I devote less than 20 percent of our time to lobbying activity. I believe we fall under this definition of ‘lobbyist. ‘ ”...
According to The Washington Times, the newspaper “asked two former federal law-enforcement officials to review documents from the case showing that Mr. Parsi had helped arrange meetings between members of Congress and Mr. [Mohammed Javad] Zarif.”..
former FBI Special Agent in Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism, Kenneth Piernick, said, “It appears that this may be lobbying on behalf of Iranian government interests...
According to documents, Mr. Parsi appeared at times to be coordinating his advocacy work with Mr. Namazi, who was until 2007 a managing director of a company called Atieh Bahar. Atieh Bahar is the international consulting arm of the Atieh Group, a Tehran-based holding corporation for concerns that have contracts both with Iranian government ministries and Iran’s banks, as well as international firms looking to do business in Iran. Had Congress lifted sanctions, Atieh Bahar stood to benefit...
noted in Commentary magazine (“The 36-year project to whitewash Iran,” May 21, 2015), Parsi emails to Zarif also indicate that NIAC was attempting to arrange meetings between Zarif and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) in 2007...
One internal NIAC document from 2008 obtained through court proceedings has NIAC then-legislative director Emily Blout stating that in one month, NIAC met with more than 50 members of Congress alone....
NIAC also sought to have former President Bill Clinton give a paid speech at a NIAC fundraising gala. ..
In her “Trita Parsi and the National Iranian American Council v. Daioleslam Seid Hassan” deposition, Blout says “NIAC must increase its lobbying effort.”...
Court Decision
Dai then sued for damages against NIAC and Parsi. In a February 10, 2015 decision in the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, two circuit judges and a senior circuit judge forced NIAC to pay $183,480.09 in monetary sanctions to reimburse Dai for expenses incurred fighting the defamation lawsuit brought by NIAC in 2008, referred to above...
Iranian filmmaker and unofficial spokesman for Iran’s opposition Green Movement Mohsen Makhmalbaf, told The Washington Times, “I think Trita Parsi does not belong to the Green Movement. I feel his lobbying has secretly been more for the Islamic Republic.” (“Exclusive: Iran advocacy group said to violate lobby rules,” Nov. 13, 2009)...
“You cannot find any difference between [NIAC’s] statements and the Iranian regime’s statements. Either officially or unofficially they are following the path of the regime,” explained Amir Fakhravar, a once-jailed Iranian dissident who heads the Iranian Freedom Institute from the United States.
