Iranian Sources: Obama Administration Granted Green Cards, U.S. Citizenship To Senior Iranian Regime Officials
Excerpt:
...In June 2018, Mojtaba Zolnour, head of the Nuclear Committee of the Majlis National Security Committee, who is known for his criticism of Iran's pragmatic camp and of the Rohani government, demanded an investigation to determine who among the 2,500 Iranians he said had been granted U.S. citizenship were associates and relatives of associates of the Rohani government.
It should be noted that in 2015, Secretary of State Kerry promised Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that U.S. immigration laws passed by the Obama administration in 2011 preventing anyone who had visited Iran from entering the country, among them businessmen, would not be negatively impacted by the laws and would receive special waivers to enter the country. See Kerry's letter to Foreign Minister Zarif as published by the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), Sec. Kerry Letter to Zarif Regarding Visa Waiver Reform; see also the letter by members of Congress to Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson expressing "deep concern" over this move.
The following are the main points of the article by Amadnews and of the statements by Mojtaba Zolnour, head of the Nuclear Committee of the Majlis National Security Committee.
Amadnews: Obama Administration Agreed To Grant Green Cards To 2,800 Iranians
On February 17, 2016, the Iranian reformist website Amadnews
[1] stated that a secret document of the nuclear understandings between the U.S. and Iran sets out the Obama administration's agreement to grant green cards to 2,800 individuals with Iranian, Iraqi, and Syrian citizenship, on direct orders from Secretary of State John Kerry. The following is the translation of the Amadnews report:
"A knowledgeable source has informed Amadnews that one of the secret documents of the nuclear understanding between Iran and the American administration of Barack Obama [sets out] the granting of a green card to 2,800 individuals with Iranian, Iraqi, or Syrian citizenship, with the consent of the government of Iran and on direct orders by then-Secretary of State John Kerry.
"The granting of a green card to these 2,800 people is aimed at keeping billions of dollars of the Iranian Republic's funds in America.
"Furthermore, the mosque in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles was recognized as a huge Iranian investment in America....
"The exposure of these documents, that constituted a precondition for the JCPOA, prompted President Trump's desire to confiscate Iran's great fortune and prevent those with Iranian passports from entering America.
"This understanding between the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and President Obama caused Iranian officials to claim that [President] Trump's move to temporarily prevent those with Iranian passports from entering America violated the JCPOA.
"Iran concluded with the Obama administration that instead of billions of dollars belonging to the Iranian public being sent back to Iran and being invested in development and construction there, they would remain in the U.S. financial system and would be registered there in the names of Iranian officials and in the name of some IRGC commanders, and would be invested in certain investments [in the U.S.] provided that permanent [American] residency would also be given to these people.