Founded at the at the beginning of the century to advance reconciliation between Washington and Tehran, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) was formed in close consultation with Hamyaran, a quasi-governmental institution in the Islamic Republic. NIAC became a major lobbyist and public advocate on behalf of the nuclear deal once negotiations were made public, and consulted frequently with the Obama administration. As revealed by a 2008 lawsuit, NIAC’s president Trita Parsi was in regular email contact with the Iranian diplomat Mohammed Javad Zarif; Parsi also made 33 visits to the Obama White House between 2013 and 2016. Hassan Dai, in a detailed report, examines NIAC’s sources of funding (much seems to come from Iranian sources via left-leaning American foundations), its continuous closeness with the Iranian regime, and its use of anti-Israel sentiment:
The Iranian strategy . . . rested on a depiction of Israel as the bullying force behind sanctions and pressure against Iran. Iranian leaders believed that the marginalization of Israel and the weakening of its influence in Washington would help them attain their strategic goals. . . . NIAC and Parsi carried out the Iranian regime’s anti-Israel and anti-AIPAC campaign in the United States in part by presenting its campaign against Israel and pro-Israel lobbyists in the United States as a modern-day “David-versus-Goliath battle.”
According to Parsi, Israel should be blamed because, since 1992, it has been preventing a U.S.-Iran rapprochement. . . . For Parsi, the United States is a passive character that bows to Israeli pressure and adopts the policy dictated by Israel at the expense of American national interests. As a result, the United States imposes sanctions on Iran and ignores Iranian overtures for dialogue. . . .
NIAC’s close alignment with Tehran’s anti-Israeli campaign was on display in March 2015 when Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington to address the U.S. Congress. On March 2, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrote on his English Twitter account: “The day when Western people realize that their problems result from Zionism’s hegemony over governments, they will make an inescapable hell for them.” . . . NIAC similarly escalated its anti-Israeli campaign and bought a full-page ad in the New York Times accusing the speaker of the House of being “loyal” to Israel. Two weeks later, Parsi posted a tweet about Senator Lindsey Graham’s trip to Israel, and wrote: “Graham re-pledges loyalty to a foreign leader.”
Read more on Tablet: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/239003/parsi-niac-advance-irans-agenda