According to a congressional request, the US government should investigate what is allegedly a covert Iranian propaganda operation on US soil.
The Republican Republic of New Mexico, Yvette Herrell, and eight of her colleagues sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that Americans be secretly paid for the Tehran parrot to pursue the policies of the Biden government and to influence American opinion of the United States will be expelled and prosecuted. theocratic regime.
“Iran remains one of the biggest threats to the United States in the region. It is important that we make sure that they do not use their money improperly to influence politicians and thought leaders in our own government. Any influence used to the state “From America to Iran, we threaten this is why my colleagues and I wrote this letter – to protect our national security and to hold Iran accountable,” Herrell told Fox News.
Herrell’s warning comes after a Massachusetts political scientist, Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, was arrested and charged by federal prosecutors in January for acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered Iranian agent. According to the directors, Afrasiabi portrayed himself as an objective Iranian expert in his media interviews and writings, including drafting two opinion pieces on Iran for The New York Times, while authorities say he was actually on Tehran’s payroll to run the ruling party. to distribute. He allegedly paid “about $ 265,000” through Iran’s mission to the United Nations as a secret employee … who was paid to spread their propaganda, “federal officials said. He is accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Herrell and the co-signatories of the letter call on the Biden government to set up a special task force to ‘identify, track down and arrest other Iranian subjects who violate the FARA’. compile a list of possible offenses similar to the ‘FBI Most Wanted’, set up an FBI office to focus on Iranian influence activities, as well as to investigate and monitor groups, charities and think tanks that are of US government money get to ensure that US taxpayers’ money does not go directly or indirectly to Islamic Republic agents and lobbyists. ‘
“Iran is a sophisticated regime. They want to influence the political process and even politicians to benefit their interests and harm our own interests. The Trump administration has held Iran accountable for their actions and taken their threats seriously. Any mitigation from us position on Iran threatens our national security, ”Herrell said.
“We are delighted to learn of this letter,” said activist Bryan E. Leib, executive director of Iranian Americans for Liberty. “Her letter sends a strong message that U.S. lawmakers will not stand by it as Iranian citizens continue to operate illegally on U.S. soil as unregistered agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
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Among those who co-signed the letter is the rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, a member of the State Department and co-chair of the House Black-Jewish Caucus, Jim Hagedorn, a member of Minnesota, a member of the Oversight, Investigations and Regulations subcommittee, and the Arkansas representative , Rick Crawford, a member of the permanently elected committee on intelligence.
Leib said the Iranian regime had stepped up its influence operation as part of its efforts to persuade Biden’s government to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal, relax sanctions and ease US policy towards Tehran.
“Their ultimate goal is to neutralize the US threat by sowing division, doubt and resentment,” Leib told Fox News. “The Islamic Republic’s main weapon is terrorism and its favorite tactics are assassinations. They have made implicit and explicit threats against Iranian Americans for resisting them. The regime’s lobby has a long history of assassination of Iranian Americans who oppose the regime resist. “
The recent report on the interference of the election by the US Director of National Intelligence states that the Iranian government, in addition to Russia, has undertaken a secret campaign of influence to move the presidential race to 2020. The report states that Tehran’s goal was to target former President Trump ‘and to advance his long-standing goals by exacerbating divisions in the US, creating confusion and undermining the legitimacy of US elections and institutions.’
“We estimate that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei probably authorized Iran’s campaign of influence and that it was a whole effort of the government,” the agency said. “Tehran has designed its campaign to influence US policy towards Iran, to divert US leaders’ attention to domestic issues and to reinforce messages conveyed by the Iranian government.”
Leib said that the message from Iran is a message that Iranian Americans do not want to hear and that American policymakers should ignore it.
“Americans need to understand that Iranians inside and outside Iran are overwhelmingly sick and tired of this regime of terrorism in Iran,” he said. “Americans need to know that the vast majority of Iranian Americans are grateful immigrants who love and cherish the United States and the ideals of freedom and equality under the law because they have had the unfortunate experience of living under the Islamic Republic.”
In turn, Afrasiabi denied the allegations against him. In a statement to Fox News after his arrest, he said: “What I did under UN standards was legal and transparent … and I had absolutely no idea that I was violating any American law. I never did. did not lobby. “
He also explained that his “consulting role for Iran covers their international affairs and that I have never once deviated from my independent career as a policy expert.”
But Leib and his group believe a larger federal effort will eventually expose what Iran has really been working on.
“We are confident with an official inquiry, more unregistered agents of the Islamic Regime will be identified. We expect appropriate measures to be taken, from prosecution to eviction, and the lifting of permanent residency or citizenship that will be followed. “
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Fox News has asked the Iranian mission to the United Nations for response to the demands of the influence operation, but so far we have not received a response.
Ben Evansky, Fox News, contributed to this report.