Iran lobby in the United States

The Iran lobby is used to describe the coalition of organizations that seek and have sought to influence the foreign policy of the United States toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.
History
Within the Islamic Republic of Iran exists an official agency called 'The Supreme Council for Iranians Living Abroad'. This agency was formed at the highest levels of the Iranian regime at some point in the early part of the decade with the specific objective of “establishing specialized groups and non-governmental bodies among Iranians living abroad.” The rise of the Iran lobby began shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 where strong opposition to U.S. policy reigned supreme in the Middle East. In 2010 the impact the sanctions implored after three years of negotiation attempts between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Western powers indicate that the policy of appeasement with Iran failed and it has been replaced by policy of coercion and isolation. The pro-Tehran campaign was mainly launched during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami. Its first goal was to hide Khatami's irrelevance and lack of power in Iranian politics, and to represent the “reform government” as an irreversible trend which the U.S. should accommodate and get along with.
Trita Parsi
Trita Parsi is the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and an expert on U.S.-Iranian relations, Iranian politics, and the balance of power in the Middle East. He is also the author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States. According to his personal Curriculum Vitae, Parsi “established the first lobby group in the U.S. to support the normalization of ties between Iran and the U.S.” and lobbied “U.S. Congress, EU and Swedish Parliaments” on behalf of Iranians for International Cooperation (IIC), a former Iran lobbying organization where Parsi once was president. Parsi also leads a coalition of approximately twenty organizations that suggest U.S. government engagement with Iran. Contrary to Parsi's 2007 claim, is Parsi's 2000 declaration of praise to the United States Secretary of State’s actions to open dialogue between the U.S. and Iran, in a statement titled “IIC welcome’s U.S.’s olive branch” he wrote: “Secretary Albright's speech at the Asia Society is the first indication of a genuine willingness from the U.S. Administration to improve ties with the Iranian government… the Iranian Government should seize this opportunity to speed up the slow train of dialogue.” In a second statement titled “Ball in Iran's court: Will Iran grasp the opening offered by the U.S.?”
In response to U.S. sanctions, a 2007 report from Parsi to Tehran explained the background on the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran (CNAPI) coalition and proposed the idea that the coalition should transition into an anti-sanction lobby. The report entitled “lobby groups” explains the first years of CNAPI’s activities:
:“As of early 2005, Washington’s heated rhetoric over Iran has attracted the attention of a variety of interest groups eager to prevent the escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the prospects of a war between the U.S. and Iran. These groups have managed to build unprecedented support in Congress in favor of dialogue and against military action among progressive Democrats as well as conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill. This coalition of pro-dialogue and anti-war entities consists of a diverse group of organizations ranging from arms control organizations, to Iranian American organizations, to religious groups. Key players in this coalition are the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, which coordinates a coalition of approximately 50 organizations, MoveOn and the National Iranian American Council. While these groups have focused extensively on passing measures to reduce the risk for war with Iran, little attention has been paid to efforts to intensify sanctions against Iran. Furthermore, while a momentum exists for anti-war measures, no comparable opportunity exists currently for an anti-sanctions campaign. Nor is the coalition of disarmament, religious and progressive groups best suited to take on this issue. Here, the absence of pro-business interests on Capitol Hill active constitutes a key point of advantage for AIPAC.”
Mr. Parsi has boasted in an interview with Eli Lake of the Washington Times of his connections to the political elite of Washington DC. Lake wrote, "Mr. Parsi's history suggests a continuing commitment to changing U.S. policy on Iran, and he has clearly become more influential in Washington DC since the change of administrations." He goes on further to demonstrate his connectivity by stating in internal e-mails that he learned of Mr. Obama's speech to Iranians on the occasion of the Persian New Year in March (Nowruz address) several hours before it was posted on the Internet. Lake also noted that Trita Parsi has given lectures at the CIA, visited one-on-one with the Secretary of State and has made calls to the White House regarding Iran.
Recently, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, unofficial spokesman for Iran's opposition Green Movement and acclaimed Iranian filmmaker reported to the Washington Times that "Trita Parsi does not belong to the Green Movement...his lobbying has secretly been more for the Islamic Republic.", and only one individual representing Iran in the United States at the United Nations.
Sadegh Kharazi, the former Islamic Republic of Iran deputy foreign minister, who lived in the U.S. between 1989 until 1996, designed the structure of the Iran lobby in the Western world. In an interview with Shargh newspaper on May 28, 2006, he talked about the Iranian regime's means of countering U.S. policies and also ways to counter the Israeli lobby in the U.S..20 He openly admitted that there is an Iranian lobby in the U.S., and emphasized that this lobby should remain disconnected from the government of Iran; however, "the government should support it, promote it and then can rely on it." Kharazzi stated.
CNAPI is the the main pro-engagement organization that has lobbied for friendlier policy with the Islamic Republic. The NIAC has openly been coordinating with CNAPI and other coalitions to create a consolidated front for Iranian policy.
Campaign Against Sanction and Military Intervention in Iran
The Campaign Against Sanction and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) was founded by Abbas Edalat, an adjunct professor at Sharif University in Tehran connected to the inner circle of the Iranian regime and a group of “Iranian and non-Iranian academics, students and professionals of different political and ideological persuasions” at a meeting in London in December 2005.
Center for a New American Security
A relatively new organization on the Washington think-tank scene that has weighed in with policy recommendations on Iran for the Obama administration is the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), established in February 2007.
Amazingly, Maleki does not hide his intentions. In his recent visit to Tehran, he gave several speeches and outlined the way of countering U.S. control in the Middle East. In the clearest ways, he talked about the campaign of misinformation that seeks to influence American public opinion.<ref name=frontpage/>
Means and Ends of Influence
There is a difference between those who genuinely believe in a friendship with the Iranian regime and those who intentionally and systematically manipulate U.S. public opinion and the decision making system. However, their goals are the same, that no harsh U.S. policy ever be adopted against the Iranian regime. <ref name=frontpage/> Note that the latter uses deceptive means to hide the Iranian regime's weaknesses, to misrepresent the Mullahs' motives and to intentionally ignore the Iranian threat to world security and to U.S. national interests to achieve their goals.
The major consolidated objective of the Iran lobby is to weaken U.S. support for Israel.<ref namecspiran/> A large-scale campaign against Israeli support has another side handled by the Iran lobby. That is to exonerate Iran from major responsibility in regional problems, in hostility with Israel, in the spread of fundamentalist terrorism in the Islamic world, and in destabilizing the entire Middle East. Specifically, Parsi’s writings defend the Iranian regime in a whole range of issues, specially its actions against Israel. <ref nameiranlobby/>
Titra Parsi centers his writings on the premise that the Iranian regime seeks its legitimate place in the region and could coexist peacefully with the U.S. therefore, Iran does not pose a threat to any nation or country. Parsi states throughout various writings that Iran has made goodwill gestures towards U.S. but has never been compensated for its friendly acts.<ref name=iranlobby/>
Additionally, the lobby generally advocates permitting the Iranian nuclear program's progression with no serious consequences from the United States, while advocating for an “evenhanded” policy that would ban all nuclear weapons in the Middle East; many prominent think tanks and Middle East experts have been lining up to this policy. <ref name=cspiran/>

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