RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Iranian regime is advancing its ideology and increasing its influence in Shia mosques throughout the United States, while the Biden administration is sitting idly by, presumably still seeking to return to a disastrous nuclear deal, lift sanctions against Iran, and fund the regime to launch more terrorist attacks, further repress its own citizens, and pave the way for it legally to obtain an unlimited supply of nuclear weapons.

Nine US House Representatives recently sounded an alarm about the growing influence of Iran’s regime in “American religious institutions”. The Congressmen sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warning about Iran’s influence in at least four US mosques and centers in the United States:

“We write to you concerning the pressing issue of foreign influence in American religious institutions by the Islamic Republic of Iran, a theocratic, state sponsor of terrorism that has the blood of hundreds of Americans on its hands. In four separate cases, recent reports have illustrated the Iranian regime’s influence on multiple Shi’a mosques and religious institutions in the United States. This is unacceptable.”

The first institution is the Islamic Education Center (IEC), a mosque just a few miles from Washington D.C. in Potomac, Maryland. The IEC, it was disclosed in May, is “part of a network of mosques controlled by the Alavi Foundation.”

“This is a large foundation that has been in litigation for years because of allegations it operates on behalf of the Iranian regime, a state sponsor of terrorism. Bahram Abolfazi Nahidian, an IEC member, was instrumental in securing funds from the Alavi Foundation and was ‘acknowledged by all as the most prominent supporter in this country of Khomeini.’ After the article discussing these facts was published, members of the Iranian diaspora provided an image of young children at the mosque apparently singing next to a shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Disturbingly, the Maryland legislature has even provided public funds to the IEC! …

“Another institution with the same name, the Islamic Education Center (IEC) in Houston, had dozens of young children perform an anthem titled, ‘Salam Farmande,’ (‘Hello Commander’), a new propaganda song that has been widely promoted by the Iranian regime inside Iran to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death…

“But there are more reasons to suspect that both IEC Houston is serving the Iranian regime directly.

“Perhaps most obviously is the fact that Maulana Ghulam Hurr Shabbiri was the lead Imam of IEC for ten years, from 2005-2015. According to the website of Maulana Shabbiri’s current employer, he was ‘directly appointed by the office of the Supreme Leader,’ to his post at IEC. Additionally, the building that is used by IEC, was the target of civil forfeiture by the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, as their property is owned by the aforementioned Alavi Foundation…

“The Islamic House of Wisdom (IHW), an Iranian-led Shi’a mosque in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, also shows similar signs of being under the direction of the Iranian regime. The Imam of IHW, Mohammad Ali Elahi, served as the head of ‘political ideology’ for the Iranian Navy in the 1980s, according to a publicly available Central Intelligence Agency report. He personally claims to be ‘friends’ with three former Iranian Presidents, and since moving to the US, he has had seemingly non-stop contact with senior regime officials. In March 2017, he met with former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who he called a friend of ‘almost 30 years.’ According to investigative journalists, IHW has been a significant purveyor of extremist propaganda, in line with the Iranian regime’s views.

“The Manassas Mosque in Manassas, Virginia, is just as troubling. A recent video of inside the Mosque showed it is adorned with pictures of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ‘martyrs’ who were killed in Syria, a life-sized cutout of Khomeini, as well as Iranian flags and slogans. In 2019, it openly celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. It also received about $200,000 from the Alavi Foundation, based on publicly available information, and has been the direct recipient of expensive relics from the Iranian regime.”

According to Rep. Doug Lamborn, who spearheaded the letter:

“The Iranian regime’s attempts to spread malign influence in the United States in multiple Shi’a mosques and cultural centers across the country has been happening for years. These state-sponsored mosques preach hatred toward anyone who disagrees with the Iranian regime and go as far as to praise the ayatollah’s repressive reign through songs and shrines. It is imperative that the U.S. government understand and respond to the threat posed by state-sponsored terrorism wherever it appears, whether in the Middle East or at home.”

A core ideology in Iran’s constitution is to export the regime’s radical doctrines beyond its borders until all nations are ruled under its Shia Islamist system of governance. To advance that goal in Western nations, the regime uses undercover agents. As the letter indicates:

“This appears to be part of a network of regime-sponsored mosques acting as agents for a foreign adversary. The radical ideology being promoted by this regime preaches hatred not only towards Jews, Christians, and Westerners but also to Sunni Muslims and fellow Shi’a Muslims who do not accept the regime’s ideology.”

We are fortunate enough in the US to have freedom of religion enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

All the same, Americans might like to be aware that there are clergy in the US whose goal it is to take the beliefs you now hold away from you and replace them with their own?

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu