Politics

State Department senior official to attend conference of org accused of being advocate for Iranian theocracy

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
Font Size:

The State Department is sending a senior official to attend a March 15 meeting hosted by the National Iranian-American Council, which has been derided by critics as a thinly-veiled advocate for Iran’s Islamic theocracy.

Suzanne Nossel, the deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations is slated to speak at the event, titled “Answering the Iranian People’s Call for Human Rights,” which will be held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The conference’s theme matches NIAC’s strategy of promoting modest democracy measures in Iran as an alternative to policies intended to remove the theocratic government. “The case for war [against the Iranian theocracy] is already being pushed by the ‘pro-war’ elements on the Hill…. We can either remain quiet and let them work their magic OR we can promote the alternative to war by emphasizing the importance of and need for human rights,” reads a March 7 e-mail sent by Nobar Elmi, who joined NIAC in October 2010 as the director of community outreach and programming.

In practice, she wrote, “we’re taking steps to ensure human rights is on the table, by doing things such as working to ensure there is an independent U.N. human rights monitor and encouraging the dialogue.” Elmi’s e-mail was written to Peter Khan Zendran, a Rhode Island blogger who argued that NIAC’s focus on democracy might spur stronger action against the Iranian government.

Other speakers at the event include Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus. He is an original sponsor of NIAC-backed “Stand with Iranian People Act,” which would impose modest sanctions on companies that sell domestic-security gear to Iran, but also ease work by U.S.-based non-profits in Iran.

NIAC’s founder and head, Trita Parsi, declined to comment after he was alerted about The Daily Caller’s inquiries by an agency official.

The State Department official, Nossel, will attend the conference “to describe our effort to appoint a special rapporteur on Iran,” said an agency official. If approved, the rapporteur would investigate the condition of human-rights in Iran and send a report back to the U.N., the official said.

To get the rapporteur appointed, the U.S. will have to win a vote on the 47-member Human Rights Council. The council’s members now include China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, all of which are likely to oppose any such appointment. Libya was previously accepted as a member, but its membership is now suspended.

When asked if Nossel’s attendance at the NIAC event would signal a willingness to cooperate with the Iranian government, the agency official professed ignorance about NIAC. “I’m not at all familiar with the council … [and] I’m not in a position to declare whether this is or is not a front-group for the Iranian government,” he said, adding that a  group fronting for Iran’s government would not likely host a meeting that is critical of that government.

The administration is trying to spotlight human-rights questions in Iran, not to suggest acceptance of the government’s policies, he said. “We’re going there to tell [NIAC] how we are looking at Iran’s human-rights record as unacceptable.”

NIAC’s critics say the group has advocated against stringent economic sanctions on the Iranian government and the country, and has only partway relaxed its opposition after Western audiences saw footage of the Iranian government’s security forces shooting at pro-democracy protesters in June 2009. The critics also point to a large quantity of NIAC’s e-mails which were released during a lawsuit with a NIAC critic. The e-mails show NIAC officials in close contact with Iran’s then-current ambassador, the critics say.

NIAC’s supporters say the organization is not a front-group. “From what I’ve seen, [NIAC’s Parsi] has got his own views about what the U.S. and Iranian governments should be involved in, but I’ve seen no evidence that he’s a front for the Iranian regime,” said Matt Duss, a national-security editor for the left-leaning Center for American Progress. “If he’s a front for the Iranian regime, holding events about human-rights abuses seems to be a strange way to do it,” said Duss, who was asked by a NIAC official to talk with TheDC about the developing article.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel