Tehran John: Pro-Iranian lobby funding Kerry
Whistleblowers disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars given candidate
Posted: October 14, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been given to Kerry from the pro-Iranian lobby, possibly influencing the presidential candidate's startling call to provide Tehran with the nuclear fuel it seeks, according to Iran's Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy chairman Aryo Pirouznia.
With top Iranian officials openly calling for the development of nuclear weapons within the next four months and overwhelming intelligence indicating Iran is seeking to create a nuclear arsenal, Kerry has been insisting as president he would provide Tehran with nuclear fuel as long as it is used for peaceful purposes only, a position that has many Middle East analysts baffled.
During the first presidential debate, Kerry said, "I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes."
The same policy of accommodation toward Iran's nuclear aspirations is clearly outlined on Kerry's campaign website as well.
Under the heading: "Prevent Iran From Developing Nuclear Weapons," the Kerry campaign states: "Iran claims that its nuclear program is only to meet its domestic energy needs. John Kerry's proposal would call their bluff by organizing a group of states to offer Iran the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they cannot divert it to build a weapon. If Iran does not accept this offer, their true motivations will be clear ..."
Pirouznia, who is holding a press conference in Washington, D.C., this morning, is disclosing the details of Kerry's financial ties to backers of the mullah government in Iran that have been seeking to moderate America's harsh line with regard to Tehran's nuclear aspirations.
Most prominent among them is Hassan Nemazee, 54, an investment banker based in New York who has joined the board of the American-Iranian Council, a U.S. lobbying group that consistently has supported lifting U.S. sanctions on Iran and accommodating the Tehran regime. Nemazee has raised more than $100,000 for the senator's campaign.
Nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina by President Clinton in 1999, Nemazee eventually withdrew his nomination after a former partner raised allegations of business improprieties, WND previously reported.
As well, a Nemazee friend in Silicon Valley, Faraj Aalaei, has raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the Kerry campaign.
Last year, Aalaei married a 35-year-old recent immigrant from Iran named Susan Akbarpour, who has also raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the campaign.
In just six years since coming to the United States on a tourist visa from Iran, Akbarpour has started a newspaper, a magazine, and, most recently, a trade association whose goal is to get sanctions lifted and promote U.S. business and investment in Iran.
Kerry has embraced the political agenda of Akbarpour and other wealthy Iranian-Americans lobbying for Tehran. Aside from nuclear accommodation, other key positions include ending the finger printing of Iranian visitors to the U.S; expanding "family reunion" visas to allow extended family members of Iranians living in the U.S. to immigrate here legally and in large numbers; offering a "dialogue" with the hard-line, terrorist-supporting clerics in Tehran; and help Iran join the World Trade Organization.
Pirouznia will be working closely with Dr. Jerome Corsi, co-author of the New York Times best selling "Unfit to Command," on a new book about the Iranian-Kerry connection titled, "Atomic Islam," which will be published by WND Books in 2005.
"America is incredibly popular with the Iranian masses, so this is a grave mistake for a short-term benefit," Pirouznia says. "To the regime, [Kerry's policy] sends a message that America is willing to make a deal despite the blood of Americans who were murdered in Dhahran [Saudi Arabia] and are being killed today in Iraq by so-called foreign elements. And to Iranians, it shows that the old establishment may be back in power, a return to the Carter era."
Dr. Corsi said, "Not surprisingly, Iran has publicly accepted Kerry's 'offer' in the last few days."
Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged his country's weapons developers to step up work on making a nuclear bomb, a U.S. official recently said, according to Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.
Citing an authoritative source in the Iranian exile community, the official said Khamenei met recently with senior government and military leaders regarding the nuclear weapons program.
Khamenei told the gathering, "We must have two bombs ready to go in January or you are not Muslims," the official said.
Tehran has said the recent International Atomic Energy Agency resolution calling on Iran to halt uranium enrichment could lead to the country's withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Khamenei has in the past told many newspapers that nuclear weapons would be used to "destroy the Zionist regime."
Middle East Expert Craig Smith of Swiss America, who wrote the introduction to the forthcoming Atomic Islam book, said, "During the Presidential Debates, many of us were baffled as to why Senator Kerry unabashedly promised that as President he would give the totalitarian government of Iran nuclear fuel, but now it all makes sense. He knew who took him to the dance and he had no choice but to attempt to waltz American technology over to his newfound friends in Tehran."