![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/royce-ed.jpg\" "\\"royce-ed\\"")
BY: Adam Kredo
Source: The Washington Free Beacon
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee chastised a self-described representative of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) on Capitol Hill Tuesday for disseminating Iranian \u201cpropaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a press briefing on Iran sanctions, Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.) sharply rebuked a woman who identified herself as being from NIAC after she claimed U.S. sanctions are preventing the Iranian people from receiving \u201cmedicine and food.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s propaganda put out by the Iranian regime,\u201d Royce said to the woman, who identified herself as Samira Damavandi.<\/p>\n
NIAC is an Iranian-American advocacy group long suspected of lobbying on behalf of the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n
The confrontation occurred during a press briefing hosted by The Israel Project.<\/p>\n
Damavandi is a NIAC intern and a student at the University of California, Berkeley, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is also a contributor to the Huffington Post.<\/p>\n
Iran has more access to medicine now than it has at any other time in the recent past, said Royce, who added that access has increased by 35 percent since 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe regime does not want to spend earnings on medicine for the population,\u201d Royce said to Damavandi. \u201cThis is why the health minister was fired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Royce went on to slam pro-Iran groups such as NIAC for pushing pro-regime \u201cpropaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is concerning that propaganda is circulating here in the U.S. by some who speak in favor of the policies taken by the regime,\u201d Royce said. \u201cWe instead should be applying pressure. Those who care about Iran should have been supportive of the health minister who was fired\u201d after he publicly went against Iran\u2019s supreme leader.<\/p>\n
Damavandi made reference in her question to a recent congressional letter that she claimed showed waning support for tighter sanctions.<\/p>\n
The letter, which garnered 131 congressional supporters, called on President Barack Obama to initiate diplomatic relations with Iran\u2019s newly elected president Hassan Rowhani. Some Democrats have stepped up efforts in recent days to defeat efforts to strengthen sanctions.<\/p>\n
However, Royce said the letter is not representative of opinion toward the new sanctions legislation, which would cut Iranian access to foreign currency and punish the oil industry of the rogue regime.<\/p>\n
The sanctions bill currently has more than 350 cosponsors, which includes most of the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith respect to the letter circulated, the letter you make reference to in now way refers to this legislation,\u201d Royce said to Damavandi.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to see peace, passing this legislation is almost a prerequisite,\u201d Royce said. \u201cIf you want negotiations to work its almost a prerequisite.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think Iran would even be at the [negotiating] table without sanctions legislation? No,\u201d Royce added. \u201cThey\u2019d be carrying out their policy focused on the \u2018Great Satan\u2019 and the \u2018Little Satan.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that is something for the Iranian American community to reflect on,\u201d Royce said.<\/p>\n
NIAC has long billed itself as an Iranian American advocacy group despite multiple documents and investigations that suggest its founder, Trita Parsi, has deep ties to the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n
Parsi and NIAC have been accused in court of operating as agents of the Iranian regime and lobbying Congress on behalf of it.<\/p>\n
NIAC was ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in \u201csanctions\u201d earlier this year after launching a failed defamation lawsuit against one of its chief critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Parsi occasionally made statements reflecting a balanced, shared blame approach is not inconsistent with the idea that he was first and foremost an advocate for the regime,\u201d a U.S. District Court judge wrote in his opinion at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the other evidence defendant amassed to support his views, the Court sees no \u2018actual malice\u2019 in defendant\u2019s decision to disregard occasional contrary statements and assume that they were made largely to burnish Parsi and NIAC\u2019s image in the United States,\u201d the judge said. \u201cAfter all, any moderately intelligent agent for the Iranian regime would not want to be seen as unremittingly pro-regime, given the regime\u2019s reputation in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other lawmakers in attendance at the press briefing said Iran\u2019s new president is trying to deceive the West into believing he is moderate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at the end now. We\u2019re really at the end,\u201d Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.) said, referencing to Iran\u2019s nuclear progress. \u201cWe\u2019re at the eleventh hour now and there\u2019s no pushing it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love it if it were true that Rowhani was a moderate and had some authority,\u201d Engel said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever there are sanctions people say it will hurt the people,\u201d Engel said, adding that the bill does not target humanitarian goods. \u201cWe believe medicines will be able to find its way to Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Ted Deutch (D., Fla.) said those who oppose the Iran sanctions bill have always opposed sanctions on Tehran.<\/p>\n
These individuals and lobbying groups \u201chave opposed every piece of sanctions legislation we\u2019ve passed,\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cAnd every time we pass one we\u2019ve been told, \u2018You can\u2019t do this. The Iranian people are going to blame the U.S.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he said, \u201cthe polling in Iran has shown the exact opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY: Adam Kredo Source: The Washington Free BeaconThe chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee chastised a self-described representative of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) on Capitol Hill Tuesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-14279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-a-world","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n