America First Legal, a group of conservative lawyers, announces that it has launched a probe into the activities of a pro-Iran influence network in the United States which can pose a threat to the American national security.
During a Wednesday press conference, US President Joe Biden warned Iran against further attacks on US troops in the region after rising incidents in the last week. “My warning to the Ayatollah was that if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond, and he should be prepared,” he warned.
Since Iran-backed Hamas declared war on Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 and taking at least 220 hostages back into Gaza, Tehran's other proxy militias have intensified attacks on bases hosting American troops deployed in the region since 9/11. Hezbollah has increased its attacks on Israel’s northern border while proxies in Yemen and Syria have also fired missiles towards Israel.
At least 24 US troops have been injured during 10 drone or rocket attacks on bases in Iraq and three in Syria over the past week.
Biden said his warning to Iran “has nothing to do with Israel,” but it echoes similar statements by Washington that on several occasions warned Tehran to “be careful” not to do anything that leads to expanding the conflict into a larger Middle East war.
The US embassy in Kuwait has also received threats from an Iranian proxy, and downgraded all its operations to those which are deemed essential.
The political deputy in Iran’s presidential office, Mohammad Jamshidi, said in what IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency described as a reaction to Biden’s remarks, “The US messages were neither directed to the leader of the Islamic Revolution nor were they anything but requests from the Iranian side. If Biden thinks he has warned Iran, he should ask his team to show him the text of the messages.”
Earlier in the week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the United States sent at least two "urgent messages" to Tehran about the simmering tensions in the Middle East. According to Amwaj Media, a media outlet with links to the regime's close circles, Washington has also communicated a potential shift in its stance regarding Iranian assets held in Qatari banks and postponed talks on nuclear issues. The message was allegedly delivered by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Doha on October 13.
In a bid to slam the support given to Israel by the likes of the US and EU leaders, who have given their unequivocal support for its response to an attack which was the single most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust, Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, said visits by US and European officials to Israel are aimed at “resuscitation to delay the inevitable death of the Zionist regime,” a term it uses for Israel.
Salami also warned against an Israeli ground invasion which the IDF today revealed had begun in small measure with a precise infiltration overnight. He warned, “If they move on the ground, the dragon of Gaza will devour them," suggesting the might of the regime's support will be initiated in full force.
Footage released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Thursday showed forces under the command of the Givati Brigade on Wednesday night carried out a targeted raid using tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of the preparation of the area for the next stages of combat.
As part of the operation, the forces located and attacked many terrorists, destroyed terrorist infrastructures, anti-tank positions and carried out work to organize the area, the IDF said. The troops left the area at the end of the mission.
The Iranian regime’s foreign minister is scheduled to speak at the UN Security Council on Thursday. Just this week, he met with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as it becomes harder for the regime to deny its hand in a war which now threatens to involve multiple fronts. The US and UK have been moving warships to the region and US troops are also headed to the Middle East.
Its Palestinian proxy Hamas declared war on Israel on October 7, when thousands of its troops slaughtered at least 1,400 and took at least 220 hostages to Gaza.
The hostages, which include women, the elderly, the sick and babies, are from dozens of nationalities, including Americans. Other American citizens were slaughtered in the massacre which saw thousands of Hamas militants run rampage in Israeli towns and villages.
Since then, its proxy Hezbollah has been upping its offensive on Israel’s northern border while proxies in Yemen and Syria have also sent missiles towards Israel.
Many have demanded answers, including former senate aide Richard Goldberg who said: “The White House needs to explain right now: Why did it allow an agent of the regime behind the 10/7 Hamas massacre into the country? Whether it will be allowing him to leave the country while Americans are held hostage?”
National security expert Norman Roule, also put the blame for the atrocities of October 7 in the hands of Iran, which continues to deny responsibility for the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust, but incites each day for further action from both its proxies and the global population.
“Thousands dead at the hands of proxies of the regime this individual is proud to represent,” Roule wrote on X. “The funerals of the dead ongoing as he sits in New York luxury. Abdollahian's presence in the US is a cruel act for the many American and other families who have been forever broken by terrorists he celebrates.”
Senator Joni Ernst accused Biden of appeasing Iran in a bid to resume nuclear talks, amid increasing attacks on US troops in the Middle East. At least 13 attacks have been carried out against US bases in Iraq and Syria in the last week.
“Iran-backed terrorists have attacked our service members and are currently holding Americans hostage. But the Biden administration has granted a top Iranian official a visa — welcoming this regime on US soil with open arms. The appeasement must end,” she wrote on X.
The controversy echoes the sentiment which met President Ebrahim Raisi on his visit in September to the UN General Assembly. While an investigation is underway for the mass human rights abuses inflicted on Iranians since last year’s Women, Life, Freedom movement’s protests, he was given a platform, along with his wife, to claim Iranian women had full rights and freedom.
During the visit, he claimed the protests were merely propaganda and slammed the US and the West for meddling in Iranian affairs.
Each year, the regime funds Hamas with at least $100m in addition to providing training, technology and military equipment to the Gazan militants, designated by the US, UK and EU.
Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against a Nuclear Iran, blasted Amir-Abdollahian for being “involved in planning for Hamas’ attack on Israel” claiming he “should never have been allowed into the US after having the blood of Americans on his hands”.
As the IRGC - designated in the US - comes under increasing fire, and the UK recently admitting Iran is the country’s greatest threat, the welcoming of Amir-Abdollahian shows the immunity the regime’s leaders have as they continue to move freely.
Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, has also spoken openly about the regime’s ongoing support for the Hamas war on Israel, warning against an Israeli ground invasion which last night, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was imminent.
Salami warned: ”Israelis have no way other than bombing Gaza; if they move on the ground, the dragon of Gaza will devour them." He described this event as "one of the most memorable" defeats in which "America, England, and Israel joined forces”.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against a Nuclear Iran, accused the US of double standards in its foreign policy when it comes to Iran, citing the US refusal of a visa to the previous foreign minister, Javad Zarif, in 2020.
“Abdollahian has the blood of Americans on his hands as he is an IRGC terrorist operative and US forces are currently under fire while this man is being offered entry, protected by US security,” he said, outraged.
Under the US-UN Host Agreement, for security, terrorism, and foreign policy concerns, there is an exception under which the US can deny entry to a foreign official for UN meetings.
“There is precedent for this and it should have been exercised in this case. An outrage,” he said.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, the group started its investigations on October 24 about Robert Malley, the suspended US special envoy for Iran, and Ariane Tabatabai, a former associate of Malley and the current Chief of Staff for the Assistant Secretary of Defense.
Iran International’s exposé, Inside Tehran’s Soft War: How Iran Gained Influence in US Policy Centers, and its twin report by Semafor, Inside Iran’s Influence Operation, proves the existence of the “Iran Experts Network”, whereby members acted as agent provocateurs of the regime.
Referring to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), America First Legal has demanded that the US State Department and Pentagon provide information regarding the two officials’ alleged contacts with the Iranian regime.
The legal watchdog touches upon Tabatabai’s role “in a covert Iranian influence campaign” and her alleged lobbying for the interests of the Iranian regime in the United States, requesting that the Justice Department decide whether she can be considered a foreign agent.
America First Legal’s probe can lead to the discovery of new documents regarding Washington’s secret diplomatic relations with Tehran, especially the ones conducive to a controversial prisoner swap deal between the two countries in September 2023.
"It is of paramount importance that the truth about the role that Iranian assets may have played, and may continue to be playing, in formulating US policy be brought to light," Freebeacon quoted Reed Rubinstein, the group’s senior counselor as saying.
