National Iranian American Council

Formation

NIAC was founded in 2002, by Trita Parsi, Babak Talebi, and Farzin Illich to promote Iranian-American civic participation. At NIAC’s founding, Parsi explained the purpose of the organization, saying “Our community is educated, affluent, dynamic, and professionally successful. However, we have yet to harness our immense human potential into constructive engagement in American civil society.”

Human rights

During the Iranian Green Movement, NIAC urged President Obama to condemn the Iranian government’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrators after the disputed election. As the violent crackdown escalated, NIAC put out a statement arguing “the only plausible way to end the violence is for new elections to be held with independent monitors ensuring its fairness.”

The organization supported the Stand with the Iranian People Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), which included proposals for targeted measures against individual Iranian government officials responsible for human right abuses. In 2011, NIAC successfully advocated for the re-establishment a United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran to investigate rights abuses.

War and diplomacy

NIAC advocates against war with Iran and advocated in support of the Iran nuclear deal. The Congressional publication, The Hill, cited NIAC's work in support of the Iran nuclear accord as one of the "Top lobbying victories of 2015." Shortly, before the conclusion of the Iran nuclear deal, NIAC urged members of Congress to support the Schakowsky-Doggett-Price House letter, the strongest Congressional statement of support for diplomacy with Iran on record. The letter was signed by 151 Members of Congress, and signaled to the Obama administration enough Democrats would support a diplomatic agreement with Iran to block a veto override of any legislative attempts to undo the agreement. The organization also supported an earlier letter supporting diplomacy, the Dent-Price letter, which was signed by 131 Representatives. The Dent-Price letter advocated for giving negotiations with Iran on the nuclear issue a chance after the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Sanctions

NIAC has a generally negative view of broad economic sanctions, opposing many proposals to sanction Iran and urging the repeal of certain aspects of sanctions it calls counterproductive. The organization led campaigns to lift sanctions that blocked humanitarian organizations from providing disaster relief to Iranians, and helped remove sanctions on online communication tools like Facebook and YouTube.

A NIAC report concluded that U.S. sanctions on Iran cost the U.S. economy between $135 billion and $175 billion in lost export revenue between 1995 and 2012. After the Iran nuclear deal was implemented and U.S. secondary sanctions on Iran were eased, the organization questioned the utility of the broad economic embargo the U.S. maintains on trade with Iran.

Discrimination

NIAC works to ensure that the rights of Iranian Americans are protected. It rallied opposition to the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015 (HR 158), generating over 100,000 messages from supporters against the legislation, which barred Iranian dual nationals and anyone who had visited Iran in the previous five years from participating in the Visa Waiver Program. After the legislation was adopted, NIAC successfully urged the European Union and all countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program not to reciprocate with measures targeting Iranian-Americans and other dual nationals targeted by HR 158.

NIAC has also worked on behalf of Iranian students in the U.S. NIAC led the campaign to change the U.S.’s single-entry visa policy towards Iranian students, by allowing Iranian students to receive multiple entry visas, a measure that the Obama administration adopted in 2011. The group also objected in 2015 to the University of Massachusetts and Virginia Commonwealth University policies improperly banning Iranian students from certain educational programs, and elicited a reversal of the policies. In addition, NIAC worked with Venmo to resolve payment difficulties, specifically with the use of specific keywords in the payment message – such as “Persian” and “Iran.”

NIAC Action

NIAC's sister 501(c)4 organization, NIAC Action, was formed in 2015 to support the nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran and to champion Iranian American priorities. At that time, NIAC Action assumed responsibility for and expanded direct and grassroots lobbying work previously conducted by NIAC. NIAC Action’s expressed advocacy goals are "to strengthen U.S. diplomacy with Iran to advance peace and human rights, promote greater openings between the American and the Iranian people, protect civil rights and opportunities for Iranian Americans at home, and support candidates who represent the Iranian American community's values." Jamal Abdi currently serves as the organization's Executive Director.

Since NIAC Action's formation, NIAC has refocused on "expert research and analysis, civic and policy education, and community building."

Policy conference

Since 2011, NIAC has held an annual Leadership Conference that "aims to expose its attendees to world-class leaders, and to teach Iranian Americans how to gain the political strength needed to effect real change on the issues." The conference in 2015 included addresses from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), as well as Representatives Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Dan Kildee (D-MI).

Lobbying controversy and defamation lawsuit

In 2007, Arizona-based Iranian-American journalist Hassan Daioleslam began publicly asserting that NIAC was lobbying on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In response, Parsi sued him for defamation. As a result of the lawsuit, many internal documents were released, which former Washington Times correspondent Eli Lake stated "raise questions" about whether the organization had violated U.S. lobbying regulations. NIAC responded that it is in "full compliance with all regulations and laws" and published all of its tax returns online to back up its claim. Andrew Sullivan responded to the story in The Atlantic, suggesting the motive of the story was to "smear" Parsi’s reputation.

In September 2012, U.S. Federal District Court Judge John D. Bates threw out the libel suit against Daioleslam on the grounds that "NIAC and Parsi had failed to show evidence of actual malice, either that Daioeslam acted with knowledge the allegations he made were false or with reckless disregard about their accuracy." However, Judge Bates also noted that "nothing in this opinion should be construed as a finding that [Daioleslam’s] articles were true. [Daioleslam] did not move for summary judgement on that ground." On April 9, 2013, Judge Bates ordered NIAC to cover a portion of Daioleslam's legal expenses.

Funding

NIAC states it has over 5,300 donors. The organization’s funding comes from Iranian-American individuals and American foundations. It does not receive funding from the U.S. or Iranian governments.