In late June, when the U.S. executed its Operation Midnight Hammer strikes to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, the widespread outcry in support of Tehran wasn’t organic.
It was stoked by three radical organizations deeply connected to foreign regimes: the National Iranian-American Council or NIAC, the ANSWER Coalition, and — in the case of the protest in Washington, D.C. — the Manassas Mosque. These groups provided logistical, financial, and messaging support for protests that echoed the ideological lines of Iran’s regime.
Sadly, this is part of a broader trend where our adversaries use our processes and freedoms against us to recruit advocates and make their governments’ propaganda seem like organic and homegrown outrage among Americans.
NIAC bills itself as a bridge between Iranian Americans and U.S. policymakers. But its record tells a different story. The Hoover Institution has labeled it “the Iranian regime’s (de facto) lobby in the West,” noting that NIAC was allegedly created with input from Iran’s then-Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, with an agenda of normalizing U.S.-Iran ties under the guise of business and diplomacy, while ignoring human rights abuses.
In 2020, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) demanded a Department of Justice probe into NIAC and its affiliate NIAC Action for potential Foreign Agents Registration Act violations, citing its consistent echoing of Tehran’s propaganda. NIAC has long evaded serious scrutiny, but during Operation Midnight Hammer, its priorities became evident.
On June 28 it helped promote the “National March on Washington” by partnering with the ANSWER Coalition and others in a nationwide call for protests to “Stop the War on Iran.” These weren’t spontaneous expressions of American public opinion — they followed a script drafted in Tehran. NIAC’s half-century of coordinated messaging with regime interests suggests these protests were orchestrated, not organic.
The ANSWER Coalition has also proven itself a stunning vector for foreign interference in U.S. protest culture. Although it once focused on anti-war messaging going back as far as 9/11, ANSWER has since become a conduit for authoritarian propaganda, pushing pro-China, anti-Israel, and pro-Iran narratives.
The group is funded by tech millionaire Neville Singham, a self-described Maoist. According to recently declassified House Oversight findings and the New York Times, Singham channeled at least $1.8 million into media outlets and activism aligned with Chinese Communist Party talking points. ANSWER has also worked on large anti-Israel demonstrations in sync with American Muslims for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine, organizations that Congress has connected to Hamas and Iran.
When Operation Midnight Hammer kicked off, ANSWER activists spread signs, hired transport, and amplified calls to end U.S. actions “against Iran,” all in perfect alignment with Tehran’s strategic narrative. This is not civil dissent; it is foreign-backed ideological warfare being waged on American soil.
Meanwhile, in Northern Virginia, the Manassas Mosque, under Imam Abolfazl Bahram Nahidian, has operated as a domestic hub for extremist ideology. The mosque has Iranian financing, having received almost $200,000 from the Alavi Foundation, a known regime front, in the early 2000s. The inside of the mosque itself is adorned with the “martyrs” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, life‑sized cutouts of Ayatollah Khomeini, and flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Daoud Salahuddin, who assassinated an anti-regime former Iranian diplomat in 1980, lived with and worked for Imam Nahidian, had been recruited by Nahidian into pro-Khomeini activism, and had spent time at an Iranian student center run by Nahidian, which was used as a staging ground for pro-Khomeini demonstrations.
In the run-up to Operation Midnight Hammer, the mosque collaborated on flyers for “Hands Off Iran” protests in the Washington, D.C. area, including events outside the White House. These weren’t fringe events; they were extensions of the Iranian regime’s ideological apparatus, staged under the banner of religious assembly and disguised as grassroots activism.
The pro-Iran crowd may wear the language of civil outrage, but foreign connections tell the real story. It’s time for Congress, watchdog agencies, and civil society to reclassify such demonstrations as orchestrated foreign interference operations and respond accordingly. National security isn’t just about missile sites and uranium centrifuges; it’s also about protecting our democratic process from the enemies who would hijack it.
The American people, who are influenced by media figures such as Tucker Carlson (who recently gave a friendly interview to Iran’s president), deserve to know how much foreign money is being spread around to change Americans’ minds. When groups like NIAC, ANSWER, and the Manassas Mosque claim the mantle of pro-democracy advocacy, it’s a betrayal not only of truth but of national security.
The American people deserve honest discourse, not manufactured consent. In this moment, when Iran looms as a genocidal menace vowing to “wipe Israel off the map,” we must call out these campaigns for what they are: foreign-controlled influence efforts seeping into our policymaking and streets.
Dr. Sheila Nazarian, an Iranian refugee, is an Emmy-nominated, board certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
