A look at Iranian run “charities” in the U.S.
ISCC – Keep Children in School – MAHAK
There are a number of Iranian run charities in the United States that are not very transparent, to say the least, and have telling relations with Iran’s lobby arm in the U.S., being specifically the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).
What becomes also disturbing is that research and connecting the dots show that individuals who have ties with Iran’s network of charities and lobbyist are in close relations with officials at the top echelons of America’s government, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former president Barack Obama.
We will see that the number of these ties and relationships are quite startling and cannot be described as mere coincidences.
The International Society for Children with Cancer (ISCC) is supposedly a charity organization found in 2004 that claims to provide money for children in Iran and other countries.
ISCC’s co-founder is Fereshteh Tavakoli, mother to Farnaz Fassihi, who writes for The New York Times and is constantly criticized for pushing Iran’s talking points in her NYT pieces.
Prior to that Tavakoli was involved with MAHAK, another claimed charity organization, in Iran since 1991. According to the ISCC website:
Over the years, Ms. Tavakoli volunteered as a social worker at public children's hospitals, fund-raising coordinator and public relations director. MAHAK is now Iran's leading and biggest NGO. MAHAK has a state-of-the-art research facility and hospital specializing in treatment of children with cancer. Ms. Tavakoli is still involved with MAHAK and volunteers her services when she visits Tehran once a year. ISCC is a broader continuation of MAHAK's mission and dream of not letting any cancer-stricken child die due to lack of funds.
Through the years Tavakoli/ISCC/MAHAK have been able to collect millions of dollars in donations. Yet, unfortunately, millions of Iranian children continue to suffer. Where is all that money going? Why is there no report of how this money is being put into use? Are we looking at a major money-laundering operation here?
These are legitimate questions that deserve answers.
It is worth noting that according to Charity Navigator, the world's largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator, the ISCC’s “score is a failing score. This overall score is calculated entirely from a single beacon score, and 100% Finance & Accountability.”
Tavakoli and the ISCC are able to throw lavish events, including galas, that obviously cost at least tens of thousands of dollars to host. It is interesting to see Maz Jobrani, an advisory board member of Iran’s DC-based lobby group, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), congratulating ISCC for raising over $1 million.
Sharif Nezam Mafi is the director general of MAHAK and, interestingly, also the Chairman of the Board at the Iran-Switzerland Chamber of Commerce.
Malekeh Amini is the wife of Sharif Nezam Mafi. Their family lives in the U.S. and as we will see below, Amini has had quite a relationship with NIAC members.
Amini has been the coordinator and moderator of many events held with NIAC’s direct/indirect financial support and with senior NIAC members attending the gatherings.
This poster (on the top left) is from a 2017 event in which Leila Sarafan of NIAC attended.
What is disturbing is that Leila Sarafan of Iran’s DC-based lobby arm NIAC has close ties with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Obama.
Amini participated in an event alongside Yasmin Radjy of NIAC. Radjy is involved in NIAC’s communications, organizing seminars, gatherings, and fundraisers in the U.S.
Amini and Radjy also appeared in a 2019 event held by the Stanford University called the “Iranian Stanford Professional Symposium.” Iran’s influence on this platform has escalated to the point that on June 23, 2020, Stanford hosted a conversation with Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, daughter to Iran’s now deceased former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. This is quite convenient for Tehran to have a close member of the Rafsanjani family being provided a platform at Ivy League school in the U.S.
Radjy is seen here next to former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. To the far right we see Narges Bajoghli of the Johns Hopkins University.
Now meet Forouzandeh Hamadanchy of the ISCC Board of Directors, mother to Kia Hamadanchy, endorsed by NIAC in the 2018 congressional elections in California. Kia Hamadanchy failed to reach the House of Representatives despite a large financial investment and NIAC’s full campaigning support.
Here we see Kia Hamadanchy and Yassamin Ansari, also endorsed by NIAC in U.S. elections and now councilwoman representing Phoenix’s District 7, alongside former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Ansari has a long history of ties with senior U.S. officials, including Biden, Obama, and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
Susan Shahidi (Hamadanchy) is the Executive Director at ISCC and aunt to 2018 congressional candidate Kia Hamadanchy.
Susan was active in campaigning for Kia’s 2018 run for Congress. Considering ISCC’s lack of transparency, people have the right to know if money going into ISCC is truly used for children in need in Iran, or funding election campaigns to place people influenced by Iran’s lobby arm NIAC in the U.S. Congress?
Houman Fakhimi is an attorney representing the ISCC. He apparently has close access to Obama and quite a close relationship with Kamala Harris.
What is the relationship between ISCC and NIAC? And why do such entities who trek lines parallel to Iran’s regime have such significant access to senior American political officials?
Fakhimi is quite fond of NIAC and introduces NIAC and founder Trita Parsi as a “good source” to find a candidate to run for the Senate or House, and means to provide $1 million in campaign money to run for the election.
The man Fakhimi is introducing to Kamala Harris is Touraj Daryaee, a supporter and senior advisor of NIAC, and seen here talking to NIAC founder Trita Parsi.
It is also interesting to see how Houman Fakhimi’s wife also has a very close access to Obama and Kamala Harris.
Here we see Touraj Daryaee and his close relationship with Seyed Javad Tabatabai, father of Ariane Tabatabai, hired by the Biden administration as a senior adviser to the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, a high-level position that requires security clearance.
“… Dr. Javad Tabatabai, is a senior faculty member at the state-controlled University of Tehran and is allegedly part of President Hassan Rouhani's inner circle, according to Iranian dissident groups. They point to Javad Tabatabai's public association with Rouhani and pictures of him with the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's founder and leader of the 1979 revolution that ushered in the regime.” (The Washington Free Beacon – March 16, 2021)
“Tabatabai’s critics—including the lawmakers and Iranian dissident groups who oppose the hardline government—outlined multiple public appearances in which she parroted Iranian regime propaganda and downplayed the import of democratic protests that threaten to topple Iran’s clerical leadership. They see the administration’s decision to hire Tabatabai as a sign the State Department intends to appease Iran and offer it significant concessions as part of any revamped nuclear deal.” (The Washington Free Beacon – May 10, 2021)
For those interested, this thread provides more information about Ariane Tabatabai.
Touraj Daryaee is a professor in University of California, Irvine, and Director of the Jordan Center for Persian Studies in this university. Daryaee has close ties with NIAC and plays an important role in “educating” and thus recruiting new members for this Iranian lobby group, activists say.
There are many legitimate questions on how NIAC attracts new recruits among Iranians living in the U.S. One answer is found in the influence placed on these individuals by figures such as Daryaee and others like him.
More images of Daryaee close relationship with Seyed Javad Tabatabai of Tehran University, and NIAC in the U.S.
Individuals such as Daryaee are very important for Iran’s regime and NIAC, especially since they enjoyed access to the Obama White House.
Farbod Farahi, a member of the MAHAK Board of Trustees, is brother to Farideh Farhi, who has taught in various universities across the U.S., including Colorado, Hawaii, and Boulder, and also, quite interestingly, Beheshti and Tehran universities in Iran. The latter two are state-run institutions in Iran and under close watch by the mullahs’ regime. Not all professors are allowed by the regime to teach in such facilities. She is described as a senior advisor, political/economic/social supporter of NIAC in the U.S.
Farhi has been quite active in pushing Iran’s talking points in support of the regime’s so-called reformist faction that aims to bring about “change.” She has extensive writing in Lobe Log, a known pro-Iran appeasement/apologist website.
NIAC establishes ties with U.S. government officials through individuals such as Farhi. Here we see her with Alan Eyre, the Persian language spokesperson of Obama’s State Department. Other Iran apologists/lobbyists have also established close ties with Eyre as we see in a tweet by leading Iran apologist/lobbyist Negar Mortazavi.
Maria Afsharian established MAHAK’s office in the city of Shiraz, south-central Iran. She also works with ISCC in New Jersey and is a very active member of NIAC, especially involved in its fundraising campaigns.
More on Afsharian’s ties with NIAC and MAHAK/ISCC.
More on Afsharian’s close relationship with MAHAK/ISCC founder Fereshteh Tavakoli.
Afsharian also has close ties with known Iran apologists/lobbyists such as Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council, NIAC President Jamal Abdi, and none other than Ariane Tabatabai, now in the Biden State Department.
Just a quick note about Barbara Slavin who is quite fond of Iran’s regime and Tehran’s apologists/lobbyists.
Another interesting characteristic about Afsharian is the fact that she easily travels back and forth to Iran, leading to activists accusing her of relaying Tehran’s orders to NIAC. This is especially important when many foreigners and dual citizens have been arrested and held hostage by the mullahs’ regime. Afsharian, however, easily comes and goes. Afsharian should provide answers to the allegations raised against her.
More on Afsharian’s close ties with NIAC and other Iran apologists/lobbyists.
Ahmad Shams is the treasurer and board of directors’ member of ISCC/MAHAK and is described by Iranian activists as “one of NIAC’s largest financial supporters.” Shams is the founder and Chairman of Merex Inc., a major international logistics company that manufactures aircrafts components around the world. Iranian activists describe Shams as providing NIAC with important economic, political, and cultural advice.
The man in the silver coat is Hassan Kheradmandan, a member of NIAC,
Shams seen in images with Kheradmandan and other senior NIAC members.
Shams has established ties with various American politicians, making him key and extremely useful for NIAC.
ISCC co-founder Fereshteh Tavakoli also has ties with “Keep Children In School,” another suspicious “charity” organization that fails to provide adequate transparency. Connecting the dots presents even more troubling facts.
What is Hassan Kheradmandan, a member of Iran’s DC-based lobby group, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), doing at a KCIS event? What is their relationship?
Kheradmandan has a long history of purchasing real estate in the Hollywood area. NIAC has been active for decades in California, and especially the southern parts of this state.
Mahak even has its own tag on the Tehran Times website, a known outlet of the regime’s state media. This extensive context (to provide cover) is another link between Mahak and the mullahs’ regime in Tehran. This coverage began in June 2018 and continues well into 2021.
November 2, 2020—More of Iran’s state media providing press coverage for Mahak. The Mehr news agency is associated to the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence & Security (MOIS).
Asieh Namdar, who has close ties with NIAC and exclusive access to Zarif, provided TV coverage for Mahak in the continued effort to portray a legitimate face to the initiative.
Keep in mind that Iranian regime officials will only conduct interviews with individuals whom they’re certain of their loyalty to the mullahs’ establishment (and most likely filtered by NIAC and other lobby groups). These so-called interviews provided Zarif an invaluable platform to push Tehran’s talking points in Western media.
As indicated in the beginning of this piece, we cannot simply assume all these ties are mere coincidences. Connecting the dots provide us circumstantial evidence that lead to important questions that deserve answering. Refusing to answer such questions will raise even more suspicions about the nature of those who wish to keep such issues in the shadows.
1) What is the relationship between Iranian run “charity” entities such as the ISCC, KCIS, and MAHAK, with Iran’s DC-based lobby groups NIAC, PAAIA, and others?
2) Why are these “charity” entities not practicing transparent policies? Where is all their money going to?
3) Is it a mere coincidence that officials of these “charities” have family members running in U.S. elections and reaching certain offices? Is it a mere coincidence that Iran’s lobby groups endorse these certain individuals as candidates for office?
4) Why do these “charities” and Iran’s lobby groups only establish ties with a certain circle of American politicians? If they truly seek the better good of the Iranian people and Iranian Americans, why not seek bipartisan support in Washington?
your info is wrong and Malakeh is not married to Sharif so if you want credibility correct your error here as she was married to his brother. She has no ties to Iranian government
Nezam mafi is a criminal. I know him as he was my boss in swiss based company Bühler in Tehran .