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Lawmakers urge Biden to deny Iranian president entry into US for UN meeting over ‘gross violations’ of rights

Over 50 Democrats and Republicans are urging Biden to keep the Iranian president from attending the UN assembly in New York

By Kelly Laco     |     Fox News     |     Sept. 8, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is urging President Biden to deny necessary “entry visas” for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation to attend the upcoming 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York City due to the foreign president’s record of supporting terrorism and violating human rights.

“We write to strongly urge you to deny entry visas to the United States for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly’s 77th session in New York this September,” the 52 total lawmakers led by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to Biden Thursday.

“The United States cannot overlook Ebrahim Raisi’s direct involvement in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including the 1988 organized mass murder of thousands of political prisoners, among whom were women and children, by the Iranian regime,” the letter continues.

 “A majority of those murdered were members or supporters of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK). Members of other political dissident groups were murdered as well. Raisi was a documented member of the Tehran ‘death committee,’ the group responsible for overseeing the massacre. It is highly concerning that Raisi and other members of the so called ‘death committee’ have not been investigated and charged with crimes against humanity. Furthermore, Raisi continues to publicly defend his role in the 1988 executions.”

“It is unacceptable that the Iranian government continues to back state-sponsored terrorist activities around the globe, including campaigns to assassinate American officials,” the congressmen continue, noting that the Department of Justice recently charged a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for planning to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

In addition, they cite Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State “the legal authority to deny entry” to any individuals who have been involved in any act of torture or killing.

The lawmakers note that two previous administrations in the last 10 years have denied entry visas to Iranian regime officials: in 2014, Iran’s UN Ambassador Hamid Aboutalebi, and in 2020, foreign minister Javad Zarif.

The letter comes as the Biden administration is still negotiating the final details of a renewed nuclear deal with Iran.

Last week, a group of 50 House Democrats and Republicans called on Biden to share the text of any deal to reinstate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Congress before signing it.

They specifically expressed concerns with the potential rollback of sanctions on Iran to stem the state’s ability to fund terrorist activities against the U.S. and its allies. A recent report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies says the latest data available shows the current proposal will mean a $274 billion windfall for the Islamic Republic of Iran in its first year of implementation, and upwards of $1 trillion for the regime by 2030.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to perpetrators of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and cruel regimes that endanger both their people and Americans. We urge you and your administration to carefully consider this matter of national security and to use your authorities under the INA to deny Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation entry into the United States,” the letter concludes.

The White House referred Fox News Digital to the State Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lawmakers-urge-biden-deny-iranian-president-entry-gross-violations-rights

France 24     |     8/28/2022

Washington (AFP) – An exile group announced a New York lawsuit against Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi Thursday, challenging US authorities to take action against him as he is expected to arrive next month for the UN General Assembly.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said the suit accused Raisi of torture and murder in a 1988 crackdown on Iranian dissidents.

Echoing similar complaints filed in England and Scotland, the civil lawsuit says that in 1988 Raisi was a member of the so-called “death commission,” four judges who directly ordered thousands of executions as well as torture of members of the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, known as the MEK.

The MEK is the largest partner of the NCRI.

It is “beyond doubt that as deputy state prosecutor for Tehran province, Ebrahim Raisi, was a member of that death commission,” Steven Schneebaum, the lead attorney in the lawsuit, said in a Washington press conference organized by the NCRI.

The suit was filed in federal court in New York last week in the names of two people tortured at the time and a third person whose brother was executed.

It cites Amnesty International and US sanctions declarations that accuse Raisi of complicity in the 1988 events.

The suit asks for unspecified damages for torture, extrajudicial killings, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The suit challenges the belief that Raisi, who was elected president last year, enjoys immunity under US law as a head of state and also an official foreign representative attending the United Nations annual general meeting at the UN headquarters in New York.

Schneebaum said that, for one, Raisi is not a diplomat officially accredited to the United Nations.

Secondly, he said, while Raisi is president, the real head of state of Iran is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“Raisi is not a diplomat… and is not eligible for the privileges extended under the Vienna Convention. Nor is he in fact a head of state,” Schneebaum said.

If US authorities accept those arguments, they could serve Raisi with a warrant if he attends the UN meetings beginning September 13.

That would require him to submit a plea withing 21 days, said Schneebaum.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a questions on its view of Raisi’s status.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220825-iran-exiles-sue-president-raisi-in-us-ahead-of-un-meet

Boston Herald     |     Dr. Kazem Kazerounian     |     June 25, 2022
Kazerounian: To support Iran’s people, engage with the Iranian Resistance

https://twitter.com/Maryam_Rajavi/status/1540068695384399872
In his recent trip to Albania, former Vice President Mike Pence showed world leaders and politicians how they can play a leading role in supporting the people of Iran in their struggle for freedom and democracy. Mr. Pence visited Ashraf 3, the main headquarters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the longest-standing and most organized opposition to the tyrannical regime ruling Iran.

The visit comes as Iran is on the verge of a monumental change. People from all walks of life are in the streets every day, protesting economic woes, government corruption and suppression of freedoms. Teachers, workers, pensioners, government employees, oil and gas sector workers and many other segments of society are regularly holding protest rallies. The protests are marked with slogans that call for the ouster of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his appointed president Ebrahim Raisi.

These protests, which are taking place despite severe security measures by the regime, symbolize what the Iranian nation has gone through in the past four decades. After the 1979 revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini seized control and established a tyrannical theocracy that brutally massacred dissidents, squandered the country’s wealth on developing weapons of mass destruction and waging war on neighboring countries, and exported terrorism across the globe. For the people of Iran, who had overthrown the Shah dictatorship to live in freedom and prosperity, the mullahs’ rule was a betrayal of their aspirations and the sacrifices they made in the 1979 revolution. Today, the mullahs’ regime is the greatest enemy of the Iranian people and one of the biggest global threats.

During their reign of terror, the mullahs have executed more than 120,000 MEK members and supporters, including 30,000 political prisoners who were mass-executed in 1988. Raisi, who is now the regime’s president, was one of the key players in that brutal massacre of political prisoners. I was one of the MEK supporters who managed to escape the regime’s security apparatus and find refuge in the U.S., where I am currently a professor and dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut.

Despite the regime’s brutal crackdown, the MEK has stood against the dictatorship of the mullahs and defended the rights of the Iranian people. Its sources inside the country were the first to expose the regime’s nuclear weapons program in 2002. The MEK has consistently provided information about the regime’s illicit nuclear sites, its terrorist network and its human rights abuses. The Resistance Units, a network affiliated with the MEK, is the most expansive network of organized anti-regime activists inside Iran and they are constantly carrying out activities to prevent the regime’s repression from snuffling the fire of protests inside Iran.

Today, the confrontation between the Iranian people and the regime is at its highest point. On the one side is a regime symbolized by Ebrahim Raisi, whom the Iranian people have nicknamed “the butcher of 1988,” and on the other are 80 million people who want to enjoy basic freedoms and live decent lives.

In the past, U.S. administrations have mostly stood on the sidelines, remained silent, or sided with the regime when the people held nationwide protests. This is the time to stand with the people of Iran.

Mr. Pence showed how the international community could do this. In his visit to Ashraf 3, Mr. Pence also met with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of opposition forces that includes the MEK. The NCRI has a platform that calls for the establishment of a democratic state, which gives equal opportunities to all Iranians regardless of their gender, ethnicity and religion; which denounces terrorism and is at peace with its neighbors; which does not need a nuclear weapons program; and which is a contributor to peace and security across the globe. This is what the people of Iran and the world want.

As Mr. Pence said in his speech to MEK members in Ashraf 3, “One of the biggest lies the ruling regime has sold the world is that there is no alternative to the status quo. But there is an alternative – a well-organized, fully prepared, perfectly qualified and popularly supported alternative. … Your Resistance Units, commitment to democracy, human rights and freedom for every citizen of Iran. Maryam Rajavi’s Ten Point Plan for the future of Iran will ensure freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the freedom for every Iranian to choose their elected leaders. It’s a foundation on which to build the future of Iran.”

Dr. Kazem Kazerounian currently serves as dean and a professor of mechanical engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/06/25/kazerounian-to-support-irans-people-engage-with-the-iranian-resistance/amp/

NCRI Staff Writer     |     16th May 2022

Today, marking the sixth day of the nationwide uprising in Iran where people from various provinces have taken to the streets calling for regime change and democracy, the 70th United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo paid a visit to Ashraf 3, home to thousands of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Mainz, Albania.

After meeting with Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian National Council of Resistance of Iran, Mr. Pompeo visited the Ashraf 3 museum where the history and evidence of 120 years long resistance of the Iranian people throughout the rule of three dictators in Iran was demonstrated.

Ashraf-3, Albania, May 16, 2022 – Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and Secretary Michael Pompeo meeting in Ashraf 3, home to thousands of member of the principal Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK), in Manëz, Albania.

Following the visit, Ms. Rajavi and Mr. Pompeo attended a meeting with residents of Ashraf 3 and members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK/PMOI), of whom a thousand were victims and former prisoners of both the monarchial as well as the clerical regime.

Addressing the members of the MEK, Mr. Pompeo stated: “I’d also like to recognize President-elect Maryam Rajavi.  Under her leadership, the National Council of Resistance of Iran is laying the groundwork for a free, sovereign, and democratic republic in Iran.”

“A serious missing factor in U.S. policy towards Iran has been the lack of political support for the organized opposition, Mr. Pompeo added. “The regime in Tehran went to the extreme to massacre 30,000 political prisoners, whose main targets and a majority of victims were the MEK. The threat of attack extends far beyond Iran’s borders, with the regime having waged terror plots in Europe and the U.S. against the leaders of this movement. Now, to correct the Iran policy, no matter who is in the White House, it is a necessity for the U.S. administration to reach out to the Iranian Resistance and take advantage of its tremendous capabilities. Ashraf 3 is one such place to focus on.”

Secretary Pompeo also said: “Ebrahim Raisi, the butcher who orchestrated the 1988 massacre, is now President… The turnout was the lowest since 1979, marking a total rejection of the regime and its candidate.  It was, in fact, a boycott of the regime – and the regime knows it.  The regime is clearly at its weakest point in decades.”

“Raisi has already failed. He has failed to crush uprisings in Iran or break the noble spirit of dissent within the Iranian people,” he further elaborated.

Calling to hold Ebrahim Raisi accountable for his crimes against humanity back in 1988, Mr. Pompeo stated: “We must continue to support the Iranian people as they fight for a freer and more democratic Iran in any way we can. There is so much good work that American civil society can do to further this goal.  It is the work your organization is actively engaged in.”

“In the end, the Iranian people will have a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Republic. I pray that this day will come soon and with the support of Iranians living all around the world – and those who resist from within — that day will come sooner.  I am committed to this cause; I know you all are too,” he concluded.

Welcoming and expressing her gratitude to the Secretary Pompeo, Ms. Rajavi emphasized the determination of the Iranian Resistance and the Iranian people to fight and bring an end to forty-three years of tyranny, discrimination, and corruption of the mullahs’ regime in their country.

Ms. Rajavi stated: “For a while, the mullahs tried to portray Iraq as the enemy. Then, they tried to portray the United States as the enemy. But the people of Iran and the MEK say that our enemy is in Iran. The mullahs said the MEK were terrorists, a cult, and the enemies of God. They claimed the MEK did not have any base of support in Iran. There are many similar and baseless allegations.”

Ashraf-3, Albania, May 16, 2022 – Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and Secretary Michael Pompeo standing in front of a map of Iran in the Museum of “120 Years of Struggle for Freedom in Iran” in Ashraf 3 home to thousands of members of the principal Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) in Manëz, Albania.

“Yes, by glancing at the objective conditions and the successive eruption of uprisings in Iran, today one can see that regime change is on the horizon,” Ms. Rajavis stated. “The people of Iran have already decided to engage in the final confrontation with the regime… The Shah resorted to mass killings and martial law in the final months of his rule, but it had the opposite effect. Likewise, Khamenei appointed Ebrahim Raisi, an executioner implicated in the massacre of political prisoners, as his regime’s president, to close ranks in the face of the uprisings and save his regime.”

In the end, the NCRI president-elect reiterated the Iranian Resistance statements and said: “Today, we warn again that one should not delay. We say that we can and must free Iran, the Middle East, and the world of the evil of the nuclear mullahs.

• First, by imposing comprehensive sanctions and international isolation of the religious dictatorship. The mullahs’ regime should be placed under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
• Second, by referring the dossier of human rights abuses in Iran and the clerical regime’s terrorism to the UN Security Council, particularly the files on the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 and the killing of 1,500 during the November 2019 uprising.
• Third, by recognizing the struggle of Iran’s rebellious youths against the IRGC and the struggle of the entire Iranian nation to overthrow the mullahs’ regime.
• And finally, as you said, “In the end, the Iranian people will have a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Republic.”

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/maryam-rajavi/mike-pompeo-meets-with-ncris-maryam-rajavi-in-ashraf-3-albania/

“I want the administration to understand that no deal is better than a bad deal,” he said.

Politico     |     By DAVID COHEN     |     05/01/2022

Sen. Bob Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed doubt Sunday that ongoing talks with Iran would deliver a viable deal on nuclear weapons.

“I want the administration to understand that no deal is better than a bad deal,” Menendez (D-N.J.) told host Bret Baier on “Fox News Sunday.”

Menendez said he was dubious about the current talks because they have lasted so long that some provisions of the original agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, were about to end anyway, and others were getting close to that point.

“From my perspective, unless there are other elements of the deal, that would not be a good deal,” he said.

Opposition to an agreement would not be inconsistent with Menendez’s prior stances. In August 2015, he announced his opposition to the original deal: “This deal is based on ‘hope.’ Hope is part of human nature, but unfortunately it is not a national security strategy.”

In May 2018, then-President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing from the “decaying and rotten” agreement, which also included Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the European Union. The U.S. withdrawal left the deal more or less in limbo, with the Trump administration pushing Iran to adhere to the terms of the agreement even though they were no longer reaping any of its benefits.

Trump said he was going to renegotiate the deal, something that President Joe Biden’s administration has been attempting to do in talks in Vienna.

Menendez said that it does remain essential to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

“We are all in agreement that Iran cannot be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon. It will change the entire nature of the region,” Menendez said, citing the risk to Israel’s security and the likelihood of an arms race.

He added: “We have to stop, yes, Iran’s proliferation and missiles, and we also have to stop their pathway to a nuclear weapon.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/01/menendez-iran-nuclear-weapons-deal-00029168

U.S. intelligence shows Iran threats on U.S. soil, but Blinken and Schiff say this shouldn’t derail new nuclear deal

CBSNEWS     |     BY MARGARET BRENNAN     |     MARCH 12, 2022

The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that Iran will threaten Americans — both directly and via proxy attacks — and that Tehran remains committed to developing networks inside the U.S., according to the intelligence community’s 2022 Annual Threat Assessment, published Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Now, with the U.S. on the cusp of a diplomatic accord with Iran over its nuclear program, as well as a potential deal regarding the release of four American prisoners, it is not clear whether the Biden administration can extract any further concessions or convince Tehran to cease its other malign activities, including any on U.S. soil.

CBS News has obtained two persistent threat assessments submitted to Congress by the State Department in January 2022 which cited a “serious and credible threat” on the lives of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Trump administration Iran envoy Brian Hook. These non-public assessments show that throughout 2021, and again in 2022, the State Department assessed the need to provide round-the-clock, U.S.-taxpayer funded diplomatic security details to both men.

According to another report marked sensitive but unclassified and obtained by CBS News, U.S. taxpayers are paying more than $2 million a month to protect Pompeo and Hook. The projected costs include vehicle and travel costs as well as salary and pay for the agents working for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The document was first reported by The Associated Press.

The hefty security entourage that continues to travel with Pompeo, a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has garnered attention during his public appearances including at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The size of the detail rivals one that is typical for a current cabinet member.

The most recent threat assessment signed by Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian McKeon cites a determination made as of July 16, 2021 that Pompeo faced such threats “from a foreign power or the agent of a foreign power.” McKeon also said he had determined on at least three occasions that a specific threat to former envoy Hook required security, most recently in November 2021.

Two current and three former U.S. officials confirmed that Iran is the foreign actor, but details of the specific threats were not described in the assessments provided to Congress. The Free Beacon first reported the existence of the non-public threat assessment.

The FBI also thwarted an Iranian intelligence network plot to kidnap New York-based journalist Maseh Alinejad, and Tehran is threatening current U.S. officials, which was acknowledged publicly by the intelligence community on Tuesday. The ODNI report said that the threat to current officials was in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran’s most powerful military general, Commander Qasem Soleimani, in January 2020, and that Iran “has previously attempted to conduct lethal operations in the United States.”

On Face the Nation this past Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sidestepped a question about whether a renewed diplomatic agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program would also address threats on U.S. soil,  including any targeting his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, who was secretary of state when the assassination strike against Soleimani took place. Blinken instead addressed the broad threat posed to U.S. personnel from Iranian malign actors, saying, “We will stand and act against those every single day.”

The secretary has previously said that Iran is weeks away from obtaining enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb, hence the U.S. attempts to revive the 2015 international agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which would lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for a temporary cap on its nuclear development. President Trump exited the JCPOA in 2018 by sanctioning Iran, and in July 2019, Iran began nuclear-related activities that exceeded limits of that agreement. The intelligence community assesses that if Iran does not win sanctions relief, then it will proceed with enriching nuclear fuel to weapons grade material.

“We were very clear when we were in the deal originally that nothing about the deal prevents us from taking action against Iran when it’s engaged in actions that threaten us, threaten our allies and partners. That will very much continue,” Blinken said.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff agrees that the threats do not have to be addressed in any renewed nuclear-related deal with Iran.

“These other malign activities of Iran’s, their plots against the U.S. personnel or Americans around the world we can deal with and have to deal with separately, and we should deal with them aggressively,” Schiff told Face the Nation, Sunday. “We need to go after all of this, not necessarily in one agreement.”

The Biden administration has been explicit about its commitment to one specific issue outside the parameters of Iran’s nuclear program, though, and that is the fate of four Americans imprisoned in Iran. Last month, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley told Reuters that a nuclear deal is unlikely without their release. Iran has insisted on the unfreezing of billions of dollars in state assets sitting in bank accounts in U.S. ally South Korea in exchange for the release of imprisoned Westerners.

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/iran-threats-pompeo-nuclear-deal/#app