The widespread role of the Iran in western think tanks & the media

 
Twitter thread by Kaveh Shahrooz:

1/ The #EuropeIranBusinessForum is kicking off just as Iran’s regime announced its brazen killing of journalist #RouhollahZam. So it’s a good time to consider the widespread role of IRI money and IRI family members in Western think tanks, NGOs & media.

 

 
2/ Just one example:

Amir Handjani reportedly made a fortune in business in the MidEast as, among other things, president of PG International Commodity Trading, which, according to public records, conducts sanctions-exempt trade with Iran on behalf of @Cargill.

 
3/ He’s wealthy enough to own, among other assets I’m sure, a $10.5m condo in Manhattan.

4/ His other significant source of money seems to be oil trading. He is Director of RAK Petroleum.

RAK stands for Ras al-Khaima, the UAE Emirate widely used by Iranian business people to evade sanctions and stash money.

 

5/ Handjani has spoken to business conferences promoting business in Iran.

 
6/ So, you can guess where this story is gonna go:

Here is Handjani writing op-eds with NIAC staff on why there should be more business with Iran.

 
7/ And here he is making a $10K donation to NIAC.

 
8/ NIAC’s @tparsi regularly amplified Handjani’s advocacy against pressuring Iran, never disclosing the thousands of dollars that were donated and the inherent conflict of interest. Much of Handjani’s “analysis” has proven demonstrably false

 
9/ Handjani has also been a major donor to the @AtlanticCouncil to fund “The Future of Iran Initiative” projected headed by @barbaraslavin1.

10/ Public records seem to show that he has contributed at least hundreds of thousands of dollars to this @barbaraslavin1 initiative (along with the aforementioned donations to NIAC)

 

 
11/ In what may have been a quid pro quo, Handjani was made a Senior Fellow at @AtlanticCouncil, where he published articles advocating cooperation w/ the IRGC, & (without disclosing his conflict) opposing sanctions that would hurt his business interests.

12/ Aside: my favourite piece of his writing is when he compared Qassem Soleimani to the Dos Equis “most interesting man in the world.”
(Original catchphrase: “I don’t always slaughter Syrian children, but when I do, I prefer using chemical weapons.”)

 
13/ With Handjani’s money, Slavin also regularly wrote against any kind of pressure/sanctions in Iran, regularly amplified Handjani’s advocacy, and never disclosed the conflict of interest.

14/ [Aside: Barbara Slavin seen here in her happy place]

 

 
15/ They are now active lawsuits alleging that Handjani was involved in a hacking/disinformation/blackmail campaign against critics of the Iranian regime. The Atlantic Council seems to have cut Handjani loose.

16/ Naturally, Handjani went to the Koch-funded place that’s now home to Trita Parsi and every other apologist for dictatorship: the @QuincyInst

17/ That’s right: the place whose employee (Koch-funded) @EliClifton writes “takedowns” about meager freelance money an activist like Masih Alinejad has received from USG welcomes a guy with shady financial ties. I’m waiting for Clifton’s exposé of his colleagues.

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