Fishing Area

As Iran nuclear talks reached a deadline that was blithely extended by the US on Tuesday, an investigative media report indicates that one of US President Barack Obama's top Iran advisers may have worked for a pro-Iranian regime lobbying group in the recent past. The White House released a list of the top National Security Council (NSC) officials who held a video conference with Obama late Tuesday to update him on the talks with Iran in Switzerland's Lausanne. On the list, which was published by The Daily Beast , the name Sahar Nowrouzzadeh stands out alongside the title "NSC Director for Iran." A picture of Nowrouzzadeh with US Secretary of State John Kerry, in which she is seen explaining Iranian traditions, was posted on March 20 to the Twitter account of US Envoy for the anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition Brett McGurk. Breitbart News media site decided to take a closer look at Nowrouzzadeh, and in an investigative exposé found that she appears to have previously worked for the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), an organization that is accused of lobbying for the Iranian regime. The site documented how a person with the same name was credited with authoring a number of publications for NIAC. What apparently is Nowrouzzadeh's LinkedIn account shows that she joined the Department of Defense in 2005 as an analyst, and continued working at the Department of Defense and State Department before landing an appointment as director in the NSC last year. By cross-referencing with the 2007 NIAC profile of Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, the site found corroboration that the two are one in the same, as the NIAC profile shows her as having taken the same undergraduate double major in Middle East Studies and International Economics at George Washington University as seen on the LinkedIn profile. The connection to NIAC is particularly troubling given that the group has been accused of being a mouthpiece for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. NIAC paid $200,000 to put out a full-page ad in the New York Times attacking Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ahead of his Congress address warning against the Iran nuclear deal. Jailed Iranian dissident Amir Fakhravar told American Thinker last month that regarding NIAC, "y ou cannot find any difference between their statements and the Iranian regime’s statements. Either officially or unofficially, they are following the path of the regime.” He further revealed that NIAC's president and founder Trita Parsi has kept up a long relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Parsi reportedly founded the group in 1999 at a Cyprus conference supported by the Iranian regime, and at the meeting is said to have presented his goal of starting a pro-Iran lobbying group to counter pro-Israel advocacy groups in the US. Giving further documentation of the NIAC link with Iran's regime, the news site provided a picture from Fars News Agency showing Parsi in recent days holding a cheerful conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's brother, Fereidoon. The site charges that NIAC is putting its efforts into affect the Iran nuclear talks, pushing the US into an agreement that is favorable for the Iranian regime and leading state sponsor of terror in its pursuit of nuclear power.