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There is controversy on how NIAC was founded. Some believe that NIAC was founded in 2002 by Alex Patico, Trita Parsi, Babak Talebi, and Farzin Ilich, the National Iranian American Council is an association of Iranian-Americans, especially professionals, involved in networking Iranian-American individuals and organizations and promotion of Iranian culture.

Others belive that the main actors behind the creation of the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) were Trita Parsi, Roy Coffee, Dave DiStefano and Bob_Ney.}} Roy Coffee sent a letter to the Dallas Morning News in February 2006 to justify his relationship with the two London-based felons. Part of the letter discussed the creation of NIAC in 2002. In this letter, Coffee described the events following the meeting of his former classmate Darius Baghai (who had just returned from Iran) with Bob Ney:

" .... From that meeting, Darius, Dave and I began to work with Trita Parsi, another Iranian-American, to try to form a political action committee of Iranian-Americans to pursue a strategy of normalization of relations between the two countries.... The 4 of us worked very hard for about 9 months to form this committee....."

After that, Bob Ney, Roy Coffee, and Dave DiStefano arranged numerous lobbying workshops, training classes, and seminars on lobbying in which they themselves and others with experience prepared members and affiliates of NIAC to lobby and influence Congress. NIAC and Ney organized public gatherings and discrete and exclusive fundraiser events (with $1,000 plates). They developed training manuals on lobbying.

One such fund raising event was on January 30th, 2002 The invitation note for the event read:

“NIAC will hold a fundraiser with Chairman Bob Ney and Iranian-American author Afshin Molavi at the Washington City Club in Washington DC on January 29. This is an exclusive event with limited seats available for a very private and frank discussion of the state and role of Iranian-Americans in America. Suggested donations are set at $1,000, with minimum donations set at $500."

Trita Parsi is the President and a co-founder of the NIAC.

Trita Parsi at the time was a Swedish-Iranian graduate student in his early twenties with ties to Iran's ambassador in Sweden. He was working part-time as a Congressional aid in Ney's office in Washington on a temporary visa. Parsi was subsequently appointed president of NIAC.

NIAC is designated as a 501(C3) non-partisan, non-political, non-sectarian, and non-profit organization and is dedicated to promoting Iranian-American participation in American civic life. The council is headquartered in Washington DC.

The organization is recognized within the Iranian-American community for its work protecting Iranian-Americans and Persian heritage including issues with Monster.com, National Geographic (Persian Gulf), Don Imus among others. In 2006 the organization's membership voted to take a stance and to publicly oppose US military intervention in Iran. Instead its membership encourages diplomatic engagements as the means to resolving the issue surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions.

NIAC is transparent in its funding and receives funds from organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy and the Tides foundation among many others. It receives no funding from the governments of the US or Iran.

The National Iranian American Council was established for the purpose of serving as a catalyst for information sharing and collaboration among Iranian-American organizations and providing an organized framework for effective networking and civic education for Iranian-Americans.

References

1. ^ McGill, Adam (2006-02-01). "RE: A LAWYER IN TROUBLE". Front Burner. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "NIAC REPORTS ON RECENT EVENTS COMING SOON". NIAC, Written by NIAC Team, erased since on NIAC web pages but retrieved from Archives.com. 2002-11-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "Lobbyists Discuss Developing an Iranian-American Political Voice". NIAC, Written by Niac Team. 2002-11-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "NIAC TO HOLD EXCLUSIVE FUNDRAISER WITH CHAIRMAN BOB NEY AND AUTHOR AFSHIN MOLAVI". NIAC, Written by Niac Team on NIAC web site but now erased from NIAC Web site and recovered from Acrchives.com. 2002-1-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• NIAC Official Web Site

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