Iranian Lobbyist Arrested by the FBI

The US Department of Justice announced in a statement today that the FBI had arrested an Iranian citizen named Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, who is charged with being an unregistered agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The statement describes his alleged secret relationship with Iranian officials over the past 14 years. Some sources have stated that Afrasiabi was an advisor to the Iranian team during the nuclear talks.

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According to a US Department of Justice (DoJ) statement released on Tuesday, January 19, Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi has been secretly receiving money from the Iranian government while presenting himself as neutral resident of the US since at least 2007.

Afrasiabi was arrested on Monday at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts. Some media outlets in which his writings had been published referred to him as an "Iranian-American," but the US Department of Justice has identified him as a permanent resident with a green card.

Checks for $265,000 and Private Emails to Javad Zarif

The DoJ has charged Afrasiabi with “acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)”. The FARA obliges any individual, group or entity that intends to consult or act in the interests of a foreign government within the United States to register with the US judiciary.

Afrasiabi is accused of secretly being hired by the Iranian government and receiving money from diplomats in the permanent mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations (IMUN). Checks totalling about $265,000 were issued to him by IMUN’s official bank account. He has also been covered by the same insurance used by the staff of the Iranian mission since at least 2011.

According to the statement, Afrasiabi was paid to "create and disseminate information favorable to the Iranian government". But in books, articles and various English-language television appearances, he introduced himself only as a political scientist and foreign relations expert. In addition to his publications and interviews, Afrasiabi maintained contact with an as-yet unnamed member of Congress as well as with the US State Department.

The DoJ says Afrasiabi has long been aware of FARA and has even discussed it with others. Afrasiabi sent emails to the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, in which he suggested that in “retaliation” for the US killing of Ghasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ expeditionary Quds Force, the Iranian government must "end all inspections and all information on Iran’s nuclear activities pending a [United Nations Security Council] condemnation of [the United States’] illegal crime.” Afrasiabi claimed that such a move would, among other things, “strike fear in the heart of [the] enemy.”

According to the statement Afrasiabi confirmed in some of his emails that he had received money from the Iranian government for publishing his articles and giving television interviews. For example, in an email he allegedly sent to Zarif last July, he linked to hundreds of his articles and wrote: “Without support none of this would have been possible! This has been a very productive relationship spanning decades that ought not to be interrupted.” If convicted on two counts, Afrasiabi will face up to 10 years in prison.

New York Times Contributor

Afrasiabi was a professor of political science at the University of Tehran and has served as both a visiting professor and researcher at American universities for the past two decades. Some sources also report Afrasiabi was "one of the advisers to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team from 2004 to 2005." Afrasiabi has published several books, mainly on Iran's foreign policy. His list of articles in the New York Times is extensive, and includes some texts co-authored with other Iranians.

In a 2012 New York Times article Afrasiabi had penned together with Hossein Mousavian, a former diplomat and ex-member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, he said: “If the West is serious about putting the Iranian nuclear genie back in the bottle, then it must stop appeasing the hawkish politicians who seek to deny Iran its inalienable nuclear rights. If not, a golden opportunity to sharply lower tensions with Iran will be lost.”

Although the US DoJ has been accusing Afrasiabi of collaborating with the Iranian government since 2007, his writings before this date declare a stubborn defense of the Islamic Republic's position. For example, his oldest memo in The New York Times, published in 2000, is A New Iran, But Not Overnight, in which he says US-Iran relations will improve slowly. In another article published in The Asia Times last November, he said US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were sabotaging President-elect Joe Biden's plan for Iran.

His articles and notes cover a variety of topics, all of which defend the Islamic Republic's positions and attack US policies, from IRGC General Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's assassination to his article two weeks ago entitled Trump's Hidden Sedition.