Iranian dissidents are calling on Congress to look into an effort by Iran's ruling regime to use lobbyists and propaganda to influence American diplomacy, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
The dissidents said that purported Iranian-American groups and the Voice of America news organization's Persian service are doing the bidding of the Iranian regime to negatively impact the U.S.
"We write to request a congressional hearing on the efforts of Tehran's theocratic regime to influence U.S. policy and public diplomacy toward Iran," the dissidents' letter said, addressing Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and California Rep. Ed Royce, leaders of Congress' foreign affairs committees.
"We ask that you launch an investigation into any and all lobbying activities of Iranian-American groups, which ostensibly promote the interests of our community but whose real goal is to undermine long-term U.S. national security interests in Iran and its neighborhood," the dissidents wrote.
The group said that Voice of America's coverage of Iran has been "lenient or favorable" toward the regime.
"There have been numerous instances of editorials by the VOA's Persian service that have been lenient or favorable to Iran's clerical despots. We consider this to be totally unacceptable and demoralizing for pro-democracy Iranians who watch these broadcasts," the dissidents wrote.
The dissidents' group contains foreign policy experts, university professors, interfaith leaders, real estate developers, and human rights activists, the Free Beacon report said.
The president of the Iranian-American Majority, Peter Kohanloo, told the Free Beacon that the letter is a historic effort.
"Never before have so many Iranian-American dissidents of different political persuasions and backgrounds come together to speak with one unified voice," Kohanloo said. "This historic letter is a clear and unmistakable message to Tehran that we will no longer tolerate their influence-peddling agenda, which divides our community and demoralizes pro-democracy activists in Iran."
Voice of America is a news organization funded by the U.S. government and includes Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia. It was created in 1942 to spread news to counteract Nazi and Japanese propaganda, and later became a more traditional news organization. Today it broadcasts in 41 languages, according to the Voice of America website.
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