In the midst of all the recent “terror preventive measures” taken by the international community, one aspect that doesn’t receive much attention is the foreign lobbying groups that gather right in our nation’s capital. Particularly, Iran’s Minister of Intelligence has boasted on his group’s ability to form a lobbying group with influence in Washington. With motives to boost Iran’s reputation in the international community as well as promote their nuclear rights, many U.S. officials feel uneasy over what is actually being discussed behind the closed doors.
In a time where President Trump’s travel ban is being hotly disputed after being labeled by fellow politicians as hateful and anti-Islamic, many people on the opposing side feel that the push for repealing the travel ban is largely in part to the lobbyists who “spoon feed” the government softer rhetoric. Congressmen on the Foreign Affairs Committee, such as Bob Corker and Ed Royce, have openly questioned the effects of Tehran sending their dual citizens over to influence policy. For example, two high ranking Iranian-Americans were said to have met with top officials around thirty times prior to the controversial Iranian Nuclear Deal. However, much of what was discussed was not disclosed-even though foreign agents are obligated to under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The situation is difficult to decipher. On one hand, open suspicion of these lobbyists can be interpreted as McCarthy-esque witch hunting. On the other hand, when you consider that Iran remains the number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world, the paranoia can be somewhat justified. That idea of terrorism is what plagued the nuclear deal, its what landed them on the travel ban, and it’s what makes many Americans shift uncomfortably at the mere mention of the country. However, generally speaking, a nation can not expect to move forward in terms of foreign policy if they never let go of past actions. A country who was once a deadly enemy maybe be your largest ally in a century or two, in the case of the American revolution. Whether our government one day takes the leap of faith to trust former enemies or does not will be continue to be an influential shaping factor of foreign policy.