The Kerry fund-raiser is scheduled to be deposed in a civil lawsuit next week involving accusations that he has served as an agent for the Islamic government of Iran.
A group of Iranian expatriates, the Student Movement Coordinating Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI), and two American authors plan to hold a press conference this week to discuss the Iranian regime's influence on Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign. The event will take place Thursday at the National Press Club.
SMCCDI has alleged that Kerry presidential campaign fund-raiser Hassan Nemazee, a New York-based investment banker, has used his position to advance the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
That agenda includes normalizing relations between Iran and the United States and opening trade and investment, according to SMCCDI. The group has called Nemazee one of "Iran's American propagandists."
Nemazee has denied charges that he served as an agent for Iran's government, and he has filed a $10-million civil lawsuit in Texas against SMCCDDI's coordinator, Aryo Pirouznia, alleging defamation of character. Pirouznia has counter-sued Nemazee, and Nemazee is scheduled to give a deposition next week.
"Perhaps because [Nemazee] knows the suit would embarrass the Democrat nominee, Nemazee has sought to postpone if not avoid answering questions about his suit in a deposition. Thanks to [SMCCDI's] counter-suit, faith in democracy, and a clear-headed judge in Texas who refused [Nemazee's] delay, SMCCDI is going public with the evidence," read SMCCDI's press release for Thursday's press conference.
Author and political scientist Jerome Corsi, who plans to attend Thursday's press conference, told CNSNews.com, "The Democratic Party and John Kerry have been funded by pro-mullah groups who have Israel as their sworn enemy. They are funding insurgents to go against our troops in Iraq, and John Kerry wants to give them nuclear fuel."
Corsi, co-author of the best-selling book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, is working on another book called Atomic Islam: Iran, Oil, Terrorism and the Democratic Party. WorldNetDaily Books plans to publish it in 2005.
"Nemazee is one of Kerry's top fund-raisers. He is listed on Kerry's website as a top tier fund-raiser," Corsi said.
"Nemazee has raised over half-a-million dollars for Kerry. He has been at all kinds of events for Kerry, and Kerry is proposing normalizing relations with Iran and giving Iran nuclear fuel," he added.
Kerry called for normalizing relations with Iran in December 2003 in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations: "As president, I will be prepared early on to explore areas of mutual interest with Iran, just as I was prepared to normalize relations with Vietnam a decade ago," Kerry said.
The U.S. State Department consistently has labeled Iran as a leading state sponsor of terrorism, and human rights groups have accused the Iranian government of human rights abuses. The Bush administration opposes normalizing relations with Iran and also has denied nuclear fuel to the country.
In the first presidential debate in Miami on September 30, Kerry said, "I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide [Iran] nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes."
Corsi said Kerry's policy could prove very dangerous to the U.S.
"Trusting the Iranians not to make bombs when they have been funding Hezbollah and Hamas for a quarter century is like thinking [Japan's former Emperor] Tojo was not going to attack the United States when he had a chance," Corsi said.
Ken Timmerman, author of several books on the Middle East, believes that Kerry "has adopted many of the positions that Tehran's lobbyists in America are trying to champion."
"Mr. Kerry has not only adopted the policies that the Islamic government in Tehran would like to see pursued by the U.S., he has accepted money by their lobbyists and has been the featured speaker at prominent fund-raising events," Timmerman told CNSNews.com.
Iran and its ability to produce nuclear weapons has been raised during the presidential campaign; and on Tuesday, TehranTimes.com quoted the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rowhani, as saying that Iran no longer has to abide by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the West "tries to deprive it of its legitimate nuclear rights."
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