While most Americans will be enjoying their winter holiday season, the U.S-based Muslim Students Association Persian-Speaking Group (MSA-PSG)—also known as Anjoman Islamie—will be hosting its annual conference under the ominous theme, “Resistance: An Islamic Duty,” in Herndon, Virginia.
The accompanying promotional imagery illustrates the conference’s theme, featuring armed soldiers on a battlefield and an inverted triangle symbol associated with the designated terrorist organization Hamas, following the October 7th massacre.
While MSA-PSG has not generated as many headlines as more notorious American Islamist groups, such as American Muslims for Palestine or the Council on American-Islamic Relations, its continued existence underscores a consistent failure by America’s security establishment to address the threats posed by foreign-backed Islamist entities, despite being the subject of federal scrutiny since at least the 1980s.
The origins of MSA-PSG date back to the 1960s. According to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, it was co-founded by Ebrahim Yazdi, a prominent Iranian politician who eventually served as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Foreign Minister following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Another MSA-PSG co-founder, the Berkeley-educated engineer Mostafa Chamran, played an integral role in establishing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and later served as the country’s Minister of National Defense and as Deputy Prime Minister for Revolutionary Affairs.
Given its origins, it is unsurprising that MSA-PSG exists solely to advance the interests of the Islamic Republic stateside by promoting overwhelming religious and political allegiance to the Iranian axis and fanatical devotion to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As such, its annual conferences are replete with imagery of Khamenei and his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 revolution.
The upcoming conference, taking place between December 27th-30th, will feature several extremist speakers. One such individual is Sayed Abazar Wahedi, who grew up in Qom, Iran. According to his personal website, he currently leads the Islamic Center of Fatimiyyah in Hayward, California and teaches at a Shiite school, the Saba Academy.
On the social media platform X, Wahedi only follows four accounts, three of which are associated with Ayatollah Khamenei. His posts on the platform include cheering on Houthi terrorists as they hijack civilian-owned ships in the Middle East, and writing that “The best way to defeat the oppression is to listen to and follow Ayatollah Khamenei.” Wahedi also posted graphics glorifying Iran’s vast underground missile launcher system. Similarly, his Instagram account is filled with speeches by Khamenei and glorification of terrorists such as the late Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah.
“If you supported Palestine but never stood behind their armed resistance, you never truly were an ally.”
Another speaker is an Iraqi-Canadian named Zainab Rights, the editor-in-chief of a site called TMJ News. The day after the October 7th massacre, she posted that “If you supported Palestine but never stood behind their armed resistance, you never truly were an ally.” On October 15, 2023, Zainab wrote an article about a call from the Grand Ayatollah Sistani for all Muslims to support the “Palestinian resistance.” She also published several posts on Instagram in support of Hamas leader and October 7th mastermind Yahya Sinwar after his death. She posted similarly about Hasan Nasrallah, and appeared to mourn his demise.
There are several other speakers at the conference whose publicly stated positions are cause for concern. All follow the same overarching theme of expressed support for terrorism and unwavering allegiance to the current government of Iran. This rhetoric has been the dominant narrative promoted by MSA-PSG during its events, conferences, and on social media for many years.
- The 2007 MSA-PSG conference featured participants listening to a message from the speaker of the Iranian parliament.
- MSA-PSG has promoted the work of Hamid Algar, a staunch devotee of Ayatollah Khomeini.
- MSA-PSG has repeatedly expressed support for Nigerian Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has called Jews “the lowest creatures on earth” who “only understand the language of killing.”
- MSA-PSG has also published imagery implying Jesus was a Palestinian killed by Jews.
- In honor of the annual Quds Day Holiday, which was originally established in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini, MSA-PSG has posted slogans reading “Zionism is Racism, Down with Zionism Zionism is Terrorism, Down With Zionism Cancer of the Middle East, Israel Must Not Exist” and “Islamic Revolution, Is The Only Solution Our Leader Khamenei, Long Live Khamenei.”
MSA-PSG’s commitment to Iranian regime Islamism caught the eye of American law enforcement agencies decades ago. In a 1984 FBI threat assessment, MSA-PSG was described as “an extension of the present regime in Iran.” The FBI accused the group of receiving funding from Iran’s Foreign Ministry and alleged that Tehran was using the group to target Iranian dissidents on U.S. soil. In fact, the assessment noted that, in March 1982, MSA-PSG members armed themselves with knives, tear gas, and a number of other weapons during a confrontation with anti-Khomeini students.
The FBI explained in 1994 that MSA-PSG is “in contact” with the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
Similarly, a 1987 FBI report revealed that MSA-PSG members were required to pledge loyalty to the Iranian regime. Additionally, the FBI explained in 1994 that MSA-PSG is “in contact” with the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Finally, during a 1998 testimony in the Senate, then-Chief of the International Terrorism Section of the FBI, Dale Watson, revealed that the Iranian government used the group for “low-level intelligence and technical expertise” and that it “also provides a significant resource base which allows the government of Iran to maintain the capability to mount operations against the United States.”
Despite all this, not only has MSA-PSG continued to operate uninhibited, it continues to enjoy tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status. The organization–which files taxes under the title of Muslim Students Association Pan Sirah Group Inc–was granted this status in 2010. Although the status was revoked in November 2013, it was later reinstated, according to an IRS letter dated September 28, 2020. In other words, while Iran’s proxies in the Middle East face American sanctions and scrutiny, MSA-PSG functions with impunity, hiding behind the protections and tax benefits afforded by the U.S. government to religious and cultural organizations.
The United States must no longer turn a blind eye to MSA-PSG’s activities. It is time to act decisively, before the rhetoric of “resistance” purveyed by its annual conference morphs into a reality of violence on American soil.