Watch Where Your Money Goes in Iran, Exiles Say to US

the word Iranian exiles say no to US nuclear deal with Iran

“Don’t” is the word Iranian exiles have for US businesses looking to open their doors in Iran.
To a person, they are warning that doing business with the theocratic regime of Iran’s Khamenei was fraught with risk.
“Americans who develop a business in Iran will find that not a penny they pay in fees to the government will go to help the poor, the 70 percent-plus of Iranians in their teens and 20s who are unemployed, or the teachers who haven’t been paid in six months,” said Allen Tasslimi, New Jersey venture capitalist and president of the Association of Iranian-Americans of New Jersey, whose younger brother was executed by the clerical regime in the 1980s.
Tasslimi predicted that money paid to the Tehran regime by U.S. businesses for opportunities in Iran “would go to [Iran’s] Quds Force,” its brutal branch blamed for spreading terror throughout the region.
The Quds are headed by the notorious Gen. Ghasem Soleimani, branded “a cold-blooded killer” by Sen. John McCain for overseeing the manufacture of armor-piercing bullets that have killed more than 500 U.S. Marines.
Tasslimi, along with other exiles, strongly believes that an enhanced Iranian elite military unit “will provide even greater assistance to the terrorist clients that Khamenei and the regime already service: Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis who have toppled the government of Yemen, and Assad’s murderous regime, which has forced tens of thousands to flee to Europe.”
The shot at American companies was loudly voiced on Saturday by Iranians among the more than 200 guests attending the 50th anniversary celebration Saturday of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) — known formerly as MEK and the largest Iranian opposition group — in Washington, D.C.
Now that President Obama’s controversial Iran deal is sure to clear Congress, many businesses are poised to open operations in the country long off limits to them after sanctions are lifted.
A voice from the past is driving their pleas. A book written before the U.S. was at war with Germany admonishing American entrepreneurs might be read as a cautionary tale.more

Americans are not behind Iran deal: Mark Mellman

Americans rallying in New York against Iran nuclear deal

The Hill, 8 September 2015
By Mark Mellman
In our representative democracy, public policy only imperfectly reflects public opinion.
Fortunately, Democrats passed healthcare reform despite the fact that, among the public at the time, opponents outnumbered supporters by 5 to 15 points. Republicans shut down the government in 2013 despite 3-to-1 opposition from voters. 
And, of course, Republicans stopped legislation mandating background checks for all gun purchasers even though voters favor the proposal by a 75-point margin.
The Iran nuclear agreement is about to join this list of legislation whose ultimate disposition is contrary to the desire of the majority of Americans.
Of course, the path to that outcome is paved by unusual rules: Only one-third of one chamber of Congress is required to “pass” the agreement.
If it were up to voters, though, Congress would reject it.
The most recent surveys on the deal, by Quinnipiac and Pew, found voters opposing it by 30 and 28-point margins, respectively. Moreover, by 2-to-1, Americans say it will make the world less, rather than more, safe.
A somewhat earlier CBS News poll found voters opposing the agreement by a 13-point margin. In the same survey, Americans opined that “the United States could have negotiated an agreement that was more favorable” to us, by 2-to-1. 
Of course, a few polls of late have offered divergent results.
One, from the University of Maryland, was not intended to measure opinions but rather to create them. It gives respondents literally a page and a half of explanations and arguments before soliciting their views.
In other surveys, the cues have been more subtle.
In an earlier column, I explained that survey questions that argue, in effect, that it’s a good deal, find Americans supporting it. However, when people are asked their opinion in an unbiased way that reflects their own understanding of the agreement, they oppose it.
Americans, I argued, would favor an agreement with Iran that worked. Most doubt this one will and therefore oppose it.more