Hassan Dai, January 10, 2017
It is largely expected that Trump administration will diminish the influence of pro-Iran lobby and cut its tentacles in the State Department, but a misguided policy in the Middle East that benefits Tehran could eventually help this lobby to thrive in Washington once again.

Hassan Dai, January 9, 2017
Rafsanjani died fall short of his goal to alter Iranian foreign policy, a change that he believed to be necessary for the regime’s survival. His death could significantly impact the regime’s internal balance of power and strengthen the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards’ position to advance their regional policies that have so far fueled violence and sectarian conflicts across the Middle East.

Hassan Dai, November 17, 2016
As Arbaeen continues to grow as the most important religious ceremony in the world and a show of force for the Shia community, the Iranian regime has been trying to gradually take the control of this event and utilizing it for its domestic and regional goals, specifically to solidify its influence in Iraq and dominate the Shia world.

Hassan Dai, 11 November 2016
Pro-Iran lobby is a coalition of organizations and politicians, led by US corporations and accompanied by an army of pundits and Iran experts that regardless of what Iran is doing, asks the US government to adopt a friendlier policy with Iran and remove sanctions. At the center of this lobby are small Iranian-American organizations that are tied to various factions of the Iranian regime.

Hassan Dai, November 8, 2016
For months prior to the offensive, Iran and its Iraqi proxies pressured the Iraqi government to accept the militias’ role in the Mosul offensive, a move that could give them a share of victory and provide them with a pretext to justify their activities long after the defeat of ISIS. This would secure Iran’s influence in Iraq that predominantly relies on these militias, a prospect that many believe to be the Hezbollah-ization of Iraq.

Hassan Dai, March 30, 2017
There are a number of Islamic organizations in the US that are tied to the Iranian regime, disseminate its ideology and attempt to generate support for its political agenda. The vast majority of American Muslims follow a moderate Islam and reject extremist views including the Iranian regime’s ideology. Subsequently, Iran’s influence is limited to a very slim portion of US Muslims, predominantly in the Shia community.

Hassan Dai, September 6, 2016
Iranian regime has been carrying out a large-scale public campaign to justify its military intervention in Syria and reinvigorate the regime’s ideological base that seems shaken by the Syrian quagmire. This campaign specifically targets Afghan immigrants who provide the majority of recruits for the “Fatemiyoun” Division, the Afghan unit of Iran’s Quds Force fighting in Syria. This campaign seems crucial for the Iranian regime as it is bogged down in Syria and in desperate need of more fighters for its war machine.

Hassan Dai, September 1, 2016
In late 2014, the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force recruited a group of 50 Pakistani Shiites and formed the Zeynabiyoun brigade. The unit is currently estimated to have 1500 to 2000 fighters in Syria.

Hassan Dai*, August 8, 2016
The battle of Aleppo showed the failure of Iranian military surge in Syria since 2015 to reach a decisive victory and proves how deeply Iran is bogged down in the Syrian quagmire.

Hassan Dai, April 2016
Al Mustafa is an international university funded and controlled by the Iranian regime to train foreign clerics, Shia scholars and missionaries. It was founded in 2007 and operates nearly 200 seminaries, Islamic schools, religious centers and associations in Iran and around the world. Al Mustafa has 45.000 students, half of them in Iran. 40.000 have graduated from Al Mustafa since 2007