Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

The Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) was founded by Abbas Edalat in 2005. CASMII claims to be an advocate of Iranians everywhere as well as  “independent of all political groups and governments, including the Iranian government.”  But a recent report released by the Germany-based Stop the Bomb, a nonpartisan initiative aimed at stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, appears to counter these claims. According to the report, many of the people associated with the campaign have close ties to the Iranian regime, or have publicly supported it.

Titled “Agents of the Ayatollahs,” the report details many of the dubious connections of members of CASMII’s International Steering Committee and Advisory Board.

Edalat for one is currently employed as an adjunct professor of mathematical sciences at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. According to the report “Sharif University is known to be a hotbed of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) activity related to Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons programme. Its current chancellor is Reza Roosta Azad, an ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and member of the Society of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution (also known as the Isargaran Society), founded by Ahmadinejad.” Edalat also works at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences whose “founder and present director is Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”

Kaveh L. Afrasiabi is on the advisory board. According to Stop the Bomb, he accompanied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of his delegation to the United Nations in 2010.

Alex Patico is also on the advisory board. According to Stop the Bomb: “He is was one of the founders of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and served as its treasurer until 2008. Since its inception, the NIAC has closely coordinated its various projects and campaigns with the Iranian regime, through Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s deputies. The NIAC is frequently referred to as the ‘Iranian lobby in the [the] US’ by the Iranian state-run media.”

Mohammad Kamaali is on the international steering committee. He was the founder and a former director of the British company Patrix LLP (previously known as Javan Systems LLP) which hosted the official website of the Iranian Embassy in Britain under the domain name www.iran-embassy.org.uk until the company dissolved in 2009.

Stop the Bomb’s report lists a total of 10 individuals who have positions of influence within CASMII and can be directly linked to Iranian regime figures or government agencies.

Jacob Campbell, UK Director of Stop the Bomb, which produced the report, told The Algemeiner: “There is a legitimate debate to be had over the efficacy and ethics of sanctions on the Iranian regime. This report proves, however, that CASMII is not a legitimate participant in that debate. It has significant vested interests in the survival of the clerical dictatorship in Tehran, and does not represent the concerns of ordinary Iranians.”