Quote:The Obama administration granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians, including family members of government officials, while negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, a senior cleric and member of parliament has claimed.

Hojjat al-Islam Mojtaba Zolnour, who is chairman of Iran’s parliamentary nuclear committee and a member of its national security and foreign affairs committee, made the allegations during an interview with the country’s Etemad newspaper, cited by the country’s Fars News agency.

He claimed it was done as a favor to senior Iranian officials linked to President Hassan Rouhani, and he alleged the move sparked a competition among Iranian officials over whose children would benefit from the scheme.

He claimed that the deal was made during negotiations for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached in July 2015. President Trump announced in May that the U.S. would withdraw from the agreement.

“When Obama, during the negotiations about the JCPOA, decided to do a favor to these men, he granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians and some officials started a competition over whose children could be part of these 2,500 Iranians,” he claimed.

“If today these Iranians get deported from America, it will become clear who is complicit and sells the national interest like he is selling candies to America.”

The conservative Zolnour, who is in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s inner circle, added: “It should be stated exactly which children of which authorities live in the United States and have received citizenship or residency.”

He estimated that between 30 and 60 were studying in the U.S. while the rest of them were working in the country “against our national interests.”

Though Zolnour did not mention anyone by name during the interview, several children of current and former Iranian officials live in the United States, including Ali Fereydoun, whose father Hossein Fereydoun is the brother of and special aide to Rouhani; and Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, whose father Ali Larijani is speaker of parliament.

(07-03-2018 01:52 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Look, I think Obama is in the bottom 10 of US Presidents, but....

Iran is a BIG and DIVERSE country - it's got more people and more languages than the Balkans, and only a minority support their government.

It's the most educated country in the Muslim world. And about 70-80% of Iranians with college degrees HATE the mullahs.

Those are the ones who are coming here - the ones who hate the Iranian government. I work with several of them. They're the ones whose families supported the Shah, and many of their parents were educated in the USA back in the 60s & 70s.

I'm all for punishing illegal immigrants. But the Iranians who come here legally are exactly the type of immigrants we WANT and NEED. They're well educated and love everything that the USA stands for. Iran's loss is America's gain.

(07-03-2018 10:18 AM)banker Wrote:  

(07-03-2018 01:52 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Look, I think Obama is in the bottom 10 of US Presidents, but....

Iran is a BIG and DIVERSE country - it's got more people and more languages than the Balkans, and only a minority support their government.

It's the most educated country in the Muslim world. And about 70-80% of Iranians with college degrees HATE the mullahs.

Those are the ones who are coming here - the ones who hate the Iranian government. I work with several of them. They're the ones whose families supported the Shah, and many of their parents were educated in the USA back in the 60s & 70s.

I'm all for punishing illegal immigrants. But the Iranians who come here legally are exactly the type of immigrants we WANT and NEED. They're well educated and love everything that the USA stands for. Iran's loss is America's gain.

Not the point of the issue. The point is that Obama was offering what essentially amounted to bribes in order to get his "signature deal" with Iran done. He got raped in the negotiations due to his blind desire to get something done he could tout as an accomplishment even though it wasn't one.

(07-03-2018 01:52 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Look, I think Obama is in the bottom 10 of US Presidents, but....

Iran is a BIG and DIVERSE country - it's got more people and more languages than the Balkans, and only a minority support their government.

It's the most educated country in the Muslim world. And about 70-80% of Iranians with college degrees HATE the mullahs.

Those are the ones who are coming here - the ones who hate the Iranian government. I work with several of them. They're the ones whose families supported the Shah, and many of their parents were educated in the USA back in the 60s & 70s.

I'm all for punishing illegal immigrants. But the Iranians who come here legally are exactly the type of immigrants we WANT and NEED. They're well educated and love everything that the USA stands for. Iran's loss is America's gain.

(07-03-2018 01:52 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Look, I think Obama is in the bottom 10 of US Presidents, but....

Iran is a BIG and DIVERSE country - it's got more people and more languages than the Balkans, and only a minority support their government.

It's the most educated country in the Muslim world. And about 70-80% of Iranians with college degrees HATE the mullahs.

Those are the ones who are coming here - the ones who hate the Iranian government. I work with several of them. They're the ones whose families supported the Shah, and many of their parents were educated in the USA back in the 60s & 70s.

I'm all for punishing illegal immigrants. But the Iranians who come here legally are exactly the type of immigrants we WANT and NEED. They're well educated and love everything that the USA stands for. Iran's loss is America's gain.

Quote:But former Obama staffers are saying that there is zero truth to Zolnour's claim. "The allegation is absurd and entirely false. It shouldn't be lost on anyone that this is a case of Donald Trump parroting Fox News, which is peddling the claims of an Iranian hardliner," Jeff Prescott, the former senior director on President Obama's National Security Council, told CBS News.

(07-03-2018 03:35 PM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Most likely Fake news. Sorry.

Quote:But former Obama staffers are saying that there is zero truth to Zolnour's claim. "The allegation is absurd and entirely false. It shouldn't be lost on anyone that this is a case of Donald Trump parroting Fox News, which is peddling the claims of an Iranian hardliner," Jeff Prescott, the former senior director on President Obama's National Security Council, told CBS News.

Did Obama give citizenship to thousands of Iranians during nuclear deal discussions?

(07-03-2018 03:35 PM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Most likely Fake news. Sorry.

Quote:But former Obama staffers are saying that there is zero truth to Zolnour's claim.

Did Obama give citizenship to thousands of Iranians during nuclear deal discussions?

(07-03-2018 03:35 PM)Redwingtom Wrote:  Most likely Fake news. Sorry.

Quote:But former Obama staffers are saying that there is zero truth to Zolnour's claim. "The allegation is absurd and entirely false. It shouldn't be lost on anyone that this is a case of Donald Trump parroting Fox News, which is peddling the claims of an Iranian hardliner," Jeff Prescott, the former senior director on President Obama's National Security Council, told CBS News.

Did Obama give citizenship to thousands of Iranians during nuclear deal discussions?

(07-04-2018 06:12 AM)Kaplony Wrote:  I'd be more inclined to believe the Iranian than any Obama administration official.

(07-04-2018 06:12 AM)Kaplony Wrote:  I'd be more inclined to believe the Iranian than any Obama administration official.