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Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
@GLNoronha
Oct 15 • 9 tweets • 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
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Ok let's talk about what "Iranian sleeper cells" in the US look like.

This July 2022 video shows 100s of children singing an ode to Qassem Soleimani & Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei with lyrics "I will be your soldier, I will be your martyr."

It's not Tehran, it's Houston.🧵
The "Islamic Education Center" of Houston hides under the guise of a religious institution.

To be clear, it's not about Islam - it's about advancing Iranian propaganda. That's why they host an annual commemoration of Ruhollah Khomeini - the founder of the Iranian regime. Image
They've been hosting these days at least since 2013, when their website noted there were parallel "celebrations" in Detroit/Dearborn, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles.

At these celebrations, you have Khomeini quote readings like this one.
Again, really want to emphasize: this is not about Islam, and I'm not attacking those of Muslim faith - this is about improper Iranian influence.

Their YouTube channel is flooded with videos from PressTV, Iran's English-language propaganda channel. Image
PressTV was in fact sanctioned by the Biden Administration recently for (among other things) airing forced confessions of detainees (which are obtained through torture) and most importantly - of being used by the regime to recruit intelligence assets.
home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…
The Center also hosts a Cub Scout Troop. As an Eagle Scout myself, let me just tell you, this ain't a normal presentation (video from July 2019).

My issue is not the kids: it's with the parents and whomever is funding and indoctrinating them.
We know from lawsuits that their buildings are owned by the Alavi Foundation, linked by Department of Justice documents as owned by Bonyad Mostazafan, Khamenei's personal hedge fund.

That Bonyad earned billions from seizing property of Iranian dissidents.
justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/a…
The best way I can describe these network of "Islamic Education Centers" is that they are like the CCP's Confucius Institutes - but designed to incubate loyal followers who will also help the regime with illicit procurement, fundraising, and if necessary - kinetic attacks.
The vast majority of Iranian Americans despise the regime. They they hate the regime, Hamas, and Hezbollah, and they proudly stand with Israel.

But there are pernicious and advanced pro-Iranian networks in the US that need to be disrupted and prosecuted.
foxnews.com/media/iranians…

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More from @GLNoronha

Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
Oct 15
I'm not so sure Iran wants Hezbollah to launch against Israel (right now).

The most valuable function Hezbollah provides Iran is a conventional deterrent against Israeli strikes on its nuclear program: if Israeli strikes Iran, Hezbollah launches 150,000 rockets/missiles. (1/7)
Image
2. North Korea has 6,000 artillery systems within range of South Korea's population centers, allowing them to decimate Seoul in hours of any U.S. strike on DPRK's nukes. That's a major reason we never attacked North Korea.

Iran wants the same deterrent.
rand.org/pubs/research_…
3. While Iran has the region's largest ballistic missile inventory at over 3,000, a significant number cannot fly the ~1,000km to Israeli targets.

Those that can are very powerful but not quite enough to fully deter Israel on its own or completely destroy their missile defenses. Image
Read 7 tweets
Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
Oct 10
🧵Joe, this is misleading to say the least.

Here's the truth about those accounts - they were mandated under Section 1245 of the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by Obama.

The sanctions were designed so that as we cut Iran's oil export volume...(1/x)
2) The price of oil wouldn't spike as we took supply off the markets. Yes, that was for US customers, but it was also to keep Iranian revenue limited since revenue = price*volume.

And it cushioned our allies by not spiking their supplies too rapidly. And we took two MILLION...
3) barrels of oil off the global markets in ONE year - Biden hasn't been able to get a fraction of Russian oil off the markets because he kneecapped domestic oil production.

The law that Congress (not Trump) passed mandated the oil sales temporarily permitted be set aside in...
Read 6 tweets
Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
Oct 8
1. An anonymous senior U.S. official (likely Brett McGurk) said it was too early to know whether Iran was involved or planning/supporting Hamas' attack against Israel.

This not only contradicts Hamas' spokesperson's on-record confirmation, it ignores 3 decades of evidence.🧵
Image
2. Yasser Arafat said in 1992 that Iran had provided $30 million to Hamas.

In 1995, Clinton's CIA Director James Woolsey told Congress Iran had provided Hamas with $100 million.
meforum.org/251/hamass-for…
3. In 2006, Iran reportedly agreed to train a massive Hamas “rapid deployment force of 6,500 men in Hezbollah combat tactics.”

Iran pledged to pick up the tab and have Hamas terrorists train at IRGC facilities across the country.
Read 11 tweets
Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
Oct 7
🧵I'm sorry Jen but you are simply unfamiliar with Iranian budgeting practices and how the Iranian regime and Hamas make decisions.

1. Iran normally has to allocate its limited foreign exchange reserves for food/medicine months in advance to facilitate trade flows. Not anymore.
2. Iran can now devote $6 billion of its unrestricted funds toward financial, operational, and logistical support for terror proxies including Hamas.

And it will do so through the Central Bank of Iran, which received a sanctions waiver last month as part of the hostage deal. Image
3. According to Iranian lawmakers, they planned to use the $6 billion to backfill internal accounting debts to the Central Bank of Iran, which is sanctioned by the U.S. for their support of Iranian terrorism and support for Hamas.
iranintl.com/en/202309159160
Read 12 tweets
Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
Aug 27
The Tehran Times - an Iranian state media outlet - has published a “Sensitive But Unclassified” memo to Iran Envoy Rob Malley explaining why his clearance was suspended.

The letter looks authentic to me. Indicates Malley also lied about not knowing why his clearance was pulled.
Image
Image
The fact the Iranians knew why his clearance was pulled - and that Congress did not until just now - is deeply troubling on many levels…

Congress needs to know whether Iran has access to all State Dept unclassified emails, and what is being done to fix that.
Malley sent several media outlets a statement two months after his suspension claiming he had not been told why his clearance was revoked (just one example below).

The lies just keep coming and coming.
axios.com/2023/06/29/rob…
Read 4 tweets
Gabriel Noronha Profile picture
Aug 14
THREAD: I’ve spoken with career @StateDept Iran officials about the latest hostage/nuke deal with Iran. They are very upset and tell me the admin’s public answers are misguided.

“This is 100% a ransom payment...100% this will lead to more Americans being taken hostage.” Image
2⃣ On internal views - one told me: “There is virtually zero support for this hostage deal or nuclear ‘pause’ deal among the rank-and-file diplomats who have any history working on Iran”.

A couple tell me most @StateDept_NEA bureau leadership are concerned about the Iran file.
3⃣ On whether this is a ransom payment: “Yeah, there’s no question about it, this is a ransom payment.

The payment was a pre-requisite for their release. Let’s not forget there are other Americans left behind in jail too.”
Read 18 tweets

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