Iranian Regime-Linked Cleric Protests Soleimani Killing with CAIR and NIAC
January 15, 2020
A Detroit-area Shiite imam with direct ties to Iran's leadership used a press conference last week to push disinformation and propaganda about the U.S. killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani ran the IRGC and served as the Iranian regime's primary liaison with Islamic terrorist groups across the Middle East including Hamas, Hizballah, the Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and the Assad regime in Syria.
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi's regime ties were never mentioned in the Detroit News' story. Instead, Elahi, imam at the Dearborn Heights-based Islamic House of Wisdom, was presented as just another concerned cleric.
Ayatollah Khomeini reportedly appointed Elahi as head of the "ideological and political department" of the Iranian Navy in 1979 after the revolution.
Elahi wrote on the Islamic House of Wisdom's Facebook page that he was close to former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, with whom he spent time in prison under the shah. Their friendship continued after he became president of Iran, Elahi claimed.
He met with former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami during a March 2017 trip to Iran, describing a "friendly conversation" about Khatami's eight years as president and his memories of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Elahi also met with current President Hassan Rouhani in 2014 as part of a delegation of American Muslim leaders.
https://www.investigativeproject.org/8263/iranian-regime-linked-cleric-protests-soleimani