Iran Is Funding a Network of Schools in the U.S.

As the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran rages in the Persian Gulf, there’s another battle against the regime’s influence being fought a bit closer to home.

The Iranian missiles and drones that are raining down on countries in the Middle East cannot yet reach our shores. However, there is no Iron Dome preventing Iranian money from landing in U.S. K-12 classrooms. Iran is the third-largest shareholder in an international multilateral bank that provides financial support to a network of U.S.-based private K-12 Islamic schools.

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Iran’s influence operation is substantial. In 2023, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) published a brief on Iranian influence operations in the United States, where they identified the Alavi Foundation, a New York-based not-for-profit that, according to JINSA, funds “academic collaborations to spread Iranian talking points.” The organization claims to have given out $50 million since its founding in the 1970s. 

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