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Frequent New York Times Opinion Writer Was Secret Iranian Agent, Federal Prosecutors Charge
(Algemeiner) Ira Stoll - The New York Times published more than a dozen opinion articles and letters to the editor by Kaveh Afrasiabi. On Jan. 18, Afrasiabi was arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Iranian government. The U.S. Justice Department said, "Since at least 2007 to the present, Afrasiabi has also been secretly employed by the Iranian government and paid by Iranian diplomats assigned to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in New York City (IMUN). Afrasiabi has been paid approximately $265,000 in checks drawn on the IMUN's official bank accounts." His opinion pieces were authored "at the direction and under control of" the government of Iran.