Iranian Americans confront pro-regime protesters

Washington, D.C. – “You are hypocrites!”

Last week, the shouting died down along NW H Street as about 500 Iranian Americans who support regime change in Iran marched toward a smaller group of pro-China socialists who had gathered two blocks from the White House in support of the radical clerics who lead Iran.

“We’re here for the freedom of Iran,” Iranian American Jay Gorbani declared while holding his Labradoodle puppy Bella, while other members of a new group said: Iran National Solidarity Group – walked.

“We are against Iran’s religious mafia regime.”

The far-left activists they encountered were gathered under signs reading “STOP THE WAR IN IRAN” under bright green and yellow banners that were reissued this weekend. But Fox News Digital’s analysis of multiple pages of communications by protest organizers reveals that the organizers were not just “peace” activists.

Fox News Digital has identified at least 75 organizations protesting in support of the regime in Iran since the start of the war; these include 50 organizations that are far-left, Marxist, socialist or communist, 22 organizations that are Muslim organizations supporting Islamism or political theocracy, and the remaining three are socialist-Islamist neighbors.

According to national security experts, they are parroting the pro-regime messages that the Chinese Communist Party has expressed in recent days due to China sending military equipment to Iran.

Last weekend, they coordinated demonstrations in 63 cities in 29 states and Washington, D.C., using the same signs, slogans, and protest infrastructure that exists now. digital toolkit, They are repeating the protests this weekend and in the coming days.

The main organizers are funded by Shanghai-based American-born tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, and lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Oversight Committee have accused the network of promoting the interests of the People’s Republic of China. Singham did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The Singham-funded network includes People’s Forum Inc., ANSWER Coalition, Socialism and Liberation Party, CodePink Women for Peace, and the Palestinian Youth Movement, which helped organize these protests. The Democratic Socialists of America, which helped elect Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, also co-sponsored the protests. The organizations did not respond to requests for comment.

Global Opposition

The conflict in the country’s capital reflects a broader struggle unfolding not only in Iran but also in the West.

From Phoenix with dallas, Indianapolis, toronto And Manchester in the United KingdomMembers of the diaspora are increasingly challenging far-left activists, whom religious leaders accuse of spreading propaganda in favor of the Islamic Republic.

This weekend, Gorbani and other Iranian Americans took to the streets again. They argue that their defense of a secular democracy and rejection of Islamism or theocracy offers the strongest response to the increasing extremist actions of Muslim ideologues. Recent violence in Austin, Texas, New York, and Norfolk, Virginia, has been fueled by Allahu Akbar, or “God is great.”

Iranian American women march without covering their hair with headscarves, the type that the Islamic Republic of Iran forces women to wear, during a protest against the regime in Iran on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Fox News Digital)

‘Unholy alliance’

These tensions reflect a political dynamic with deep historical roots.

Time magazine in 1965 It was published An article titled “Unholy Alliance” clearly describes “Communists and fanatic Muslims” working together to oppose Iranian leader Shah Reza Pahlavi’s efforts to “modernize and Westernize Iran” as a secular democracy.

Time quoted Pahlavi as warning of “an unholy alliance between two extremist wings” between communist revolutionaries, whom he called “unpatriotic, destructive Reds” and radical Muslims, many of whom wear black robes, turbans and headscarves.

Years later, Pahlavi said, “This is the very familiar, unholy alliance between the blacks and the reds, that is, the communists, and the very reactionary people or layers. We see this all the time because they are both opposed to the progress and happiness of the country.” he said.

An alliance now called the “red-green alliance”, where green symbolizes the color of Islam.

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‘Freedom for Iran’ / Regime

This past weekend, an Iranian American woman with a newly formed group DCProtests4Iran, He confronted black-robed women at the Manassas Mosque in northern Virginia, where mosque leaders support the Iranian theocracy. Her hair tousled in the wind, she made a victory sign “V” and shouted “Down with the Islamic regime!” he shouted.

Looking out for socialists on H Street NW, Reza Rezavi, an engineer and DCProtests4Iran volunteer from Rockville, MD, said his group supports Pahlavi’s son, Reza Pahlavi, as the leader of a new transitional government that would realize a “democratic Iran.”

“Freedom for Iran!” shouted another Iranian American woman as she held her Lhasaapso dog, Cocoa, rescued from Tehran in 2019, where the regime had made dog walking illegal in many cities.

In protests stretching from London to Washington, D.C., Iranian diaspora activists say they are up against far-left groups they accuse of stealing democracy from them. These groups date back to 1979, when they defended radical clerics who came to power by overthrowing Pahlavi in ​​1979. Singham did not respond to requests for comment.

“This is a cultural war,” said attorney Paul Mauro, a former New York Police Department counterterrorism investigator and Fox News contributor.

“Marxism is probably the single most malevolent idea ever invented,” Mauro said, “and our culture has become infected with a tolerance for Marxism that has turned into a very dangerous political energy that now works with Islamists to undermine America as we know it.”

David Chung, organizing director of People’s Forum Inc., sets up in Union Square to protest the war with Iran on Saturday, March 7, 2026, in New York, NY. The Socialism and Liberation Party’s website carries banners bearing its domain name. (Fox News Digital’s Rashid Umar Abbasi)

‘Would You Like a Sign?’

Like clockwork, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition, and other socialist organizations arrived at the corner of 16th and H Street NW last weekend at 2:28 p.m. While one woman sipped her iced coffee, another pulled a red wagon filled with megaphones. Third, a marching drum and chants of “STOP THE WAR AGAINST IRAN!” He pushed a grocery cart full of fluorescent yellow signs that read:

A young woman dragged around a dozen signs and asked, “Do you want a sign? A sign? Does anyone like the sign?” he asked.

Tourists looked away as far-left activists, including CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and DC coordinator Olivia DiNucci, arrived on the scene with a new protest banner. Ignoring the approaching crowd of Iranian Americans, Benjamin posed for photos with Korean Americans who support China, Iran, and North Korea’s communism.

Soon the group broke into the familiar anti-American chants heard at protests for years, only this time Iranian protesters chanted “USA! USA!” Their voices were suppressed because of their slogans.

When asked about Singham’s funding of the protest’s socialist sponsors, Benjamin said: “I would rather not talk about it.”

Dancing in the Streets in Defiance

Minutes later, groups of Iranian Americans rounded the corner of L Street NW and stopped about 200 yards from far-left activists on 16th Street NW. They blasted Iranian music and danced.

Defying strict interpretations of Islam, families walked their pet dogs near Bella and Cocoa as women screamed with their hair in the wind, and men and women danced freely side by side to Iranian pop music, which is mostly banned in Iran. The scene defied strict religious rules imposed by Iranian clerics, who banned pet dogs, forced women to cover their hair, and suppressed music, dancing, and dissent.

An Iranian American woman smiled and slowly raised her middle finger toward socialist activists; their chants of “Down with the USA” were drowned out by music playing in Persian.

During a protest in Washington, DC, on Saturday, March 7, 2026, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation chanted hymns to children in support of the regime in Iran and filmed the children for videos they later posted on social media. (Asra Q. Nomani/Fox News Digital)

On the other side of the police line, officers from the Party of Socialism and Liberation flanked primary school-age girls wrapped in black headscarves toward the microphone, filming them closely as the children stumbled over their words and chanted from phones as activists egged them on.

When a girl entered the shot, the marshal, who was filming canned chants, tried to push her away.

“These people support terrorists,” said an Iranian-American with a reform-era Iranian flag draped over his shoulder like a cape and a lion emblem. “We are against them.”

Siamak Aran, one of the organizers of the Iranian National Solidarity Group, shouted behind him “USA! USA!” As Iranian Americans marched chanting slogans, he said, “We do not support the regime.”

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Fox News Digital’s Azziana Solomon contributed to this report.