Leading U.S. Shi'ite Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, Based In Dearborn, Michigan Area, And His Relationship With Both The Iranian Regime And Top Current And Former U.S. Officials
November 13, 2024
United States | Special Dispatch No. 11671
Mohammad Ali Elahi, a prominent Iran-born Shi'ite cleric who heads the Shi'ite Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Michigan and is considered a central figure in the U.S. Shi'ite community, is known to maintain close relations with the Iranian regime. Described on the Islamic House of Wisdom website as "a powerful public speaker and an interfaith leader and peace advocate in North America,"[1] he has, over the decades, met many times with senior officials in the Iranian regime, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He has ties to the founder of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and as a young man was even appointed by Khomeini to a top post in the Iranian Navy. He has also met with former Iranian presidents Ali Akbar Hashemi and Hassan Rouhani.
Elahi works to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. Shi'ite community and Iran, emphasizing the values and principles of Shi'ite Islam and promoting the values of Iran's Islamic Revolution in the U.S. His meetings with current and former U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and former Secretary of State John Kerry, are amply documented.
This report will present Elahi's close relationship with top Iranian regime officials and with senior current and past officials in U.S. administrations.
Mohammad Ali Elahi (Source: Didban Iran, December 22, 2020)
Mohammad Ali Elahi – Biography
Mohammad Ali Elahi, born in Iran, began his religious studies at the Mullah Abdallah seminary in Isfahan at age 12. He continued at the Sepah Salar institution in Tehran. In the 1970s, on the eve of Iran's Islamic Revolution, he was an anti-Shah activist, and headed political activity that included delivering speeches in mosques, including the Narmak and Wahidiya mosques in Tehran, following which he was arrested by the Shah's forces and incarcerated at Evin Prison. His political and religious involvement during this time strengthened his connection with Shi'ite revolutionary ideology and prepared him for important roles in the post-revolutionary years.
https://www.memri.org/reports/leading-us-shiite-imam-mohammad-ali-elahi-based-dearborn-michigan-area-and-his-relationship
