When a march in an American city is organized in part by a man who worked in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's communications network, and the donation link points to a sanctioned Iranian bank, that is no longer a story about free speech. It is a national security problem.
On October 19, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) released "The Dissent Factory." The report maps how an organization tied to the Islamic Republic of Iran has worked for years alongside U.S. revolutionary groups and the Tricontinental network financed by businessman Neville Roy Singham. NCRI is explicit about what its title means. The "factory" is the network that presents "foreign-state-aligned activity as independent civic expression." It is not dissent itself. Real grievances and sincere marchers, the report says, "can serve an operation whose sponsors, relationships, and finances remain obscured."
What NCRI documented
The report's summary lays out five findings.
- An Iranian "NGO" with government partners. The House of Latin America (HOLA) calls itself non-governmental. Its archived website listed cooperation with Iran's presidency and its foreign affairs and culture ministries. NCRI documents nearly two decades of HOLA work linking Tehran and Latin America to American anti-capitalist and revolutionary groups.
- A Chicago organizer with Ahmadinejad ties. HOLA's Chicago-based publication director, Ali Abutalebi, worked within the former Iranian president's communications network. NCRI says he was the listed contact for Chicago's March 2026 Quds Day march, sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and others. NCRI also reports that he solicited donations through PayPal and through accounts in his name at Bank Melli, a sanctioned Iranian bank.
- A co-founder who works with the IRGC's campus arm. HOLA co-founder Hamid Shahrabi has coordinated projects with Iranian officials, Latin American diplomats, and the Student Basij, the campus organization of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. NCRI identifies his longtime collaborator as Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center and a leader of Workers World Party and the United National Antiwar Coalition.
- A formal partnership with Tricontinental. Tricontinental, a U.S. tax-exempt research nonprofit financed by Singham, formalized its partnership with HOLA in December 2023. All 28 Persian-language political publications NCRI examined on Tricontinental's site credit HOLA, and 22 list Abutalebi in the files' author data. Some defend Chinese Communist Party rule. Related Cuba-solidarity appeals sent donors to Bank Refah Kargaran, which the U.S. Treasury has designated for financing Iranian weapons procurement. NCRI assesses this as "shared operations."
- Real-world reach. The network's March 2026 New York vigil for the late Ali Khamenei and its Quds Day rally together drew roughly 18.9 million views on X, by NCRI's count.
The Washington Examiner, writing about the report on October 20, described HOLA as an Iranian influence node conducting what NCRI calls "high-impact domestic U.S. influence operations."
Why this lands on Washington's desk
None of this is the first warning. In June 2025, the House Oversight Committee asked Singham for records on his funding of PSL and related groups after the Los Angeles riots. He ignored the request, according to the committee. In September 2025, Chairman James Comer and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to evaluate sanctions, civil remedies, and asset freezes against Singham-funded entities. They cited possible unfulfilled obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
NCRI's report adds Tehran to a picture Congress had already drawn around Beijing. The regime that bankrolls Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis is, by this account, also tied to organizers of street rallies in Chicago and Manhattan. Quds Day itself is Tehran's annual call against Israel. A regime that chants for Israel's destruction should not find a fundraising pipeline in American cities. Antisemitism marching under a foreign flag is not homegrown dissent.
Col. Rob Maness (ret.) has long called the mullahs in Tehran the chief sponsor of terror. He has argued that establishment outlets routinely fail to report honestly on Islamist and communist street agitation. He has also said the right answer is an investigation that establishes the facts, not a press narrative. NCRI's report is the documented record that should trigger one.
What should happen next
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control should determine whether any U.S. person or organization moved money to or through Bank Melli or Bank Refah Kargaran in connection with these appeals. If so, it should act.
The Justice Department's FARA unit should review whether HOLA's U.S.-based operatives, or anyone coordinating with them, are acting as unregistered agents of Tehran.
IRS examiners should determine whether Tricontinental's work with an Iranian regime-linked partner is consistent with its tax-exempt status.
Congress should bring NCRI's researchers in to testify and press Treasury for an answer to the Comer-Luna letter, now more than a year old.
Americans are free to protest their government, loudly and often. They have no obligation to let Tehran or Beijing hide behind them while they do it. Trace the dollars, name the sponsors, and let the law do its work.
