According to Washington Times report posted on March 20th 2014, the Iranian parliament’s recent investigation into a scheme to import luxury cars instead of medicine threatens to erode the credibility of a leading pro-Iran lobbying group that has long claimed that economic sanctions are preventing access to medicine in Iran.
An investigation by Iranian lawmakers recently revealed that nearly $2 billion that had been allocated to the importation of medicine into Iran was actually spent on the purchase of luxury cars, according to Farsi and English reports.
While it had long been suspected that the Iranian government was squandering funds for medicine, pro-Tehran advocacy groups like the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) used the medicine shortage as a hook to claim that sanctions were causing the shortage.
NIAC, which has long been suspected of lobbying on behalf of Iran, continues to make the claim and has been raising money off the issue, prompting criticism from those who say the group’s “propaganda machine” is disingenuously misleading lawmakers and the media.
NIAC has also sent its representative to congressional events in order to pester lawmakers about the issue. During one such confrontation last year, Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.) chastised a NIAC official for pushing factually inaccurate “propaganda” about the medicine shortage.
 “NIAC has manufactured excuse after excuse for weakening sanctions and helping the mullahs,” said one senior official at D.C.-based organization. “Their talking points have been exposed as fabrications again and again. It’s no wonder that many people, including sitting members of Congress, accuse them of spreading regime propaganda.”
“The real mystery is why the White House and its allies insist on taking meetings with them,” the source said.
Other recent reports have indicated that Iranian pharmaceutical companies owned by the Iranian regime have manufactured the medicine shortage in order to drive up prices.