Iranian and Chinese activist groups team up with U.S. nonprofit to funnel funds through sanctioned banks

A Chicago-based director for the Tehran-originated House of Latin America confirmed collaboration with Tricontental: Institute for Social Research, a U.S. tax-exempt organization whose advisory board chairman and chief benefactor is Shanghai-based millionaire Neville Roy Singham. Through Persian-language Telegram channels, the partnership urged supporters to send donations and book-sale proceeds to accounts in the name of Ali Abutalebi at Bank Melli Iran and to another Iranian institution, Refah Kargaran Bank, both listed on the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions roster.

This cooperation ties Iran’s “Red-Green Alliance” of leftist and Islamist activists to China-linked NGOs, extending influence across Latin America, Cuba and Palestine. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Jason Smith has issued a subpoena to Tricontental, claiming the nonprofit exploits America’s tax-exempt sector to funnel foreign money. The network, uncovered by the Network Contagion Research Institute, illustrates a broader information-war strategy coordinated by the Chinese Communist Party and its allies to undermine U.S. interests.