Iranian state media aired a video clip of American children from the heart of Texas, chanting references to Iran’s supreme leader and pledging allegiance to him, while praising martyrdom.
This indicates a terrifying influence of the Islamic Republic — the largest state sponsor of terrorism worldwide — within the U.S.
Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) along with other Iranian outlets, including the Mehr News Agency affiliated to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), promoted a video last week in which young children and teenagers are shown in traditional Islamic dress outside the Houston Islamic Education Center.
In the two minute clip that was originally posted on the Islamic Education Center of Houston’s Facebook page but subsequently removed from YouTube on Friday, the Houston-area children — donning headbands and waving flags — are seen singing a trending Iranian religious song, some parts in English, as they swear allegiance to the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to the center’s flier advertising the event for “boys and girls ages 4-14,” the song is described as “an expression of one’s love for the Imam of our age.”
Lyrics of the chant, titled “Salam Farmandeh” or “Salutations, commander,” include expressions of desires to become child soldiers for Khamenei as well as the taking of an oath to become a martyr.
The original Persian song also references slain Iranian General Qassim Soleimani with one line stating, “I promise to be your Haj Qasem.”
The clip posted to Twitter has received over a quarter million views within roughly a week.
Houston Imam Faheem Kazimi, chairman of the Islamic Education Center’s board of directors, compared the song to a “catchy” Beatles track.
“A lot of people translated it in their language and adapted it,” he said. “And when you have religious activity, that people are asking that if they can (perform it), we do have that religious freedom and expression of speech so we said, ‘Sure, why not?’”
Breitbart News reached out to Kazimi for further comment but was unable to obtain a response.
According to the Tehran Times, the song which expresses support for the Islamic Revolution “has revealed the vivid hopes Iranian families and their children pin on the Islamic Republic in their quest for achieving the goals of the Revolution.”
Al Arabiya reported the video showed the Texas children singing “an Iranian-sponsored religious anthem that includes references to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and slain military commander Qassem Soleimani,” and was shared by Iranian state media.
The Houston Chronicle featured a frontpage piece expressing concerns over the matter, claiming that Houston-area school children had become “the face of Iranian propaganda.”
Houston-based Iranian entrepreneur Karim Zangeneh, who is affiliated with the Organization of Iranian American Communities, warned of the agenda behind the clip.
This was not the first time the Houston center has sparked controversy.
In 2019, it held a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, wherein children sang, “Khamenei is our leader, we are his soldiers.”
Last week, Iranian state media published a video clip boasting of the regime’s nuclear capabilities, claiming it can — in a moment’s notice — “transform” its nuclear program into an “atomic military” one, creating a “nightmare” for Israel and the West, while warning of its “ability to turn New York into a heap of rubble from Hell.”
The clip was released on Saturday by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-affiliated Bisimchi Media Telegram channel, and titled “When Will Iran’s Nuclear Bombs Wake Up from Their Sleep?”
According to the BBC, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, appeared to confirm many details in the video on Monday, saying the regime currently has the “technical ability” to construct a nuclear bomb but has yet to make the political decision to do so.
The statement echoed a similar one by senior Iranian adviser Kamal Kharrazi who last month said the Islamic Republic “has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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