Earlier this month, when Rep. Mark Kirk accused Trita Parsi, the Iranian national who heads the oddly named National Iranian American Council, of being a “regime sympathizer,” NIAC accused Kirk of making a “slanderous allegation.” Yet internal emails reveal that Parsi certainly did not see himself as an opponent of the regime in Tehran. In fact, Parsi was confident that an affiliation with NIAC would be looked upon favorably by officials in Iran. In an email exchange with Parsi, Mohammad Mansouri, listed as a project manager on NIAC’s website, worries “how reasonable it will be to take the risk and actually go to Iran.” It’s not clear whether Mansouri’s concern is the threat from regime officials or from American bombs — the correspondence is dated March 17, 2006, and came as NIAC was warning of an imminent war between the U.S. and Iran — and Mansouri explains that given “what’s going on in the world, it might be very dangerous and we may be forced to cancel [the trip].” Parsi reassures Mansouri — “NIAC has a good name in Iran and your association with it will not harm you.”