The Alavi Foundation is a public not-for-profit organization based in the United States. Its headquarters are in Suite 2406 of 650 Fifth Avenue in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

. In 2017 U.S. Federal prosecutors sanctioned the Alavi Foundation for being "controlled by the Iranian Government." The foundation was also accused of providing university grants to help "fund pro-Tehran and anti-Israel professors."

History

The Alavi Foundation is the successor organization to the Pahlavi Foundation, a nonprofit group used by Shah

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ( fa, محمدرضا پهلوی, ; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (), was the last ''Shah'' (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow in the Irani ...

to advance

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

's charitable interests in America. Most of the charity's income is from rent collected on the Piaget Building, a skyscraper on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 populatio ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. The building was built in 1978 for the Shah, who was overthrown in 1979. In November 2009, federal prosecutors in the United States seized its assets. The seized assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston; more than in Virginia; and the Piaget Building, a 36-story glass office tower in New York. Without rent from the skyscraper, the Alavi Foundation would have almost no way to continue supporting the Islamic centers, which house schools and mosques. The most recent tax records show the foundation earned $4.5 million from rents in 2007. Legal scholars said they know of only a few cases in U.S. history in which law enforcement authorities have seized a house of worship. Marc Stern, a religious-liberty expert with the American Jewish Congress, called such cases extremely rare. On April 18, 2014, the Piaget building was seized by authorities due to alleged links to the

Iranian government The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, نظام جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Neẓām-e jomhūrī-e eslāmi-e Irān, known simply as ''Neẓām'' ( fa, نظام, lit=the system) among its supporters) is the ruling state a ...

, citing violation of American sanctions against Tehran.

Purposes

The Alavi Foundation: * Grants money to American universities including

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

to fund centers for Persian and Middle Eastern studies. *Encourages universities in North America to offer courses on Persian language, Iranian studies and the Islamic culture with a focus on Shi’ite studies; *Supports Weekend Persian Schools throughout the United States that link Iranian-Americans with their Persian heritage; *Supports Islamic centers that are established and used by local Muslim communities throughout the United States; *Established a book distribution program for those unable to purchase these books on their own; *Provides funds to support disaster relief projects; *Provides funds to support Islamic and Persian arts; *Provides funds supporting scholarly research projects in Iranian and Islamic/Shi’ite studies; and *Has a student loan program.

References

External links

Alavi Foundation
{{Iran–United States relations Foundations based in the United States Iran–United States relations