Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, claims a Wednesday story by The Free Press was engineered to get him deported over his opposition to the Iran war.
The foreign policy analyst wrote in a Saturday Substack post that he believes the article “was designed to trigger” the State Department to revoke his green card and deport him.
“I have fought the neocons and warmongers in Washington for more than 25 years. Throughout, they have tried to silence, discredit, slander, and cancel me. Only recently, however, have they tried to deport me.”
The Free Press story by contributing writer Jay Solomon alleged the State Department launched an investigation of Parsi and could try to deport him, citing anonymous U.S. officials and documents. Parsi has dual Iranian and Swedish citizenships and is a legal U.S. Permanent Resident.
But the State Department denied the central claim the day after publication.
A department official told the Turkish state-run outlet Anadolu Agency the department “has no plans to revoke the green card of Mr. Parsi at this time.”
I have fought the neocons and warmongers in Washington for more than 25 years. Throughout, they have tried to silence, discredit, slander, and cancel me. Only recently, however, have they tried to deport me.
At least, that appears to have been the aim of a hit piece in Bari… pic.twitter.com/SbhNJ6XdDH
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 13, 2026
Parsi went further in his Substack post, raising the possibility that The Free Press’s source was a “rogue” government actor trying to manufacture external pressure for an investigation that didn’t exist.
“I don’t believe there was any investigation against me,” Parsi wrote. “Rather, some elements within the State Department wanted to start one and thought external pressure could help move things forward.”
He cited weeks of social media campaigns by pro-Israel influencers urging the U.S. government to deport him, including an AI-generated video showing him being arrested by ICE — which he called “quite amusing.”
The Free Press and its founder Bari Weiss are strongly pro-Israel. The outlet posted a YouTube video titled “A Message for Iran Regime Apologists” two weeks after the Iran war began.
Solomon’s story noted that Parsi “has long drawn the ire of many Iranian Americans, who believe he uses his residency and legitimacy in the U.S. to amplify the [Iranian] regime’s talking points.” The article referenced a 2020 letter from Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton calling for an investigation into an Iranian-American advocacy group Parsi founded.
Parsi fired back by pointing out Solomon was fired from The Wall Street Journal in 2017 over financial involvement in arms deals with a businessman who was also one of his key sources.
Born in Iran, Parsi moved with his family to Sweden at age four in the late 1970s. The family were Zoroastrian and fled the political turmoil preceding the Iranian Revolution. Parsi’s father was a political opponent of both the Shah and the ayatollah who deposed him, according to the Quincy Institute.
In an interview with Current Affairs magazine two weeks after the Iran war began, Parsi said the Trump administration lacked a coherent justification for the conflict.
“[O]ne of the things that has made it utterly clear that this war is not justified is the constant shifting justifications used by the administration and its supporters,” he told the magazine.
Parsi claims the alleged deportation effort backfired, citing an outpouring of support from across the political spectrum. Neither The Free Press, Weiss, nor the State Department immediately responded to requests for comment.
Solidarity w/ Trita Parsi, the Iranian-American analyst (& friend of Katie Halper Show) who is allegedly being investigated by Trump Admin. I say allegedly bc it’s possible that the story is an attempt to scare & silence anti-war voices & pressure… https://t.co/gwbWkYiTpH
— Katie Halper (@kthalps) June 12, 2026
