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Why isn’t anyone talking about the husband of ‘Screaming Mary’ and the father of soon-to-deported Eissa Hashemi?

Masoumeh Ebtekar, known as “Screaming Mary” is in the news as her son, Eissa Hashemi has been arrested and faces deportation from the United States. That makes for great news headlines. But I’m far more interested in her husband, Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi. One has to search hard to find information about him. I did that search and I will tell you who he is, but first, a little reminder about “Screaming Mary” and some questions about her son.

In the video above (if you can stand her jarring ‘screaming’ voice), Masoumeh Ebtekar, defends the irony of her son studying in American when she was the Iran ‘79 hostage-taker spokeswoman ready “to shoot American hostages in the head.”

Critics yell: “You climbed the Embassy wall but sent your kid to the US.”

(Ebtekar scoffs) “My son went there to study just like you. What am I supposed to do?”

What, indeed? He only followed in the footsteps of his mother and his grandfather, who both benefited from a top-notch American education before returning to Iran to become involved in Khomeini’s revolution, as Ebtekar did. Her hatred of the country which so generously helped her mirrors that of current dissidents like Mahmoud Khalil, who will now, at last, be deported.

As Secretary Marco Rubio explained:

"Her family should never have been allowed to benefit from the extraordinary privilege of living in our country. America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families — and under the Trump Administration, it never will."

Hashemi and his wife were professors at The Chicago School in Los Angeles. I can find no instance where Eissa Hashemi or his wife said or did anything to indicate they are enemies of the United States. Yet, how can we be sure they are not currently involved in subterfuge or will be in the future. As I wrote about extensively in The Islamic States of America, jihadist sleeping cells exist in the United States just waiting to be awakened.

Is it better to be safe than sorry and expel family members of jihadists or is this an injustice. I’m interested to know your thoughts by the end of this essay.

Returning to the life of Ebtekar, she was rewarded for her loyalty to Ayatollah Khomeini and rose through the ranks of the regime, serving as a vice president as recently as 2017-2021. You can find out more about her past in an interesting 1981 New York Times article that asks the question: WONDER WHAT’LL BECOME OF ‘MARY’ IN TEHERAN

Of far more interest to me was one line that I read in an obscure article, stating that Ebtekar married one of her fellow hostage-takers.

Really? Who was it? I searched and could find nothing about him until I came upon the article below. Ebtekar might have been out there screaming in the media, but her future husband, Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi, was behind the scenes and a far more dangerous person. While she takes the headlines currently, he remains obscure to this day, and one must wonder why.

Keep in mind as you read this article that forty-seven years ago, students like Ebtekar’s husband used their enrollment in prestigious universities as a front for their revolutionary goals. This pattern remains unchanged to this day among members of Islamic radical groups. They are ideological operatives far more than they are traditional undergraduates.

Again, we see the similarity between Ebtekar’s husband all those years ago and current dissidents like Mahmoud Khalil. We must ask the question, why did it take us so long to figure this out? And still, millions of Americans protest against it, to the extent of even electing a Twelver Islamic devotee like Zohran Mamdani to become mayor of New York City. Incredible.

Here is the one place where I found Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi’s bio, in Grokipedia:

Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi is an Iranian former intelligence official and revolutionary activist recognized as one of the core leaders of the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, the group responsible for the November 4, 1979, takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, which initiated the 444-day Iran hostage crisis.[1][2] As a key participant in the operation, Hashemi helped coordinate the storming of the compound, capturing 52 American diplomats and staff, an event that escalated tensions between Iran and the United States and contributed to the collapse of the Algiers Accords.[3]

The seizure of the U.S. Embassy … was planned by a small core group of radical Islamists … with Mohammad Hashemi among the key ringleaders coordinating the operation…. Hashemi, who had not attended university classes for over a year and thus was not an active student, focused on logistical preparations and recruitment, including enlisting Masoumeh Ebtekar for her English proficiency to interrogate captives and handle communications.[9][10][11]

Execution commenced shortly after dawn, as Hashemi ritually washed and prayed toward Mecca in his Tehran Polytechnic dormitory, anticipating possible death in the assault. By approximately 10:30 a.m., a force of 300 to 400 militants assembled outside the embassy compound, severed its external telephone lines to hinder calls for aid, and breached the perimeter by climbing walls and gates amid minimal resistance from U.S. Marine guards bound by restrictive rules of engagement prohibiting lethal force unless directly threatened. [How naive we were back then] Hashemi joined the vanguard in overrunning the grounds, where militants subdued personnel, ransacked offices for documents purportedly proving espionage, and rounded up 66 Americans initially—diplomats, staff, and civilians—securing most within the chancery and ambassadorial residence. [7][12][13]

… In the immediate aftermath, under his and other ringleaders' direction, the hostages were bound to chairs in the embassy's snack bar for the first two days, guarded by a military committee while the occupiers secured the compound and began sorting through classified documents.

As secretary of the students' committee … he helped implement tactics to psychologically disorient captives.[16] [9]

Notable Operations and Associations

Hashemi served as an intelligence officer in the early post-revolutionary period from 1980 to 1981….[21] He subsequently operated within Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS), established in 1984 to centralize espionage, counterintelligence, and internal security functions previously fragmented across revolutionary committees and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). [20] Public records provide scant details on specific operations under his involvement, reflecting the opaque nature of MOIS activities, which have included assassinations of dissidents abroad, suppression of domestic opposition, and intelligence gathering on foreign adversaries—though direct attribution to Hashemi remains unverified beyond his operative status.[19]

… Through marriage to Masoumeh Ebtekar, Hashemi maintained ties to reformist-leaning factions while navigating the intelligence community’s hardline elements. [20] These connections facilitated his shift toward private sector activities by the late 1980s, potentially leveraging MOIS networks for business ventures intersecting with defense-related entities like the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).[13]

Business Ventures and Economic Activities

Shift to Private Sector

… Sayyid Mohammad Hashemi transitioned to private sector activities, though public details on his commercial endeavors are sparse and often intertwined with allegations of illicit operations. Reports indicate his involvement in oil trade networks, including purported illicit sales that evaded international sanctions, leveraging connections from his prior government service.[19][14]

Allegations of Corruption and Illicit Trade

Hashemi has faced accusations from Iranian dissident groups and exile media of leveraging his former position in the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to facilitate corrupt business practices after transitioning to the private sector. Critics claim he exploited familial and political ties, particularly through his marriage to Masoumeh Ebtekar, to gain undue advantages in land allocations and foundation management, allegedly diverting public resources for personal gain.[24][26] These allegations portray charitable entities under Ebtekar’s environmental portfolio as fronts for graft, with Hashemi purportedly benefiting from opaque financial flows ….[24]

Regarding illicit trade, limited public evidence ties Hashemi directly to smuggling or sanctions evasion networks, but opposition narratives suggest his intelligence background enabled involvement in shadow economies facilitating restricted goods procurement for state entities…. [27]

US and Western Sanctions

On January 17, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Seyed Mohammad Hashemi … for providing, or attempting to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support to MODAFL’s ballistic missile program. [28] Hashemi was linked directly to MODAFL, a state entity designated for its role in advancing Iran’s weapons of mass destruction and missile proliferation activities.[29] This action placed him on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List under the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (NPWMD) program and the Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations (IFSR), subjecting him to asset freezes and transaction prohibitions for U.S. persons.[29][28]

The sanctions prohibit any dealings by U.S. persons with Hashemi or his property in U.S. jurisdiction and expose non-U.S. persons to secondary sanctions for significant transactions with him, aiming to disrupt Iran’s procurement networks for missile components. [28] OFAC’s determination was based on Hashemi’s operational role within MODAFL, which coordinates procurement and logistics for Iran’s armed forces, including efforts to acquire dual-use technologies evading international export controls.[30]

Wow. After reading all of that, and kudos if you did, doesn’t it seem like he’s the one we should be focused on? Obviously, US Intelligence has had him in their sights for a long time. I guess “Screaming Mary” makes for better headlines.

But this is the information that makes the deportation of Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi’s son, not Screaming Mary’s son, far more justified. In fact, his father is such an enemy of the United States that “dealings by U.S. persons with Hashemi” is “prohibited”.

As far as I’m concerned, Eissa Hashemi should never have been allowed into the country in the first place. That would have saved us a lot of bother.

And yet, millions of Americans will protest his deportation, and other Iranians with links to the Islamic regime that I haven’t listed here, just as they protest the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil.

You can criticize the Trump Administration for many things, but at least it is no longer as naive as previous administrations remained for the last forty-seven years. Eissa Hashemi’s father fully expected to be killed by US marines as he stormed the embassy. But our marines watched helplessly as terrorists took control because they had been ordered to do nothing.

It would be the height of folly to continue doing nothing as we watch our country being invaded. And yet, many will still accuse me of exaggeration. Millions of ignorant Americans will protest against the deportation of individuals linked to terrorism. I’m interested to know your thoughts.

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