Islamist Mauri Saalakhan made claims about a "Jewish, Zionist" conspiracy on the Iranian government's English-language news service, this past Saturday. These comments match a series of other extremist speeches by the leader of "The Peace and Justice Foundation," which have made him a prominent figure in Washington D.C.'s Islamist community.

"They [the Republicans] are going to say and do anything that they feel will put them in favor with this very powerful lobby, Jewish organizations, Jewish leaders, institutes, they bend over backwards to please," Saalakhan said on a cover story for Iran's Press TV. "Unfortunately most of our political leaders in the United States are [sic] on both sides, in a sense unfortunately bipartisan, are slaves to the Jewish, Zionist lobby and all of its constituent parts," he added.

Saalakhan also claims that the Jews exercise this power as part of "their aspirations for the presidency," including controlling any debate over Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Saalakhan has stirred up controversy before, over his outspoken support for Middle East terrorist organizations and anti-Semitic comments. At a September 2009 rally in D.C., he told attendees that "people are scared in this country to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful." During a Friday sermon for the Islamic Center of Long Island, he told mosque attendees that Hamas was a "resistance organization – whose armed resistance is legitimized by clearly established international law!"

Saalakhan has also made strongly anti-American comments. He claimed the Fort Hood massacre was "not an act of 'terrorism,' it was an act of war on the soldiers of a military installation (at war in the Muslim world)," in online comments. In the same commentary, he stated that "the call for a global jihad is warranted" according to Islamic religious texts; called for American Muslims to conduct a non-violent resistance campaign against America; and, attacked "genocidal U.S. policies" throughout the world.