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Amb. John Limbert
Morad Ghorban and Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Jason Rezaian and Yeganeh Rezaian
Rep. Gerald Connolly and Randy Forbes
NOROOZ ON THE HILL Rayburn Building | PHOTOS BY BEN DROZ
The Haft-Seen Sofreh
LEGISLATORS FOR NOROOZ Members of Congress gathered alongside the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) in the Capitol to celebrate Norooz, the traditional Persian new year and the arrival of spring. Special guests included Ambassador John Limbert, Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and more than 150 Congressional staff. Members in attendance included Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Jamie Raskin, Scott Peters, Zoe Lofgren, Gerald Connolly, Sheila Jackson Lee, Carolyn Maloney, Andre Carson and former Rep. Randy Forbes. PAAIA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonreligious organization that serves the interests of Americans of Iranian descent and represents the community before U.S. policymakers and the American public at large.
Rep. Andre Carson Goli Kaviani, Robert Babayi, Aghdas Babayi and Leila Molavi
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Nazie Eftekhari and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Farrah Javid, Forough Parvizian Yazdani and Roshan Alavi
IRANIAN COMMUNITY GROUPS CELEBRATE THE PERSIAN NEW YEAR Carnegie Institution for Science | PHOTOS BY BEN DROZ WELCOMING SPRING Ten organizations representating Americans of Iranian descent brought their members together to celebrate Norooz with the aim of strengthening relationships and engaging political leaders in Washington, D.C. Many of the 200 guests were spotted posing for pictures around the beautiful, blue-hued Haft-Seen Sofreh, a traditional element of the Persian New Year that incorporates seven symbolic items that all have names starting with the letter S in the Persian alphabet. VIEW ALL THE PHOTOS AT WWW WASHINGTONLIFE COM
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Susan Crown, Kayvon Sarmadi and Nadira Sarmadi
Pani Farkhan, Afghan Amb. Hamdullah Mohib, Marzia Abbasi and Sonny Abbasi
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
| M AY | washingtonlife.com
