Ouruba Akhdar, director of the Al-Ikhlas Center in London and her brother, Nasser Akhdhar (Abu Mustafa), who serves as deputy secretary general of an organization designated by the US-Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2020 for being owned or controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps both took to face book to lament the death of their father.
(Facebook Screenshot)
In June, Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) reported on Camp Wilayah, an Islamist summer camp located outside London operated by Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM). News of a pro-regime charity operating in the United Kingdom, reported by FWI and other outlets, prompted the cancellation of this year’s camping season, with camp officials complaining of “threats” against the camp.
FWI has learned of yet another organization whose leaders promote the Iranian regime, operating openly in the U.K.—the Ikhlas Cultural Center. A seemingly benign organization established in London in 2019, runs a scout group and an Arabic language school (which it describes as its “most prominent work” on its website).
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Director’s Brother Connected to IRGC
Ourouba Hussain Akhdar serves as the director of the center.
According to this video posted on Facebook in October 2022, Akhdar’s brother, a Lebanese sheikh by the name of Nasser Akhdhar (Abu Mustafa), serves as Deputy Secretary General of the Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU). (FWI can confirm that the two are siblings by virtue of a shared Facebook post (image below) lamenting the death Hajj Hussein Ahmed Akhdar (Abu Nabil), who died in late 2021.)
IRTVU is an Iranian-backed and sponsored propaganda entity which operates in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan. IRTVU was designated by the US-Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2020 for being owned or controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Other Ties
Al-Ikhlas is also associated with two U.K.-registered charities: Dar Al-Hekma Trust (DAT) and Abrar Islamic Foundation (AIF), which the Jewish Chronicle described as “hubs of support for the brutal Iranian regime and its terror networks.” The organization’s contact page indicates that Al-Ikhlas holds “secondary classes” at AIF headquarters at Abrar House in central London. Moreover, its director appeared on an online forum organized by DAT in 2023. In December 2024, The Times reported that both DAT and AIF are under investigation for their ties to Iran.
School’s Director Reveres Soleimani, Khomeini
Given her family ties, it is unsurprising that Ourouba Akhdar supports the Iranian regime. In particular, she is a huge fan of Qassem Soleimani – the late commander of the IRGC Quds Force, an organization responsible for the deaths of numerous U.K. citizens. For example, a screenshot obtained by FWI reveals Akhdar changed her Telegram profile picture to "#weremember” on the first anniversary of Soleimani’s death.
Her support for Iran’s Islamist project is particularly evident on X, formerly called Twitter. On this platform she posted the “We Remember” hashtag on the one-year anniversary of Soleimani’s death—just as she did on Telegram. In the post on X, she declared in Arabic, “You will always remain in our hearts, we will never forget you.”
When an anti-regime activist took to X to condemn the erection of a monument for Soleimani in Lebanon a few weeks after his death, Akhdar responded with anger, declaring that “Every place that bears the mark of Soleimani’s footsteps on Lebanese soil should have a monument built in honor of these noble friends...”
Akhdar also took to X to offer an encomium to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khoemeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2020.
Interestingly enough, a post on X in which Akhdar solicited funds for Al-Ikhlas in 2020 disappeared from her account soon after FWI contacted her about her support for the regime. Fortunately, FWI obtained a screenshot of the post before it disappeared.
Why is a supporter of the Iranian regime who has lamented terrorist leaders—such as Soleimani and Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of a regime that promotes hostility toward the U.K.—serving as the director of a charitable school outside of London? Neither the center nor its director has responded to FWI queries.
“We are a cultural organization with no political involvement whatsoever. Your line of enquiry does not interest us,” the organization stated in an email to FWI.
