The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce has launched an investigation into Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian regime diplomat and a professor at Princeton University.
According to Fox News, 12 Republican members of the committee have sent a letter to Christopher L. Eisgruber, the president of Princeton University, requesting an explanation regarding the Iranian regime’s influence through Mousavian’s activities at the institution.
Lisa McClain, a Republican representative from Michigan, who co-authored the letter with Jim Banks, stated:
“Higher education has bowed down to the radical left and enemies of America for far too long, and the mere fact that a former member of the Iranian regime is given a platform at Princeton is proof.”
Concerns about Mousavian intensified after he attended the 2020 funeral of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, and spoke about Soleimani on Iranian television in 2022. In that program, he claimed that an American official told him that the wife of Brian Hook, then U.S. Special Representative for Iran, had lost sleep for several nights out of fear of Iranian retaliation.
In response, Mousavian said, “The 10-second clip from my two-hour interview with Iranian TV was taken out of context.”
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Republicans in Congress have accused Mousavian of advancing Iranian interests in the U.S., a concern that grew after it was revealed that he had spoken at a symposium hosted by the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) in August 2023.
Republican lawmakers have also pointed to Mousavian’s background as the Iranian regime’s ambassador to Germany in the 1990s. They recalled that a Berlin court, in the case of the assassination of four Iranian dissidents at the Mykonos restaurant, identified the Iranian embassy as the center of planning for the attack. Mousavian has denied these allegations, stating that his name was not mentioned in the court ruling.
Republicans are now calling for action against Mousavian and others linked to the Iranian regime within the U.S. education system. Jim Banks, one of the signatories of the letter, has demanded Princeton University sever ties with Mousavian and also with Robert Malley, the former Biden administration’s envoy for Iran. Banks claimed:
“Mr. Mousavian is a longtime Iranian propagandist who only knows how to teach anti-Israel, antisemitic lies.”
However, Mousavian defended himself in an interview with Fox News, stating: “My work is just academic, and I have nothing to do with the U.S., Iran, or any other government.”
Despite multiple requests, Princeton University has so far refrained from commenting on the matter.
