A dissident group named “Ghiam ta Sarnegouni” (meaning “Uprising Until Regime Overthrow”) has released an audio file of the remarks by the head of the “Leadership Institution in Universities” Hamid Reza Haddadpour, referring to the recruitment of foreign students in Iran to create “intellectual footholds and strongholds” for the Iranian regime in other countries.
Ghiam ta Sarnegouni disabled 830 websites and servers of the Office of the regime’s Supreme Leader’s Representative in Universities. The group also released a ream of documents about the regime’s agents in the education system.
According to the published audio file, Hamid Reza Haddadpour stated, “Many of the students are the children of influential individuals from their own countries, who will naturally take the place of their fathers.”
Haddadpour mentioned that based on the orders of the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and after several meetings in his office, it has been decided to appoint individuals as cultural secretaries for international students.
He stated, “We deliberately avoid using words like ‘missionary’ and ‘mentor’ that carry sensitivities.”
According to Haddadpour, these individuals are selected with the proposal of the International Deputy of the Office of Ali Khamenei and the Office of the Supreme Leader’s Representative in Universities, and they are expected to establish connections with foreign students, especially in dormitories.
He announced that project contracts will be signed with these individuals, and they will be paid an amount ranging from 50 to 90 million rials (approximately $100 to $175).
It is worth noting that the minimum monthly wage of workers is about 80 million rials (approximately $153).
In his concluding remarks, Haddadpour mentioned that Qasem Soleimani, the Head of Iran’s IRGC Quds Force Terror Group, (Soleimani was murdered on 3 January 2020 by a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport), emphasized the need for serious attention to international students.
He stated that Qasem Soleimani even corresponded with the government regarding some of the difficulties encountered in this regard.
Haddadpour emphasized that by educating foreign students in Iran, “intellectual footholds and strongholds for the Islamic Republic are created in the region and other countries, as we have seen in the past and now witness its effects.”
Previously, reports were published about the presence of foreign students affiliated with regime proxy groups in Iran, as well as the Iranian regime’s use of foreign students in other countries for espionage and other activities.
In July, university officials in Tehran agreed in a meeting with leaders of the Popular Mobilization Forces (a paramilitary group linked to the Iranian regime in Iraq) that their members and other regime proxy forces who are “seeking education” would enter Iranian universities, including the University of Tehran.
Two years ago, Bahram Einollahi, the Minister of Health, emphasized the necessity of “educating foreign students” and stated, “The realization of the Islamic Revolution can be achieved through foreign students, as educated foreign students in Iran have become good missionaries for the Islamic Republic of Iran in their own countries.”
Five years ago, a 31-year-old Pakistani student accused of espionage for the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was arrested in Germany.
” Al-Mustafa International University,” an institution under the supervision of Ali Khamenei, also provides training to foreign clerics in Iran and uses these clerics for its own activities. It has been sanctioned by the United States and Canada.
In December 2022, The Jewish Chronicle reported that “The Islamic College” in Britain, affiliated with “Al-Mustafa International University,” is a base for the Iranian regime, but the spokesperson of the college denied this claim.
