Princeton University in the United States announced that Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian regime diplomat, has “retired” from the university. Mousavian is accused of being involved in the assassinations of several prominent opponents of the Iranian regime in Europe.
In an official statement, Princeton University described Mousavian’s departure as “retirement.”
Mousavian served as a “Middle East security and nuclear policy expert” in Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security.
He is accused of involvement in the assassination of at least 24 Iranian regime opponents in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, including Shapour Bakhtiar, Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Abdolrahman Ghassemlou, and Kazem Rajavi.
The Mykonos restaurant assassinations and the historic verdict of the Berlin court, which held the Iranian regime responsible for the killing of four Iranian dissidents in 1992, can and should serve as the basis for prosecuting Mousavian.
In recent years, Iranian dissidents, political and civil activists, families seeking justice, and several international organizations and associations have demanded that Princeton sever ties with Mousavian and remove him from the university.
In November 2023, Fox News reported that the U.S. Congress’s Education Committee had launched an investigation into Princeton University’s connection with Mousavian.
The hiring of Mousavian at Princeton and the employment of Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, the former Iranian regime ambassador to the United Nations, at Oberlin College, indicate a troubling and unique pattern concerning the Iranian regime, as former ambassadors of no other oppressive government have ever held such prestigious positions at U.S. universities.
This trend gives a platform and legitimacy to individuals directly involved in assassinations, terrorist acts, and crimes against humanity.
Recent revelations by Mohsen Rafighdoost, the first minister of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), provide new grounds for reopening cases in which Mousavian is accused of involvement.
In March 2024, Rafighdoost admitted in an interview that the IRGC maintained a secret account at the Bank Saderat branch in Frankfurt to finance the assassination of regime opponents abroad through money laundering.
Rafighdoost’s statements, along with court documents — including German intelligence reports showing links between the Iranian regime’s embassy in Bonn and the perpetrators of the Mykonos assassinations through encrypted telephone communications — provide a solid legal basis for prosecuting Mousavian.
Dr. Kazem Rajavi, the brother of Massoud Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition, was assassinated in Switzerland by Iranian regime agents on April 24, 1990.
