Princeton University’s Iranian agent of influence Seyyed Hossein Mousavian |
In the wake of the killing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force commander, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, leader of the Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, Princeton scholar Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, who sports the grand title of Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist at the Program on Science and Global Security, tweeted: “After killing the two most popular Shia generals, Soleimani-alMuhandis, it would be wise for the US troops to leave the region. Both courageously fought against ISIS & were top commanders of Muslim resistance forces worldwide. Therefore the US may be faced with mid-long term disasters.”
Yet neither Soleimani nor al-Muhandis were remotely heroic. Both were U.S. Treasury Department designated terrorists. Soleimani was designated in 2007 as a commander of IRGC-QF due to its support of international terrorist organizations. Two years later, Treasury designated al-Muhandis for attacks against coalition forces in Iraq.
Both have rivers of blood on their hands. Iranian-backed militias killed hundreds of anti-government protesters in Iraq. Soleimani directed Iranian military operations across the Middle East — most notably in Syria — killing hundreds of thousands. Rather than fighting terrorists, Soleimani and al-Muhandis were terrorists.
In a recent op-ed, Iranian-American activists Peter Kohanloo and Reza Behrouz noted that Mousavian served as Iran’s ambassador to Germany in 1992 when hit men working for the Iranian government murdered four Iranian dissidents in a Berlin restaurant. After leaving Germany at Berlin’s request, he held a series of positions in Iran’s tyrannical government. Given his sordid history, Mousavian’s support for monsters like Soleimani and al-Muhandis isn’t surprising. What is shocking, however, is Princeton’s willingness to employ an apologist for international killers.
David Gerstman is managing editor of Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
