FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 9, 2025
After Sustained AAIRIA Campaign, Mousavian’s Career at Princeton Terminated; Calls Renewed for Mousavian’s Deportation and Prosecution
The Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) notes the conclusion of Seyed Hossein Mousavian’s 15-year position at Princeton University, where he served as a “Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist” in its Program on Science and Global Security. In an official announcement, Princeton University characterized Mousavian’s departure as a retirement.
Mousavian’s exit follows a sustained two-year campaign orchestrated by AAIRIA that included:
- Organizing campus events with Princeton University students that brought Parviz Dastmalchi, a Mykonos Restaurant Massacre survivor, Mina Ahadi, an Iranian expatriate residing in Germany, and scores of Kurdish dissidents to Princeton.
- Conducting press conferences to expose Mousavian’s record, featuring the families of the Mykonos massacre victims, relatives of those killed in the Argentina AMIA bombing, and journalist Fardad Farahzad, a target of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI).
- Engaging the U.S. House Education and Oversight Committee which examined the matter.
- Securing a public endorsement of the campaign against Mousavian from Senator Ted Cruz, Princeton “92.
- Partnering with Iranian expatriates in Europe who staged protests against a prospective Mousavian appearance at the Korber Foundation in Hamburg, Germany.
We exposed the truth: Mousavian is not an neutral scholar but a former ambassador of the IRI who defended the fatwa to kill author Salman Rushdie, promoted anti-Israel propaganda, amplified antisemitic voices by sharing their rhetoric on Mousavian’s social media platforms, and openly supported U.S. designated terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas. Mousavian’s hiring by Princeton University, along with that of Mohammad Jafar Mahallati at Oberlin College, reflects a disturbing pattern unique to the IRI. No other brutal regime has seen its former ambassadors granted prestigious positions at U.S. colleges and universities. This practice gives a platform and legitimacy to individuals directly implicated in assassinations, terrorism, and crimes against humanity.
Given Mousavian’s incriminating record, we now call on the U.S. State Department to deport him to Germany, where Mousavian must answer for his role in the killings of at least 24 Iranians on European soil, including the murders of Shapour Bakhtiar and Fereydoun Farrokhzad, as well as Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghasemlou, assassinated in Vienna in 1989, and Dr. Kazem Rajavi, assassinated in Switzerland in 1990. The Mykonos Restaurant assassinations and the associated landmark Berlin court verdict, which found the IRI responsible for murdering four Iranian dissidents in 1992, can and should serve as the foundation for a trial of Mousavian.
Newly revealed confessions by Mohsen Rafiqdoost, a former high-ranking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official, provide additional grounds for reopening these cases. Rafiqdoost admitted that the IRGC maintained a secret account at Bank Saderat in Frankfurt, Germany to launder bribe money and finance assassinations abroad, including those targeting Iranian dissidents. Rafiqdoost’s statements — combined with existing court evidence such as German intelligence records linking the Iranian embassy in Bonn to the Mykonos Restaurant killers through coded phone communications — create a compelling legal basis to bring Mousavian, the father of the IRI’s terror plots in Europe, before a court. These victims were among the many targeted in the IRI’s decades-long global assassination campaign, and justice demands accountability not only from the regime but from its Western enablers who have provided Mousavian safe harbor.
We also extend our sincere gratitude to journalist Benjamin Weinthal, Iran International, and VOA Persian reporters, whose consistent and courageous reporting brought critical attention to our campaign and helped expose the truth about Mousavian’s background.
This victory is proof that concerted advocacy works. Congratulations to every activist, student, journalist, and legislator, as well as organizations such as the Middle East Forum, United Against Nuclear Iran, and MEMRI, who stood firm against Princeton University’s complicity.
But ending Mousavian’s tenure at Princeton University is only the first step. The fight for justice continues and we will not rest until Mousavian is deported, prosecuted, and those responsible for these assassinations and Iran’s global terror campaign are brought before a court of law.
Contact: Lawdan Bazargan (lawdanbazargan@gmail.com, 562-212-9546)
Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA)
