Why Do Iranian Dissidents Ask Princeton To Fire Mousavian?
Opinion -- When Princeton University hired Hossein Mousavian in 2009, I believed he had defected from the Iranian regime, relocated to the United States, and aimed to work against it.
Opinion -- When Princeton University hired Hossein Mousavian in 2009, I believed he had defected from the Iranian regime, relocated to the United States, and aimed to work against it.
The passage of time, however, proved that I was mistaken. His intention was to continue serving a regime that had afforded him ample opportunities, enabling him to exert influence over two major newspapers, rise from a street activist to Iran’s ambassador in Germany, and subsequently become a chief negotiator in nuclear talks with the West.
Throughout his career, Mousavian has demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the Islamic Republic. From his tenure as a member of the Resalat Daily editorial board and his leadership role at Tehran Times to his diplomatic endeavors in Europe as Iran's top diplomat, he has consistently upheld the regime's interests. Even upon relocating to the US, his advocacy for the controversial JCPOA nuclear deal and defense of Iran's nuclear program as peaceful persisted.
Mohammad Javad Zarif attests to Mousavian's commitment to the regime, having entrusted him with representation at various European events during Zarif's tenure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zarif lauds Mousavian's adept defense of the regime's positions, acknowledging his efforts in international forums across America and Europe.
However, Mousavian has crafted various narratives portraying himself as a regime critic. One such claim involves being listed as a target for internal assassination in the 1990s, an assertion lacking substantiation or evidence. Lists of assassination targets from the 1990s, provided by reputable sources, notably exclude Mousavian's name, indicating a discrepancy in his narrative. I have personally seen two lists for assassinations in the 1990s (one list provided to me by Saeed Hajjarian, a high-ranking security official) and Mousavian was not on those lists. The internal terror project in that period was planned to be carried out inside the country and not in Europe.
Terror-oriented ideology and discourse
During the 1980s, the regime's ideological priorities differed from its current agenda. Anti-semitism, nuclear armament, and Shia imperialism were not prominent; instead, the focus was on the Iran-Iraq war, domestic stability through terror tactics, and ideological rivalries within Islamist factions. Amidst escalating tensions and internal dissent, internal targeted killings emerged as a pivotal tool to safeguard the regime's survival.
Islamist terrorism, characterized by fatwas and militant recruitment, was instrumentalized by the regime to suppress dissent and eliminate opposition voices. This was a time when the war with Iraq was not going well and numerous opposition figures abroad were plotting the regime’s overthrow. Survival of the clerical rulers was the top priority. Mousavian, along with his counterparts at Resalat, played a pivotal role in legitimizing and normalizing this terror narrative, perpetuating a culture of fear and coercion within Iranian society.
Ali Khamenei had the same feeling of fragility in his first years in office and began killing intellectuals and political dissidents in the 1990s. Resalat did the same job to promote and normalize terror in this decade even when Mousavian was out. It was in its DNA.
Mousavian played a key role in the covering up of the Mykonos terror attack and denying Iran's role in this terror attack: "Personally I had more than 300 meetings with the [people in] the [German] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the judiciary, the German Parliament, the Chancellor's office and even with the heads of the German media to show that the [Iranian] government had no role in the event.”
According to Parviz Dastmalchi, who witnessed the assassinations, Abolghasem Mesbahi, known as 'Witness C,' one of the founders of the IRI’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, testified in February 1997 under oath before the German court regarding the role of Hossein Mousavian in the assassination of Kurdish leaders at the Mykonos restaurant: "Mr. Mousavian has participated in most of the assassinations committed in Europe."
Terrorism, as exemplified by Mousavian's actions, is a grave matter not to be trivialized. His cavalier attitude towards terrorizing American authorities, as evidenced by his gleeful recollection of Bryan Hook's wife's distress, underscores the severity of his involvement in Iran's state-sponsored terrorism. Such callous disregard for human life is reprehensible and underscores the urgent need for accountability.
Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the views of Iran International - The author signed a petition to oust Mousavian from his Princeton position.
After enduring a more-than-40% annual inflation rate for the past five years and seeing their purchasing power slashed to a fraction of what it was in 2018, Iranians now have to struggle with rising rents that are surpassing the monthly salary of an ordinary employee.
Iranians voice deep concern on a daily basis on social media about inflation and rising rents. The common thread among these posts is the citizens’ inability to pay rents, particularly in the capital city Tehran.
A user wrote on X: “I realized I only have money for four months of rent, and a little more to cover my monthly expenses. I got a few steps closer to mental breakdown.”
Another X user noted that she was unable to pay her rent last month due to medical expenses, further adding the economic situation in Iran is so dire that a friend asked me to lend him 1 million rials (less than $2) so that he could buy some bread and potatoes. The only cause behind poverty, corruption and exorbitant prices in Iran is the "terrorist regime" of the Islamic Republic, she stressed.
According to a poll conducted in October 2023, housing is the most important issue for Tehran residents, with problems such as low income and general inflation ranking next.
The findings of the poll indicated that rent accounts for an average of more than 50% of a household’s expenses in the capital where residents pay an average of 15 million rials ($300). This is while more than more than 50% respondents of the poll reported their monthly salary as less than 160 million rials ($320).
This has resulted in the migration of some Tehran residents to smaller towns around the capital such as Parand, Pardis, Hashtgerd, and Pakdasht, where they can afford the rents.
According to Iran's leading economic daily Donyaye Eqtesad (World of Economy), the national rent growth in the first half of the year hit a 12-year high of 38.5%.
In 2022, Abdollah Otadi, a board member of the Tehran Real Estate Consultants Union, said rents had risen 300 percent in the last three years in the capital.
Examining the ratio of rent inflation to general inflation in Iran, Etemad daily wrote on Saturday that rent inflation has exceeded the monthly general inflation rate since September. A comparison between rent inflation over the past two years demonstrates that Iranian tenants have had a much tougher time this year to make ends meet, the report added.
The continuous devaluation of the rial, particularly since the US withdrawal from the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2018, has fueled inflation and plunged millions into poverty. Over the past six years, the rial has fallen 15-fold, from 40,000 per dollar to more than 600,000.
Official annual inflation hovers near 50 percent, but the rial’s continuous fall can directly impact prices and push the inflation rate to near hyper-inflation levels in the coming months. Earlier in the month, Eqtesad 24 daily warned that nearly one-third of Iranians struggle below the poverty line. The report projected a worrying escalation in poverty rates, foreseeing that by the end of the current Iranian year on March 20th, “the proportion of individuals below the poverty line could soar to 37 to 40 percent.”
The economic crisis has also eroded the government's legitimacy, with a historic low voter turnout of 40% in the March 1 elections. Experts contend that economic turmoil is likely to worsen in Iran, with no end in site to its confrontational nuclear and regional policies.
Due to the rising inflation rate, real estate, like gold and foreign currencies, has been treated as capital investment in Iran, with many trying to avoid the rapid depreciation of their cash by buying houses and apartments. Real estate prices rise in tandem with the rising dollar.
According to Donyaye Eqtesad, owning a home in Tehran has become virtually impossible while the key indicators of the quality of life are also in decline. The average time people need to save money to be able to buy a residence in Tehran has increased to a staggering 112 years, from about 22 years in 2005, the report added.