First time on Fox – A scandal involving a former senior Iranian official and controversial Princeton University professor has been expanded by an interview from decades ago. Seyed Hossein Mousabian was accused of supporting Hezbollah and Hamas in a 1997 German newspaper interview.
New revelations about Mousabian’s pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah interviews in German newspapers have led to what some say is support for the Iranian regime’s fatwa, which ordered the assassination of British-American author Salman Rushdie. Coupled with the allegations, it became clear all at once. When an Ivy League professor becomes the subject of a congressional investigation. Mousabian is currently U.S. House Education and Labor Committee Investigation on suspicion of promoting Iranian interests.
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Head of the Iranian delegation, Seyyed Hossein Mousabian, speaks to reporters at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, November 29, 2004. (Robert Newald/AFP via Getty Images)
In November, Fox News Digital exclusively reported on an investigation into Mousabian’s ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism. The investigation is ongoing, but a parliamentary committee has not yet released its findings.
In a 1997 interview with the left-wing German daily Taz, Mousabian, who was Iran’s ambassador to Germany at the time, was asked whether Iran supported groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Mr Mousabian appeared to support Hamas. “If it means we are supplying weapons to Hamas, no, we are not. But if it means we are supporting the Palestinian struggle, then yes, we are providing them. doing.”
In response to the newspaper’s questions, did Iran provide material support to Hezbollah? economically, Mousabian said ”We support Hezbollah morally, not by supplying them with weapons. ”
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The Middle East Media Institute of the United States is the first Translated Mousavian’s German interview Earlier this month, its website provided background material on his alleged role in inciting terrorism in Europe, including the assassination of a Kurdish dissident at a restaurant named Mykonos in Berlin in 1992.
Mousabian, an expert on Middle East security and nuclear policy at Princeton University, reported that he was entertained by the Obama administration. washington free beaconhas been invited to speak at the White House at least three times and at a key US STRATCOM military event in August 2023 under the Biden administration.
Iranians walk in front of a sign with Iranian supreme leaders Ayatollah Khamenei and Ruhollah Khomeini in the capital Tehran on July 31, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
According to a Congressional letter first obtained by FOX News Digital, Mousabian’s attendance at the STRATCOM symposium “concerned members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Additionally, aspects of this issue were discussed with members of the House Armed Services Committee. “This is troubling us.” Education and workforce. ”
“My speech at U.S. Strategic Command was all about peace in the Middle East and why the United States should avoid war and focus on peace and cooperation,” Mousabian told Fox News Digital in November. he said.
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Asked by Fox News Digital if he was considering Hamas or Hezbollah terrorist organizations, Mousabian declined to answer questions from numerous Fox News Digital reporters by email, phone or WhatsApp. Fox News Digital reached out to Princeton University by phone and email for comment. The Ivy League organization did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital.
Mousabian also appeared to defend the Iranian-led operation to assassinate American and British author Salman Rushdie, due to the famous novelist’s irreverent portrayal of Islam’s prophet Muhammad.
Seyyed Hossein Mousabian, a professor at Princeton University, is at the center of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s investigation into relations with Iran. (News Photo/Joshua Cummins | Photo Credit: Photographer Name/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
In 2022, a 24-year-old man named Hadi Matar, a fan of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, stabbed Rushdie in the neck and liver during the author’s speech in Chautauqua, New York. It is said that he did. After the attack, Mr. Rushdie lost sight in one of his eyes and lost the use of one of his hands.
A November 5th 1992 Reuters report, title “The German opposition wants the Iranian envoy to be expelled,” he said. “…Hossein Mousabian was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry after he said in a radio interview that Bonn would not take any action contrary to its trade interests with Iran in support of Rushdie’s demand for a death sentence.” To be done. ”
The Reuters report goes on to say, “Social Democrat Freimut Dube said in a special debate on what became known as the ‘Rushdie Affair’ that Moussabian should leave Germany because he does not respect German law.” “I told Congress that,” he continued.
in radio interview After Rushdie’s court appearance, Mousabian defended the historic Islamic practice of imposing the death penalty for blasphemy.
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Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989, but his fatwa against Salman Rushdie did not. (Reuters)
Mousabian declined to answer questions from numerous reporters on Fox News Digital about whether he continues to support Iran’s religious edict to kill Rushdie.
Mousabian denied his country’s role in the Iranian state-backed killing of four Kurdish dissidents at a restaurant on the island of Mykonos. In an interview with Germany’s Taz, he called the Berlin court’s verdict that convicted Iranian and Hezbollah operatives of the assassination “nonsense.” Mousabian declined to answer questions from Fox News Digital reporters about the Berlin court’s rejection of the Mykonos ruling.
According to a 1997 article in the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, former Iranian intelligence official Abolqasem Mesbahi told a Berlin court during the Mykonos trial, “Moosavian took part in most of the events.” [Iranian regime’s] Crimes that took place in Europe. ”
During Moussavian’s tenure as Iran’s ambassador to Germany, a Berlin court found that he “served as the ‘headquarters’ for a plot to assassinate four Iranian dissidents at the Mykonos Greek restaurant in Berlin in 1992.” He was in charge of the embassy where he was appointed.
Israeli and Palestinian supporters rally around 42nd Street to support and oppose Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel. Anti-Israel supporters marched after a rally in the area and stopped in front of the permanent missions of Egypt, Kuwait and the United States, shouting for them to stop supporting Israel. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket, Getty Images)
“This accusation is a huge lie,” Mousabian told Fox News Digital in November. “The 398-page judgment is public and available for anyone to read. The Berlin court’s judgment does not contain any direct or indirect allegations against me. The German authorities forced me to leave the country. …I’m a frequent visitor here,” Mousabian added.
Calls for Mousabian’s removal echo those of Mohammad Jafar Mahrati, a scandal-plagued pro-Iranian regime scholar who taught at Oberlin College in Ohio.
Maharati was Iran’s former ambassador to the United Nations from 1987 to 1989. Oberlin College expelled Maharati in November 2023 following a series of scandals including his pro-Hamas teachings and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. According to Amnesty International, Maharati covered up the Iranian regime’s mass murder of 5,000 Iranian dissidents in 1988.
The California-based Alliance of Defenders Against the Islamic Regime of Iran (AAIRIA) has spearheaded a massive campaign calling for Mahrati’s ouster.
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Rhodan Bazargan, an Iranian-American human rights activist and lead organizer of the AAIRIA campaign, told Fox News Digital about Mousavian, “Princeton University would allow such a person to appoint such a person and pose as a peace advocate.” It’s very unfortunate that that happened.” An agent of an oppressive Islamic regime known for its blatant disregard for religious freedom and threatening slogans of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” boldly declares its participation in peace efforts. is nothing but a cynical farce. ”
It added: “Princeton University’s support of Moussavian tarnishes the university’s reputation and undermines the principles of peace, tolerance, and academic integrity that the university is supposed to uphold.”
AAIRIA called on Princeton to immediately fire Moosavian, who is not a tenured scholar, and the NGO announced that it would hold a protest against the controversial academic at Princeton next week. Just last month, National Association of Scholars demanded that Mr. Mousabian’s employment be terminated.
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A prominent anti-Semitism expert claimed that Mousabian’s account contained anti-Semitic posts against Israel.Mousavian made false claims in a document October X Post Israel has bombed hospitals in the Gaza Strip, calling it “a Holocaust-like crime of Nazi Germany.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, deputy director of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital: “Clearly, this person’s position at Princeton is protected no matter what he does.” He is a person who feels that way,” he said.
Princeton University Campus, October 20, 2022. (Stephanie Pagones/Fox News Digital)
Regarding Mousabian’s comparison of Israel to the crimes of Nazi Germany, Cooper said, “Anyone who uses that word is proving their own anti-Semitic credentials. “I am immune from any action against me.”
When Fox News Digital investigated Mr. Mousavan’s X post after October 7, the overwhelming number of posts were attacks on the Jewish state, and many of the posts were about Hamas, such as Israel carrying out genocide in Gaza. was found to support the argument.
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“I think Princeton has a lot to answer for,” Cooper said, adding that Mousabian should be disqualified as an American higher education scholar.
Cooper, who testified before Congress about anti-Semitism, said: “Calling this a scandal does not do justice to the issues that have been exposed. Princeton University deals with sensitive national security issues.” So maybe it’s time to call it to a Congressional hearing.”
