US Congress Probes Former Iranian Official’s Role at Princeton University

On 19 Novem­ber 2023, Fox News report­ed that the US House Com­mit­tee of Edu­ca­tion and the Work­force had ini­ti­at­ed an inves­ti­ga­tion into Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty’s con­nec­tion with Seyed Hos­sein Mousa­vian, a for­mer Iran­ian offi­cial. The com­mit­tee, com­pris­ing twelve Repub­li­can mem­bers, raised con­cerns about Mousa­vian alleged­ly advanc­ing Iran’s inter­ests on the cam­pus, giv­en his close ties to the Iran­ian regime, a des­ig­nat­ed state spon­sor of ter­ror­ism. The inquiry comes after Mousa­vian’s par­tic­i­pa­tion in a STRATCOM sym­po­sium raised objec­tions. Crit­ics have argued that host­ing Mousa­vian posed nation­al secu­ri­ty risks, con­sid­er­ing Iran’s antag­o­nis­tic stance. Despite Mousa­vian’s denial of espi­onage accu­sa­tions, con­gres­sion­al scruti­ny now ques­tions his affil­i­a­tion with the Iran­ian gov­ern­ment. Rep. Lisa McClain also empha­sized the need to address poten­tial rad­i­cal influ­ences in US edu­ca­tion. Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty has not respond­ed to queries about Mousa­vian’s role.