Children of Iranian regime leaders teaching students at US colleges nationwide: Report
WASHINGTON, DC: As the war between the US and Iran continues, an exclusive report says that children of Tehran’s regime leaders are working as educators at prestigious American institutions, including the University of Massachusetts, New York’s Union College, and George Washington University, across the nation.
The New York Post report also cites sources saying the presence of people linked to the regime, estimated to be between 4,000 and 5,000, in the US could endanger American values.
Iran-linked academics shape US liberal perception debate
Janatan Sayeh, an Iran analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based think tank, said, “I would think that there would be a security risk as Iranian academics have been critical in forming public opinion on the left in the US, essentially deceiving liberals into thinking that the regime is more progressive, when it’s still advancing the same hardline agenda.”
However, there is no evidence that they are threats.
Ali Larijani daughter fired amid US-Iran tensions
One such prominent personality’s child is Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of Iran’s de facto leader Ali Larijani, who was killed in an airstrike this week.
Ardeshir-Larijani is a doctor who previously taught at Emory University in Atlanta before she was terminated in January after being pressured by dissidents.
Ardeshir-Larijani is a doctor who used to teach at Emory University in Atlanta before she was terminated in January after being pressured by dissidents.
As per Lawdan Bazargan, a human rights activist from the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists, “Fatemeh Larijani… the daughter of Ali Larijani came to the United States for cancer treatment, the very country her family’s system condemns, while millions of Iranians are denied access to basic healthcare and opportunity.”
A petition has also been launched demanding Ardeshir-Larijani’s deportation.
Petition seeks probe into Leila Khatami status
Another child of a prominent Iranian figure is Leila Khatami, the daughter of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami. She is a mathematics teacher at Union College in Schenectady.
An online petition has demanded that the Department of Homeland Security probe Khatami’s immigration status. The petition, which is not publicly available, states, “This is not personal revenge. This is justice. You cannot chant ‘Death to America’ through your political system while your own family enjoys safety, stability, and prosperity in America.”
The daughter of Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, a prominent Shia cleric, is also reportedly an educator in the US. Zahra Mohaghegh Damad, who is a niece of Ali Larijani, is a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She works in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering.
Another Iranian working in the US is Ehsan Nobakht, an associate professor at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at George Washington University. His father is Ali Nobakht, a renowned physician in Iran and a reformist former member of parliament.
