US Defense Department Invites An Iranian Terrorist To Its Defense Symposium

About two weeks ago the Defense Department’s Strategic Command held a major symposium in Omaha, Nebraska. They invited a guy named Dr. Seyed Houssein Mousavian to be the keynote speaker. They described him as a Middle East and Nuclear Policy Specialist at Princeton University.

Dr. Mousavian is a terrorist.

The organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) released a statement immediately following Mousavian’s talk saying in part, “It is alarming, inappropriate, and inexcusable that amid serious and credible threats from Iran to kidnap or assassinate former U.S. officials and American activists on U.S. soil, General Anthony J. Cotton and U.S. Strategic Command would host Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, an agent of the Iranian regime, as a keynote speaker at its annual symposium.”

“A German court found that the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Bonn, overseen by Mousavian, served ‘as the headquarters’ for the terrorists responsible for the 1992 Mykonos restaurant bombing that killed four Iranian Kurdish dissidents. More recently, he attended and appeared in a documentary about, the funeral of Iranian Commander Major-General Qassem Soleimani, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members. mIn that documentary, Mousavian gleefully recounts the death threats against Americans issued by Iranian regime officials.”

“He is not estranged from the Iranian regime as he suggested to the assembled audience. Nearly a decade after Ambassador Mousavian says he was forced to retire, former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told reporters that Mousavian is ‘completely tied to the regime and the country…and he has worked, and is currently working hard, [for it].’ There is no doubt that Mousavian has strong, ongoing ties to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.”

“Mousavian takes pleasure in death threats against Americans and has honored a terrorist leader with the blood of hundreds of military personnel on his hands. He should not be at Princeton University, where he is presently employed. He should not be at an event hosted by the U.S. military. He should not be welcome in the United States.”

Mousavian is a thug. He is also unrepentant. During his remarks in Omaha, he said, "I’m afraid you may not like it, but I think it’s important to know the other side." He also told the attendees that the United States must "rewrite their policy in the Middle East." He then described at length all of the unjustified “acts of aggression” of which the United States is “guilty” in the Middle East.

Mousavian also took a direct, partisan position in regard to the Iranian nuclear deal saying that Iran was blameless and had abided by its terms. "Iran complied completely [with the deal] with zero failure for three years, but the U.S. again broke the promise," Mousavian said. "Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal was really a disaster."

Trump "also had popular Iranian Revolutionary Guard General [Qassem] Soleimani assassinated," added Mousavian, who attended the late terrorist leader's funeral in Tehran. Soleimani was probably the world’s number one terrorist. He was responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of American servicemen. Mousavian defended him as a hero and branded Trump as a murderer for having Soleimani killed.

"Mousavian helped lead the murderous Iranian regime’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons so it could threaten the United States and our allies with annihilation," said Rep. Jim Banks, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "Now he’s in semi-retirement at Princeton as a full-time propagandist for the IRGC. Inviting him to spread lies at a U.S. military seminar is insanity."

"The decision to invite former Iranian ambassador Mousavian to speak to STRATCOM is unimaginably foolish," Gabriel Noronha, a former Iran adviser at the State Department, told the Washington Free Beacon. "He is a pawn and propaganda agent of the Iranian regime, which explains why he is allowed to travel back to Iran."

Here is the bottom line. As Iranian ambassador to Germany, Mousavian presided over operations to track down and murder Iranians who dared to fight for freedom in Iran. His embassy was described as a terror headquarters. He ultimately left Germany just as the Germans were preparing to throw him out.

Mousavian served in a senior position on Iran’s National Security Council. He fully supported Iran’s policies which included arming terrorists fighting and killing our soldiers. He eulogized Soleimani, a cold-blooded murderer and terrorist, and attacked President Trump’s decision to rid the world of that monster. Mousavian then bragged about Iranian death threats against American officials and their families.

Mousavian did not come to Nebraska to demonstrate a change of heart. He came to spread Iranian propaganda and lecture us on our “sins.” It is disgusting enough that Princeton pays him a salary and provides him with a platform from which to spread the Ayatollahs’ evil message. It is beyond comprehension that the Department of Defense would invite him and celebrate his attendance.

Only under the Biden administration could the DOD invite an Iranian terrorist to be its keynote speaker.