Biden Admin Stays Silent On Envoy’s Status, As Iran Leaks Info

The university, which is the Islamic Propaganda Bureau of the Qom Seminary, is a state-funded university-style Shia seminary with branches in almost 60 countries.

In an interview, Ali Abbasi said people of 83 nationalities are studying at the institution while in its Kabul branch, more than 50 percent of scholars are Tajiks and Sunnis.

It is not clear exactly what is being taught at the Kabul branch after the Taliban takeover, but the branch’s website reported almost 4,500 scholars were studying there until 2019.

Abbasi did not explain how people who were trained in this Shiite complex took positions at the Sunni government of the extremist Taliban.

The Al-Mustafa University pays for hundreds of foreign students from China to Africa and Latin America who come to study and then return to spread Iranian Shiite teachings in their countries.

Observers say Al-Mustafa has become Iran's chief tool for promoting Shi'ism abroad. The university received around $80 million in the 2020-2021 Iranian budget, making it more important than ever. It is believed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office and businesses under his control provide additional funding to Al-Mustafa.

In 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on the massive university network, alleging that it recruited Afghan and Pakistani students to fight in Syria.

Fatemeh Ramezani, the Secretary of the Curriculum and Training Commission of the Supreme Council of Education, said Sunday that "students must learn a foreign language during their junior and senior secondary education, but this language is not necessarily English."

She said that instead of English, students can choose French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish, as well as additional courses in Arabic.

Ramezani emphasized that Arabic "as the language of the Qur'an" is mandatory in the first and second year of secondary education.

In January, the Islamic Republic announced its intention to change the content of textbooks in foreign language schools after criticism by Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei.

The head of the body for non-governmental schools, Ahmad Mahmoudzadeh, told ILNA: “We will have a call to produce content of language books for schools, which will be implemented in line with the order of the Supreme Leader,” suggesting locally produced, more religious material would replace any taught content.

Ali Khamenei has criticized teaching English in general, deemed the language of the West which he commonly refers to as 'the enemy'. In 2016 he criticized its being taught as early as kindergarten, leading the ministry of education to subsequently ban teaching English in primary schools.

In recent years, some government officials have also suggested that instead of English, the teaching of Russian, Chinese and German languages should be supported in Iran.

The statement said, "The policy of a unilateral tendency favoring the East and radical opposition to the West as well as denial of the benefits of balanced relations with world powers have irreparably damaged Iran's interests."

This statement was issued following Russia's support for the claim by United Arab Emirates over the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. The UAE wishes to refer the case to the International Court of Justice. Tehran has dismissed Moscow's stance as "undermining Iran's territorial integrity" and some Friday Prayer Imams in Iran have called for an apology by Russia.

The former diplomats warned that absolute reliance on friendly ties with some countries (Russia and China) will naturally make them believe that they can do anything to Iran. 

A day earlier, some websites in Tehran reported on a speech July 12 by former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had argued along the same lines, saying that a perpetual anti-West policy is harmful to national interests.

They said that such a policy will impose a heavy cost on the country, adding that a balanced foreign policy and a realistic approach to international relations, as well as avoiding policies that negatively affect Iran's national interests can be the driving force of an intelligent foreign policy in the current situation. 

The statement said Iran owes its territorial integrity to the endeavors of its citizens, and the government is committed by law to defend the country's territorial integrity. It further noted that this was not the first time Russia undermined Iran's interests. 

The former diplomats added that dignified diplomacy requires prevention of such unfriendly stances in any way possible. They pointed out that although Iran attaches priority to its international relations and particularly to its ties with Russia, nonetheless, the country's national interests and territorial integrity come over and above everything else. The statement stressed that there is no room for any compromise on the country's national interests. 

The senior diplomats further observed: "We believe that the reason for imposing this unacceptable behavior by others and ignoring the Islamic Republic's status and its national interests is that Iran has stopped abiding by its principle of "neither East, nor West" which was its motto after the 1979 revolution. 

The lack of a balanced foreign policy will encourage opportunist states to take advantage of their relations with Iran and using it solely to serve their own interests, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the print media in Tehran highlighted the statement on Sunday. Etemad Online quoted academic Ali Asghar Zargar as warning that "Russians can easily play with Iran's card and gamble on Tehran's interests, adding that Iran must be alert about such eventualities and not be content simply by demanding apologies from China and Russia when they undermine its interests. 

On the same day, Khabar Online carried a report in which it asked: "Why Russia and China often surprise Iran? Can we expect anything more than this from unilateral relations?" The website added that the controversy over Russia's behavior less than six months after China had adopted a similar position on the issue of the three islands, was an outcome of Iran's imbalanced foreign relations.

The Iranian ambassador in Moscow and government media claimed Saturday that a senior Russian diplomat had backtracked on Moscow’s earlier endorsement of a territorial claim by the United Arab Emirates, by reiterating support for Iran’s territorial integrity over the Abu Musa, and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands in the Persian Gulf. Iran's islands are claimed by the UAE as their own.

IRNA, the state news agency soon after claimed that the remarks indicated Russia had revised its position on the three islands. However, a report by the Russian news agency TASS shows the Russian diplomats were simply playing diplomatic chess with Iran, the two countries now firm allies since Iran has become a major supplier of drones and arms for Russia's war in Ukraine.

The TASS report not only mentioned nothing about respect for Iran's territorial integrity, but once again used the word ‘Arab Gulf’ to reiterate the stance of Russia’s foreign ministry expressed earlier.

TASS also quoted the Russian foreign ministry as adding that the senior Russian diplomat received the Iranian ambassador at his request.

Last week Moscow supported the United Arab Emirates’ sovereignty over three contested islands, causing diplomatic friction with Iran. Its loyalties are to the UAE which is one of the only states to still trade with Russia in spite of sanctions. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have flocked to the country since the war broke out last year.

Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdolahian and government spokesman Ali Bahadori wrote in separate tweets that "Iran will not compromise over its national interests and territorial integrity."

Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said Friday that last year's nationwide unrest showed the depth of the people's desire to live free of the “oppressive mullahs”.

“This resolution recognizes their efforts and encourages the administration to do more to end the regime’s systemic persecution of women and state-sponsored murder of Iranian citizens, and to hold human rights violators in Iran accountable. Supporting the aspirations of the Iranian people must be a key pillar of our Iran policy.”

In January, a bipartisan resolution was introduced in the Senate reaffirming US support for Iranian citizens who took to the streets in peaceful protest and condemning Iranian security forces' human rights violations.

“In the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, the Iranian people have bravely protested the regime’s brutality and demonstrated their desire for a more peaceful and free Iran,” said Risch in January. “The Biden Administration should step up efforts on helping to end the regime’s systematic persecution of women and holding human rights violators in Iran to account.”

In addition to calling on the international community to continue to publicize and condemn the Iranian regime’s crackdown since protests began, the resolution called for the Biden Administration to strengthen international efforts to impose additional sanctions on officials and entities responsible for the violent suppression of demonstrations.

The resolution also emphasized the importance of the US government and the private sector providing additional support for access to digital communications and internet freedom in Iran.