The Khomeini’s reformists were Soldiers of Cultural Revolution.

These days, Iranian regime forced hundreds of tenured professors, lecturers, and college teachers into retirement or being expelled. However, systematically, this is the new wave of increased pressure of the regime on academic realm in Iran because of political and ideological reasons.

In various cases, the intelligence community of mullahs in Iran are monitoring the educational system relentlessly. In fact, there’s no freedom of education in the theocratic regime of Iran. Under oppressive Islamic terrorist regimes, the initial emphasis in the enhancement of the university system has been the suppression of student activism rather than the upgrading of the condition of education.

Factually, after revolt 1979 in Iran, Control is the primary concern for the mullah’s terrorist regime. Over the years, sequential terrorist regime has not hesitated to close the universities for extended periods whenever political unrest broke out.

In one stage, Iranian regime between 1980 and 1983, arrested thousands of students and teachers. They terminated thousands of classes because of this issue. They never ever work to upgrade the educational qualifications. Hence, the decline of educational quality is not important for the regime. They believe loyal stooges are better than clever ones.  

Constantly, to advocating the regime’s radical goals, a new wave of cultural revolution has been initiated. This counterproductive approach is akin to the previous waves. This time the cultural revolution involves aggression and violent behavior by the mullah’s regime. However, nobody knows the facts of assassinated students or faculty during these waves and bloody eras in Iran’s contemporary history. These waves have bewildering complexity and almost unfathomable brutality.

Unashamedly, some of the reformist activists are mourning this wave of cultural revolution or the new wave of expulsions in Raisi’s Era. Bizarrely, some of these new mourners and pallbearers fired the nationalist professors and faculty members from Iran’s academic institutions after Khomeini’s speech On April 18, 1980.

It was the first round of cultural revolution in the Islamic Republic for the so-called Islamization and purifying of universities. Because the savage mullah was afraid of training the youth and he considered the universities as the hotbeds of political opposition. So, Khomeini mandated banning the books, purging thousands of students and lecturers, and controlling the colleges.

Broadly over the decades, the cultural Revolution demolished the academic realm and affected numerous scientific figures and nation’s brightest minds. One of the infamous ideologues and Islamic thinker of the regime was Abdol-Karim Soroush, but his real name is Haj Faraj Dabbagh.  In actuality, Soroush was an active actor in repressing the student movement of 1983-1989. He harassed many students and instructors. After incarceration of numerous cultural figures, he played in a role of interrogator in the notorious jail of Evin.

For instance, one of the well-known lexicographers and linguistics who was against the destructive action of Soroush was Mohammad Reza Bateni. This late professor at Tehran university revealed the name and role of Soroush in a commemoration ceremony in November 2013.

Another figure was Alinaghi Monzavi, a famous Iranian historian and writer. He helped Ali Dashti in writing a famous book which was “After 23 years”. After 1979, the Islamic regime detained Monzavi and his interrogator in Evin was Soroush.  In 2011, this story was exposed in Voice of America, the Persian program.

Most of the former IRGC officers have been employed and influenced in the academic realm. For example, during all these years, some of the former identified agents of MOIS, SNSC or Basij militia members have been recruited as professors in universities. Most likely, these loyal agents and pro-regime instructors under the cover of faculty member, are the ideal instructors of the Islamic Republic. In other words, periodically, the regime wants to silence the opponents and propagandize the destructive Khomeinist ideology and Shia superstitions.  

A vivid example to introduce a regime’s royal figure is Sadegh Zibakalam. He is a notorious figure, a regime’s sympathizer, and an apologist, who was a lecturer at Tehran University who was arrested by SAVAK because of his activities related to the Islamic Marxist terrorism. Also, Zibakalam was a translator of the criminal ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi Gilani, the chief justice of the supreme court of Iran and a judge of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court for 1980–85. If truth be told, this opportunist ideologue of the reformists was a zealous fan of Qasem Suleimani as well.

Since the sparked nationwide uprising after the death of Mahsa Amini, hundreds of professors have been dismissed, suspended, or fired prevalently. The main reason for the recent intensifying crackdown was the lack of trustworthiness.

During the protests, many times the reports regarding heavy clashes with ruthless police at university campuses were spread in media internationally. Shockingly, some of the security forces fired at students and universities emerged as the protest hubs.

In 2022, among the sparked nationwide protests which convulsed the country, Universities across Iran have gushed in protests. the media announced that “Police on motorbikes fire tear gas and shotguns loaded with anti-riot pellets at more than 200 students in Tehran” or “riot police used teargas on students at Sharif university”. In essence, Student protesters in Iran who shouted, “We will fight and die and take Iran back”, shot by pellet guns, paintballs, and rubber bullets, arrested, and tortured by savage police. The outlaw regime of mullahs in Iran never asked for forgiveness for that baseless ferocious confrontation.

In the course of the current wave of removals and firings of university professors, so far, the attempts of regime’s officials are to install educators aligned with the government and more hardline ideals.

During the first wave of cultural revolution, more than 55000 students, faculty members and professors were ousted or fired. Statistically, abundant number of the educated and skilled people left Iran. Even though there is no hope for the future of Iran , but for the criminal mullahs the increased level of“brain drain”  or departure of elites is not noteworthy. 

In summation, the bark of reformists with such vicious examples of helping Khomeini’s cultural revolution, is worse than their bites. The reformists are professional swindlers and the partners in crime. In other words, the deceptive reformists and hardliners are both cut off from the same cloth. Both reformists and hardliners are fan of this Khomeinist regime.

Erfan Fard is a counter-terrorism analyst and Middle East Studies researcher based in Washington, DC. He is in Middle Eastern regional security affairs with a particular focus on Iran, counter terrorism, IRGC, MOIS and ethnic conflicts in MENA. He graduated in International Security Studies (London M. University, UK), and in International Relations (CSU-LA). Erfan is a Jewish Kurd of Iran, and he is fluent in Persian, Kurdish, Arabic and English. / Follow him from this twitter account @EQFARD / The newly published book of Erfan Fard is: “The gruesome mullah” , which has been published in the USA. 

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