On January 31, Sweden's TV4 reported that leaked documents from Iran's Foreign Ministry linked Iran expert Rouzbeh Parsi, head of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, to a network initiated by Iran's Foreign Ministry, with the aim of increasing the country's influence in the West.
Since 75% of the funding for the Swedish Institute of International Affairs comes from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden's Foreign Minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, demanded more information regarding these allegations. As there was criticism and questions from several parties in the Swedish Parliament, the Institute launched an investigation to examine the allegations against Parsi.
The information presented in the report from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs raises several questions. The network in which Parsi was involved operated under the name "Iran Experts Initiative" (IEI). The creation of such a network was first proposed in 2014 by a Berlin-based Iranian diplomat, Said Khatibzadeh, a member of the internal think tank of Iran's Foreign Ministry, the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS).
The aim was for Iran to promote its perspective on international affairs by forming a network of Iranian exile analysts in "American and European think tanks" and offering them "political support."
Questions arise, particularly because IPIS is effectively an extension of Iran's Foreign Ministry. Its current president, Said Khatibzadeh, has served as an Iranian diplomat in Ottawa and Berlin, and has held several senior positions within the regime's foreign ministry, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is therefore no secret that the mullahs' regime initiated the IEI with specific political objectives. Yet, several scholars, including Parsi, have nevertheless collaborated with the IEI.
Another individual who, according to the report, was a member of the IEI during the years 2014–2015 was Ellie Geranmayeh, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Ali Vaez and Ariane Tabatabai, two associates of Robert Malley at the International Crisis Group (ICG), were also members of the IEI.
How can all these prominent think tanks and influential experts enter into cooperation with IPIS, which—apart from being an integral part of the Iranian regime—organized a Holocaust conference in 2006 featuring Holocaust deniers such as David Duke and the neo-Nazi German National Democratic Party (NPD)?
The report from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs concluded that IPIS is heavily politically controlled by the regime in Tehran. Yet, cooperation with this "think tank" has continued from certain Western actors. What distinguishes this "think tank" in Iran from regime-friendly "think tanks" in Russia or North Korea, where collaboration would be unthinkable?
The purpose of the IEI for the Iranian regime has been to establish a number of reputable and knowledgeable contacts who support the idea of a "nuclear deal" – which, in the long run means that the regime in Iran will get nuclear weapons -- and to promote Iran's perspective on this nuclear deal and its desired structure in Western Europe and North America.
What we have seen from several of the scholars and diplomats involved in the IEI is that they have actively advocated for an "Iran nuclear deal" and more cooperation with the regime in Iran.
Regarding Parsi, the report states that no formal debriefing to the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs ever took place concerning the discussions held within the IEI network with the Iranian nuclear negotiation delegation, and it remains unclear whether the Swedish Ministry at the time was even aware of the network's existence. This means that Parsi had no Swedish mandate and instead acted as a lobbyist for the Iranian regime, repeating its talking points in various forums.
According to the report, contacts between Iranian representatives and the IEI network continued even after the nuclear agreement was concluded in 2015. Various documents show that informal meetings took place between 2017 and 2019 with different Iranian representatives in order to understand their perspective on relations with Europe and the United States.
According to the report, the IEI network was funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is affiliated with Germany's Green Party. The foundation's involvement was linked to the nuclear negotiations and therefore ended on December 31, 2015. For the period 2017-2019, after the JCPOA, funding came from the UK Foreign Office.
The report also concludes that Parsi pays little attention to the terrorism, repression, surveillance of citizens, and the lack of respect for human rights in Iran. Nor does Parsi view Iran as a "full-fledged dictatorship" or a "totalitarian system." He describes the Iranian system as a combination of "something inspired by the constitution of the French Fifth Republic" and the exercise of power by a religious clergy. According to Parsi, Iran conducts a foreign policy that is defensive in nature. Furthermore, the report reveals that Parsi founded an association, the European Iran Research Group, whose purpose has been to promote Iran's relations with the outside world.
After the report was published, Parsi chose to leave the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.
Some might wonder what the problem is with dialogue between different countries. In Sweden's case, the issue is that the Swedish Security Service considers Iran to be one of the three countries that pose the greatest threat to Sweden. This includes espionage at Swedish universities, but also the fact that the Iranian regime uses criminal networks in Sweden to carry out acts of violence against other states, groups, or individuals whom the mullahs in Iran consider a threat. In February last year, Swedish media revealed that the Iranian intelligence services had planned to identify and assassinate Jews in Sweden.
So even if Iran's president sits down with Tucker Carlson and talks about wanting peace on earth, the reality is that a small country like Sweden is under constant threat from the Iranian regime. In that reality, acting as a lobbyist for the regime in Iran — as Parsi and others have done — is deeply problematic.
For the Americans who participated in the IEI, the issue is even more serious. Iran-backed militias killed 603 American soldiers during the Iraq War, and many more after that. For decades, Iran has waged a proxy war against the United States in the Middle East — and even on American soil. When American citizens — and in this instance, experts — serve the interests of the Iranian regime, they are supporting the enemies of the United States.
What exactly is it that they are doing? Does anyone seriously believe that the supporters of the Iranian regime will stop chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" at the next Friday prayer? Does anyone seriously believe the mullahs' lies that they do not want to build nuclear weapons? Is Iran a democracy that treats its citizens as people with rights? What exactly are these experts supporting and sympathizing with? Are these experts working with the Iranian regime anything other than lobbyists and agents for the mullahs' regime?
If the mullahs truly wanted peace, they would dismantle their support for terrorist organizations, abandon their ambitions to build nuclear weapons, stop pouring resources into fueling conflicts in neighboring countries, and cease spreading hatred toward the Western world. Do the mullahs plan to do any of that? Hardly.
Parsi has been forced to leave the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, but that does not mean all doors are closed to him. He continues to work as a lecturer at Lund University, where he teaches about "human rights." That's right — the man who does not consider the Iranian regime a dictatorship teaches human rights at a Swedish university. Moreover, he was one of the most frequently interviewed experts in Swedish media during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel.
The door must be closed to these lobbyists for the Iranian regime. It cannot be that people are being oppressed in Iran while a group of so-called experts with close ties to the regime are allowed to act as the mullahs' mouthpieces in the West — while also holding key positions that grant them access to sensitive information and decision-makers. The mullahs' regime is an enemy of the West, but the mullahs' lobbyists must be treated as enemies, too.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour is a Member of the Swedish Parliament.
