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Who is Foad Izadi and why is Iran offering free tuition to US college students? 'These are our people'
Amidst widespread wave of pro-Palestine protests in American universities, an Iranian professor called anti-Israel demonstrators in the US "our people".
Amidst widespread wave of pro-Palestine protests in American universities, an Iranian professor called anti-Israel demonstrators “our people”, claiming that they would support Iran in its war with the United States.
In an interview with Iranian state TV station IRIB Ofogh on April 26, Tehran University Professor Foad Izadi said, “These are our [American students] are people.” “And if tensions between America and Iran rise tomorrow or the day after, these are the people who will have to take to the streets to support Iran.”
According to Izadi, Iran could witness more damage than Lebanon, where Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah has caused mayhem for nearly 10 years.
"Personally, I think that the potential to repeat in the US what Iran did in Lebanon is much higher," he asserted, claiming, "Our Hezbollah-style groups in America are much larger than what we have in Lebanon."
Calling the US the “Great Satan”, he said it is “our main enemy, but we have hope in these areas.”
He went on to say that America's support for the Zionist regime will gradually decline, stressing that “it might not stop completely, but its diminishing is important.”
The University of Tehran professor further credited Iran for keeping the “Palestinian idea” alive. “We are watching the demonstrations,” he added.
Iran offers free tuition to US students expelled for participating in anti-Israel protest
After the Iranian professor called protesting US students "our people", one of the institutions at the Islamic State has come out to offer them free tuition.
Mohammad Moazzeni, the president of Shiraz University, which is situated in Fars' southern area, gave the scholarship offer. He appeared on a state-run television and talked about the recent wave of protests that have rocked American college campuses.
“Students and even professors who have been expelled or threatened with expulsion can continue their studies at Shiraz University and I think that other universities in Shiraz, as well as Fars Province, are also prepared,” Moazzeni said.
Who is Foad Izadi?
Before going back to Iran, Izadi earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Houston, and completed his PhD at Louisiana State University.
He completed a "research project examining the recent US public diplomacy objectives and methods in Iran" during his externship at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, according to Daily Mail.
He was honored with an award at Houston for his paper A Discourse Analysis of American Newspaper Editorials: The Case of Iran's Nuclear Program.
Izadi regularly shares pictures and videos of protests taking place at American universities. He has expressed his staunch support for the protesters, blasting police and the Biden administration.
After the US Congress passed a bill providing Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, he wrote in a post on April 20, “The child-killing Prime Minister of the Zionist regime: Financial support for Israel is defense of Western civilization.”
“It really is the same. The end of western civilization is the same crime that you see in Gaza.”
Iran's offer to students protesting at US universities coincides with the NYPD's large operation to arrest over 280 anti-Israel protestors at campuses of Columbia University and City of New York, which Mayor Eric Adams attributed to "outside agitators" seeking to radicalize students.
