The ABC News affiliate WEAR-TV reported today that a prestigious public college in Iran is offering scholarships to American students who were expelled this week for their involvement in pro-Palestinian protests and encampments across in the United States.
Mohammad Moazzeni, the head of Shiraz University, reportedly said: “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 [to provide the conditions].”
We should buy their one-way tickets to Tehran. https://t.co/p2FBbfRAFG
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 3, 2024
U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) responded to Moazzeni’s offer by amplifying the announcement and suggested: “We should buy their one-way tickets to Tehran.” (A round-trip ticket to Tehran from New York today is listed on the United Airlines website at a cost $2499 for economy class, and more than $11,000 to fly business class.)
Fellow MAGA loyalists appreciate Gaetz’s idea. Conservative Florida radio talk show host David Pollack replied: “I’d forgive students loans for that!”
Note: The Iranian university system is strongly linked historically to the American university system, having been especially influenced by the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania, the alma mater of former President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk, and numerous other prominent business, scientific, and political figures.
Shiraz University is part of the larger Pahlavi University in Iran, whose modern history began in 1960 when the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, “invited the atomic physicist Gaylord P. Harnwell, president of the University of Pennsylvania” to examine Iran’s university system and advise the Iranian government on improving it. The result was a relationship between UPenn and Iran that saw UPenn guide the transformation of Pahlavi University into an American-style higher education institution.