A prominent think tank in Europe is investigating one of its staffers for his alleged ties to the Iranian government.
Jakob Hallgren, the executive director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), initially defended staffer Rouzbeh Parsi, who heads the institute’s Middle East and North Africa Program, after Parsi was implicated in the Islamic Republic’s influence operations last January.
However, UI announced an investigation into “the serious allegations“ against Parsi and possible “changes to UI’s procedures and regulations if the investigation concludes that such a need exists.“ The think tank’s investigation is expected to conclude in April.
News outlet Iran International reported that Parsi is allegedly linked to the “Iranian Experts Initiative,“ which is guided by Tehran. The network aimed to shape discourse and policy regarding Iran in Western academic circles.
The initiative was established by Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which recruited Western academics, usually second-generation Iranians, to promote Tehran’s interests. Parsi attended the initiative's inaugural meeting in Vienna, which was funded by the Iranian regime, and participated in talks with Iranian diplomats, including former Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif.
Parsi confirmed to a Swedish TV news program TV4 Nyheterna that he participated in the network but denied that the initiative is tied to the Iranian government.
“The fact that Parsi, along with other analysts and researchers, met with Iranian representatives during a period when the West was exploring the possibility of negotiating a nuclear energy agreement with Iran is neither unusual nor suspicious,“ UI’s director, Jakob Hallgren, stated in response to the controversies surrounding Parsi last January.
“At the time, Parsi was not employed by UI but was in this context conducting analyses on behalf of the British Foreign Office in this context. His role was to assess the feasibility of reaching a diplomatic agreement between Iran and the West on the nuclear energy program,“ he added. “Rouzbeh Parsi has every right to conduct independent analyses in his capacity as a researcher and analyst. UI’s assessment is that he does exactly that and operates free from external influence.“
The following month, the UI conducted an investigation into Parsi’s alleged ties to the Iranian government. Parsi remains at UI, and the think tank has received approximately 470 million SEK (or $43.7 million) in funding from the Swedish government.
Under his leadership, the UI’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program published works such as “Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t? Strategic Implications of Designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Terrorist Organisation,“ which argued that designating the IRGC as a terrorist group “could trigger more brazen and daring action by Iran and its allies.“
His influence extends beyond UI, and Parsi has presented policy recommendations to the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs that support diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic.
In addition, he has contributed to the European Union Institute for Security Studies, a think tank that informs European Union defense and foreign policy, often softening Iran’s image. He argued that an Iranian nuclear bomb “will not pose an existential threat to the United States“ and that “the Iranian regime is not half as mad as it is often portrayed.“
Swedish Member of Parliament (MP) Nima Gholam Ali Pour welcomed the news of the investigation into Parsi’s ties with the Iranian regime and expressed further concern about the misuse of state funds to promote Tehran’s interests.
“Such a person cannot and should not work for an organization funded by the Swedish state,“ Pour said.
“This should have been looked into a long time ago...Rouzbeh Parsi has long been persona non grata among the Iranian opposition. The results of the investigation will determine both how much credibility UI has and, thus, whether the Swedish government should continue to fund such an organization,“ he added.
