BRIEF: Iran lists Stanford as ‘subversive’

Jan. 6, 2010, 12:00 a.m.

Stanford University has been listed as a “subversive” international organization by the government in Iran, according to news reports.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry issued a list of 60 international organizations that it accuses of inciting last summer’s protests in the post-election season. Stanford joins Yale University and think tanks such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that have also been accused of being part of a “soft war” waged against Iran.

Many of the people arrested in the post-election crackdown were accused of being involved in a “soft coup” against the Iranian clerical establishment. The latest additions appear to indicate that Iran is trying to isolate critics inside Iran by preventing them from having any contact with the outside world.

A number of other institutions that try to promote democracy abroad, including the Soros Foundation, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Foundation for Democracy in Iran and the Ford Foundation, were also included on the list.



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