US university expels daughter of top Iranian official
Emory University has dismissed Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, the daughter of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council
ATLANTA (MNTV) — Emory University has dismissed Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, the daughter of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the Atlanta-based university confirmed, following growing political pressure and protests over her employment.
“A physician who is the daughter of a senior Iranian government official is no longer an employee of Emory,” the university’s Winship Cancer Institute said in a statement to Iran International. Citing personnel policy, Emory declined to provide further details.
The move follows U.S. Treasury sanctions imposed last week on Ali Larijani over Iran’s response to nationwide protests. He was sanctioned alongside other officials described by Washington as architects of the crackdown on protests in Iran earlier this month.
Emory did not say whether Ardeshir Larijani’s dismissal was linked to the sanctions, but said employees are hired “in full compliance with state and federal laws and other applicable requirements.”
Ardeshir Larijani served as an assistant professor in hematology and medical oncology at Emory’s medical school. Her university biography, which described her research as focused on immune resistance mechanisms in lung cancer, was removed following her dismissal.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia had earlier called for her removal and for the revocation of her Georgia medical license. In letters to Emory and the Georgia Composite Medical Board, Carter argued that her father had “publicly advocated violence against Americans and U.S. allies” and said her continued role in patient care was unacceptable.
“Physicians are entrusted with intimate access to patients, sensitive personal information, and critical medical decision-making,” Carter wrote, adding that close family ties to a senior Iranian security official could undermine patient trust, institutional integrity and national security.
The dismissal came days after a protest by Iranian activists outside the Winship Cancer Institute, where demonstrators demanded her removal over her father’s role in the crackdown on protesters in Iran.
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