January 11, 2020 | 1:10pm | Updated January 11, 2020 | 5:45pm
Students at Iran’s Islamic Azad University are being offered a novel new career choice — suicide terrorist.
Leaflets are being distributed at the influential school urging students to sign up for Jihad missions against the United States and Israel to avenge the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
“Registration for volunteers to commit a suicide attack against the United States and Israel,” it blares. “Hard revenge is underway for those criminals who killed Qassem Soleimani.”
The flyer, claiming to quote the words of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, carries additional messages of encouragement, including “kill all infidels.”
Anyone looking to volunteer for the mission is asked to leave their first and last name, birth certificate number, education level, current occupation, phone number and fill in an area marked “tell us about your talents.”
News of the jihadist search was reported by Iranian media. The flyer was republished in full on the website of the Iranian news agency Etedaal, and other Iranian news sources.
A translation of the call to action from Farsi was provided to The Post by escaped Iranian dissident Amir-Abbas Fakhravar. Fakhravar is a longtime pro-Democracy activist currently serving as a chairman of the National Iranian Congress, a quasi-government in exile currently operated out of Washington D.C. He is also an adjunct professor in the Texas state university system.
Media reports in Iran said the forms were being handed out by student cells of Basij, the militia arm of the Iranian revolutionary guard.
“This office is kind of like the gestapo for the regime. They are not fully on the payroll of the regime, but the regime pays them for their projects. When there is a protest somewhere, they are going to crack down on the people and then they get money,” Fakhravar told The Post.
“When I was in medical school in Iran, I had a huge fight with the Basij office. I was ultimately charged with insulting the Supreme Leader,” he said. “For decades they have been recruiting for terrorist attacks for this type of things.”
The Basij commander, Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani (no relation to Qassem) was appointed to his post directly by Ayatollah Khamenei, tying the recruitment drives directly to the top leadership of the Iranian regime.