Iran’s ambassador to Georgia has criticized a Hudson Institute report on growing Iranian influence in Georgia and appeared to endorse an investigation against one of its Georgian co-authors, Giorgi Kandelaki.
Seyed Ali Mojani also dismissed the report’s allegations concerning Al-Mustafa International University, saying that Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze had already answered questions about the institution’s presence in Georgia.
The Hudson Institute report says Iran has been able to build a significant influence infrastructure in Georgia centered around US-sanctioned Al Mustafa University and other regime affiliated organizations, such as the Ahl Al Bayt World Assembly which are widely regarded as IRGC front organizations.
The ambassador also attacked the report’s authors and American think tanks more broadly, claiming that Hudson and other U.S. analytical centers are interested in extracting a “political tribute” from Georgia.
He singled out one of the report’s co-authors, Luke Coffey, describing him as a former military intelligence officer with no major research record on the Caucasus or Georgia.
“It is alarming, to some extent, that America is trying to work on Caucasus topics through former or current representatives of its military intelligence service,” Mojani said. “At one point they worked on Afghanistan and gave instructions. Now they have changed location and switched to Georgia and the Caucasus. What result did their analysis bring to Afghanistan?”
Mojani also referred to Kandelaki and former Georgian defense minister Tina Khidasheli, saying that cases had been opened against them.
The Hudson report says religious and educational institutions such as branches of the Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly and the U.S.-sanctioned Al-Mustafa International University operate openly in Georgia and promote religious doctrine aligned with Tehran.
“They also create clerical networks loyal to Iran and provide ideological training presented as religious education,” the report says.
Mojani called the allegations about Al-Mustafa “rumors.” He said Al-Mustafa is one of Iran’s largest theological institutions and teaches both Iranian and foreign students, offering around 100 subjects, not only theology.
“As for Al-Mustafa’s presence in Georgia, the rumors that exist on this topic were answered by Irakli Kobakhidze,” the Iranian ambassador said.
Mojani rejected the findings and argued that the growth in Iranian-registered companies in Georgia is linked to residency rules rather than malign activity. He said many Iranian citizens establish companies in Georgia in order to meet legal requirements for obtaining residence permits.
Following the report’s publication, the Georgian State Security Service opened a criminal case of “sabotage” with Kandelaki interrogated alongside Tina Khidasheli, chair of Civic Idea. Georgian Dream PM Kobakhidze called Kandelaki a “traitor” and implied “legal consequences” while downplaying that allegations on Al Mustafa University’s malign influence, stressing that it does not have formal authorization.
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