EXCLUSIVE – Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called on his alma mater, Princeton University, to dismiss a former high-level Iranian regime official because he is allegedly making students feel unsafe amid recent outbreaks of antisemitism at the New Jersey university.

The ex-official for the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who is a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at the university, is under pressure on many fronts from congressional representatives, Princeton students and experts on antisemitism. 

“Mousavian is closely linked to the Iranian regime and to the regime’s campaigns of terrorism and murder. His presence at Princeton makes students feel justifiably afraid for their safety. Princeton’s decision to keep employing him shows they care less about their students, and more about providing a platform for pro-regime and anti-American propaganda. That kind of reckless institutional ideological bias is exactly why the Trump administration is reassessing federal funding for Princeton,” Cruz told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement.

An aerial shot of anti-Israel protesters at Princeton. (WTXF)

Gary Hughes, a spokesman for the University of Kent, told Fox News Digital, “Data protection principle also means that neither myself nor any other colleague across the University can disclose personal data about this or any other current or former student.” 

He said the university’s Freedom of Information (FOI) office can answer the request. The FOI office denied a request and later said after Fox News Digital appealed that, “We are currently conducting an internal review in relation to your request.” 

A British-Iranian man sought to obtain Mousavian’s Ph.D. in January, according to email correspondence obtained by Fox News Digital. Kent University’s Open Research team wrote in one email, “I am afraid we have no record of Mr. Seyed Hossein Mousavian’s thesis in the library catalogue.” Fox News Digital searches for Mousavian’s Ph.D. in American, British and German academic databases showed no results. 

The Swedish-Iranian author Iraj Mesdaghi told Fox News Digital that he sought to obtain Mousavian’s Ph.D. in 2013. The University of Kent declined to produce it. Mesdaghi wrote about the great lengths he went to in order to secure access to Mousavian’s alleged Ph.D. on his website, including contact with the FOI office. 

Shirley M. Tilghman, the former president of Princeton University when Mousavian was hired in 2009, declined to answer a press query about whether she vetted Mousavian and his alleged Ph.D. 

Fox News Digital press queries regarding Cruz’s comment to the Department of Education, the U.S. State Department and Leo Terrell, who heads the Trump administration’s task force on antisemitism, were not immediately answered.

Fox News Digital reporter Louis Casiano contributed to this report.