Emory University has dismissed Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, daughter of the US-sanctioned security chief of the Islamic Republic, the university confirmed to Iran International on Saturday, following mounting public pressure for her removal.
“A physician who is the daughter of a senior Iranian government official is no longer an employee of Emory," the Winship Cancer Institute said in response to an inquiry. The university added, “Because this is a personnel matter, we are unable to provide additional information."
The dismissal comes days after the US Treasury sanctioned Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accusing him of “coordinating" the regime’s response to nationwide protests on behalf of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and publicly urging security forces to use force against peaceful demonstrators.
He was sanctioned alongside other alleged “architects" of what the US described as the deadliest protest crackdown in Iran’s history.
Emory did not say whether the sanctions were connected to the decision but noted that its “employees are hired in full compliance with state and federal laws and other applicable requirements."
Ardeshir-Larijani served as an assistant professor in Emory’s hematology and medical oncology department, where her research focused on “new target discovery and defining an immune resistance mechanism in lung cancer." Her biography page was removed from the university website following her dismissal, according to Iran International.
Earlier this week, US Representative Buddy Carter of Georgia called for her removal and the revocation of her medical license. In a letter to Emory and the Georgia Composite Medical Board, Carter claimed Ali Larijani had “recently and publicly advocated violence against Americans and US allies" and argued that his daughter’s continued role treating patients in the United States was unacceptable.
Her dismissal followed a protest outside the Winship Cancer Institute, where Iranian demonstrators demanded her removal over her father’s role in the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters.
Larijani was appointed this past August as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. A former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he previously served as SNSC secretary from 2005 to 2007, and later as speaker of Iran’s parliament from 2008 until 2020.
Larijani, like many other senior Iranian officials, has verbally attacked Israel in the past.
In 2017, he described Israel as “aggressive and racist" and said it will always remain a source of threat to the nations in the Middle East and humanity in general.
He has in the past referred to Israel as a “cancer" and once boasted of the fact that Iran provided Hamas with the technology it has used to rain down rockets on Israel from Gaza.
In April, two months before Israel and the US attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, Larijani warned that Iran would be forced to develop a nuclear bomb if it is attacked by either country.