Anti-Israel protesters who have invaded U.S. college campuses in recent weeks would support Iran in a conflict against America, according to a University of Tehran professor.
Demonstrations supporting Palestine in the war against Israel have appeared on many campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks.
"These [American students] are our people," said professor Foad Izadi, who, according to the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, earned his master's degree from the University of Houston.
"If tensions between America and Iran rise tomorrow or the day after, these are the people who will have to take to the streets to support Iran."
Izadi spoke during an Iranian television interview that was posted on X by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The professor said that the anti-Israel protests indicate Iran's influence in the U.S. is growing.
"Personally, I think that the potential to repeat in the U.S. what Iran did in Lebanon is much higher. Our Hezbollah-style groups in America are much larger than what we have in Lebanon," he said in a translation of the interview.
"America is the Great Satan and our main enemy, but we have hope in these areas."
Izadi added that the protests are "important" to decreasing U.S. support of Israel.
"Sooner or later, this kind of support for the Zionist regime by the American regime will diminish," he said. "It might not stop completely, but its diminishing is important. This is why the demonstrations [on U.S. campuses] are important."
Izadi encouraged "we in the Islamic Republic" to become more involved in keeping the demonstrations going.
"We are watching the demonstrations and like what we see, but it should not end with this," Izadi said. "If not for the Islamic Republic, the case of the Palestinian idea would have been closed years ago.
"The idea of resistance belongs to Iran, but on the operational level, when it comes to recruiting connections and building networks, the [Iranian] state has not been involved in a sufficient level."
External forces already may be playing a role in the demonstrations.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday that "outside agitators" involved in the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University are attempting "to radicalize young people" across the country.