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The University of Washington has removed a professor from his role as director of its Middle East Center after he criticized the illegal U.S.-Israeli war of choice on Iran and condemned Zionism, the settler-colonial movement for Jewish hegemony in Palestine.

Aria Fani, who will remain an associate professor at UW’s Jackson School of International Studies, told The Seattle Times on Friday that new interim widirector Daniel Hoffman told him last week he was fired from his leadership role at the Middle East Center.

Fani, who was born and raised in Iran and came to the U.S. when he was 18 years old, said he was hired for his research on Iran. However, he told the Times that he now feels “profoundly hurt and betrayed” by his removal.

“There’s a chilling effect on not just my academic freedom, but that of my colleagues; anyone who dares to speak out against the war and against aggression,” he said.

In a separate interview Friday with My Northwest, Fani said he was removed “for improper use” of the center’s listserv, an email application.

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“I sent out two memos about this atrocious war on Iran in which I offered historical analysis that’s lacking in the media,” Fani said. “I was told that my email made ‘certain constituents feel attacked.’ By certain constituents, I assume the university means Zionists who would like to keep bombing every Middle Eastern country and continue dehumanizing their people.”

Meet Dr. Aria Fani. He was just fired as the Director of University of Washington's Middle East center.He committed the egregious crime of establishing a lecture series to honor the memory of the former UW student, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, murdered by the US-Israeli axis of evil in… pic.twitter.com/dlyrvGLq8K— Zachary Foster (@_ZachFoster) April 2, 2026

Meet Dr. Aria Fani.........

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