Former Iran defense ministry advisor resurfaces after Egypt abduction
Amir Mousawi, a former Iranian diplomat and defense ministry adviser whose abduction in Egypt had earlier been confirmed by Tehran, wrote on X that he has returned to Iraq.
Amir Mousawi, a former Iranian diplomat and defense ministry adviser whose abduction in Egypt had earlier been confirmed by Tehran, wrote on X that he has returned to Iraq.
Earlier in the day, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei confirmed that Mousawi had entered Egypt on an Iraqi passport and was abducted there.
“We heard this morning about the disappearance of Mr. Amir Mousawi in Egypt. He is not currently a diplomat. He had previously served as a cultural attaché," Baghaei told reporters in Tehran.
On Monday Mousawi’s account on X posted a message in Arabic saying "Mr. Amir Mousawi has gone missing at Egypt airport after arriving on an official invitation! His disappearance raises major questions about his safety, and there are urgent demands to reveal the truth immediately.”
The post was addressed to Egypt’s prime minister, parliament speaker and judiciary chief.
Iranian news website Didban Iran cited suggestions in regional media that he may have been abducted by agents of Israel’s Mossad in Cairo.
Mousawi -- also spelled Mousavi -- has previously been active as a Middle East analyst on Iranian state-linked channels including Al-Alam and Al-Mayadeen, as well as on Qatar’s Al Jazeera, where he frequently expressed anti-Israeli views.
He also headed the Islamic Republic’s Center for Strategic and International Studies and served as an adviser to Iran’s defense ministry.
He left Algeria in 2018 after four years as Iran’s cultural attaché there.
The Al-Monitor news site reported that Mousawi faced accusations of spreading Shi’ite ideology on behalf of Tehran. Algerian commentators and political activists had demanded his expulsion, describing his activities as “dangerous and suspicious.”
In 2017, he sparked controversy in Algeria with remarks against Anissa al-Mansali, the widow of former Algerian president Houari Boumédiène. On Facebook, Mousawi criticized her comments on Iran, saying she wished for the fall of the Islamic Republic. The post drew backlash from Algerians who rallied in support of al-Mansali.
Mousawi also drew attention last month, after telling an Iraqi outlet that Iran could build nuclear weapons within “a few hours,” saying the country had sufficient enriched uranium and infrastructure to produce up to “24 nuclear bombs.”
“Before the war, most trips we handled were touristic," an immigration police officer at Tehran’s Khomeini airport told Iran International on condition of anonymity.
Since the 12-day war in June, "departures have multiplied, and many who left have not returned after a month or two — a clear sign they have decided not to come back."
The officer said it is no longer just the young. Middle-aged and even elderly people are also leaving to shield themselves from the war’s direct and indirect threats.
Pejman, 46, a freelance remote designer, said he had recently rebuilt a life in Tehran after two years in Tbilisi, Georgia, earning $3,000 a month, renting a large apartment and buying nice furniture and a car before the Israeli war.
“This war forced me to leave Tehran and ask my in-laws to sell everything and send me the proceeds,” he said. “I cannot return because the authorities may arrest me for working with companies abroad.”
He cited a widening dragnet involving arrests and executions for his fears.
Iran has arrested over 20,000 people after the war with Israel, mostly on charges of cooperating with hostile countries or spying for Israel, according to judiciary officials.
“They don't care if you are a lawful freelancer with no political ties. One of my friends was arrested and accused of espionage. They told him, ‘You are not allowed to work with US-based companies.’”
Pejman’s wife recounted a hurried liquidation of life as they knew it and flight.
“We sold our car, we sold our household goods, we sold everything. There was no way out,” she said. “With every ring of the doorbell we trembled, thinking agents had come to arrest my husband.”
The family now waits in Turkey, seeking passage to Germany.
Work strangled by outages and a broken internet
Behrouz, 51, an online interpreter in Tehran, said daily electricity blackouts and patchy internet have gutted his income for UK- and US-based language firms.
“Six months ago I could interpret five to six hours a day for migrants and patients in hospitals, courts and social services abroad,” he said. “Daily power cuts reduced that to three or four hours. Since the war, internet restrictions have piled on the outages, and I barely manage one or two hours in long sittings.”
He and his family are preparing to sell their apartment to fund an exit. “I have to go somewhere safe with stable internet,” he said. “Most of the companies I work for are US-based, and I could be accused of cooperating with what they call hostile states.”
His wife outlined a reluctant plan. “We will go to a visa-free country like Turkey, Armenia, or even Qatar, and then file a case to move somewhere safe,” she said. “This is not the migration we wanted. This government forced us.”
She contrasted local wages with the risk of remote work. “They pay $200 to $300 a month here, and when my husband finally secured a remote job that pays ten times more, the clerics would not let us live,” she said.
“They restrict the internet because they fear being overthrown. They fear everyone and everything, and they sacrifice people to stay in power.”
From airport counters to flats cleared out under duress, interviewees described a decisive break rather than seasonal travel. For Pejman’s family, the fear is arrest; for Behrouz’s, a livelihood stifled by outages and a failing network.
The shock of the 12-day war has rippled far beyond the front, turning departures into open-ended exits — homes sold, schools missed, savings converted into tickets — and leaving behind a grim future that many no longer dare to reclaim.
Esmaeilion, a human rights activist and member of the board of the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, said demonstrations will be held simultaneously in more than 20 cities across the globe.
In a video posted on X, he confirmed he would join a Toronto rally on September 14, marking the third anniversary of the 2022 protests that erupted nationwide following the death of Mahsa Amini.
He said similar gatherings were being organized in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Nuremberg, Geneva, Gothenburg, London, Barcelona, Turku, Ghent, Ottawa, Montreal, Houston, San Francisco, Sydney, Wellington and Christchurch. Events are scheduled between September 13 and 16.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was arrested by Iran’s morality police on September 13, 2022, for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab law. She collapsed in custody and died two days later, igniting months of nationwide unrest that rights groups say left at least 551 people dead, including dozens of women and children.
In his video, Esmaeilion said he would also attend a marathon in Toronto in memory of political prisoners and victims of executions, naming Sharifeh Mohammadi, Varisheh Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi among those he wished to honor.
He also expressed solidarity with Kurdish teachers dismissed or exiled in recent months, prisoners on hunger strike, and Mehran Bahramian, who was executed earlier in the month.
Last year, the second anniversary of Amini’s death saw protests from Melbourne and Tokyo to European capitals, with diaspora groups chanting Woman, Life, Freedom and calling for international sanctions on Iran’s leadership. The Los Angeles City Council renamed an intersection in the city’s Iranian district to mark the anniversary.
Rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have said Iran’s crackdown on the protests amounted to crimes against humanity. A UN fact-finding mission said widespread and systemic repression, particularly against women and girls, has continued since 2022.
Esmaeilion, whose wife and daughter were killed when Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane in 2020, has become a prominent voice among the Iranian diaspora.
He urged Iranians abroad to use the anniversary to amplify calls for justice and to ensure, he said, that “the world does not forget.”
