The Baskerville Institute, based in Utah, has faced criticism for holding a secretive conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, attended by individuals with ties to the Iranian government. The conference, titled “Building Bridges in a Divided World: Diplomacy of the Heart through Dialogue and Understanding,” was not publicly advertised.
During the event, an Iranian participant, Ahmad Shakernejad, who is the executive director of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy, praised Qassem Soleimani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Soleimani was the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and according to the US government, was responsible for the deaths of over 600 American military personnel.
Another Iranian participant, Zahra Kamali Dehghan, president of the Mehrasa organization, promoted Khamenei’s directives against Israel. Critics, including human rights activists, argue that hosting these pro-Tehran figures betrays the Baskerville Institute’s legacy of supporting democratic ideals, as the institute is dedicated to the memory of Howard Baskerville, who died supporting Iran’s Constitutional Revolution in 1909. They accuse the institute of mirroring the political direction of organizations that promote engagement with the Islamic Republic’s rulers.
The executive director of the Baskerville Institute, Bahman Baktiari, defended the event as an “interfaith conference” with “no political agenda,” but did not respond to questions regarding his view on Soleimani or whether the conference had US State Department approval. The article also notes that Baktiari was dismissed from the University of Utah in 2011 for a “pattern of plagiarism”.
