Office for Strengthening Unity
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Office for Strengthening Unity
دفتر تحکیم وحدت |
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| Headquarters | Tehran, Iran |
| Ideology | Reformism |
| Political position | Left wing |
| Religion | Islam |
| National affiliation | Council for coordinating the Reforms Front |
| International affiliation | None |
| Other affiliation |
Coalition of Imam's Line groups Coalition of the Oppressed and Deprived |
The Office for Strengthening Unity (also Office for Consolidating Unity, Persian: دفتر تحکیم وحدت, translit. Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat), is an Iranian student organization created in 1979, and has been described as "the country's most well-known student organization," and "Iran's leading prodemocracy student group". Founded in 1979 as a conservative Islamist organization to combat leftist, more secular, student groups, the OSU has evolved to support democracy and reform in Iran and thus is now in opposition to the political heirs of its founders.
Originally known as the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries, (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat-e Hozeh va Daneshgah), according to Iranfocus.com, the OSU was set up by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, at a time when Beheshti was Iranian Supreme Ruler Ruhallah Khomeini’s top confidant and a key figure in the clerical leadership. Beheshti wanted the OSU to organise Islamist students to counter the influence of the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) among university students.
The OSU played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Members of the OSU central council, who included Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well as Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Kadivar, Mohsen Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi, were regularly received by the Ayatollah Khomeini himself. (One of the first political offices held by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was as representative of students at his university, Elm-o Sanaat, at the OSU in 1979.)
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