Speech [The overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty as a religious duty and the people's responsibility during this period]

Even so, the situation is satisfactory for it has filled him (the Shah) with despair, he has abandoned all hope for his position and he admits this. Therefore, he should despair. Now, because of his desperate situation, he is taking the wealth of the people out of the country. It is said that he has sent the crown jewels abroad by plane, and according to some of the gentlemen, he has sold a number of the buildings he put up on that island, which he created at great expense for obscene activities, to the oil company, and he has transferred the money received thereby abroad. So on the one hand his desperation has driven him to take the nation's wealth, and on the other to fall upon the people, massacring them without mercy.

The Iranian nation should delay no longer; he should be removed from power immediately. If he is given a respite, it will prove to be disastrous for our nation. At times we hear suggestions from some people, some of the respected gentlemen, who do not pay enough attention to matters, to the effect that it is a good idea that this person (the Shah) goes, but the fundamentals of the regime be kept. Some even openly say that he should be retained as monarch and should reign but not govern, as specified in the constitutional law for the duties of a king. They say that we should abide by the Constitution and be satisfied with this for now, moving forward step by step. This is one of the mistakes that the gentlemen make; those whose intentions are bad, well, they harbor ill intent; that is, they want to preserve this regime and then later do whatever they please. Those whose intentions are good, and who are not seeking a continuation of this oppression, are simply mistaken in believing that the Shah should remain.

This man has been the perpetrator of crimes now for over thirty years; over the past year alone, numerous people have been killed on his orders. After all this killing, after handing over all our resources, our oil, our land, our forests, to others, after exhausting our oil reserves and destroying our agriculture to the extent that in a few years time this nation will have no reserves, nothing, can the Iranian nation now be expected to turn round and tell him:" Well sir, you remain seated on your throne and continue with your corruption but have nothing to do with the government!?" Can this nation which has sacrificed so many lives now accept this man as their ruler, saying simply:" Sorry! You can reign over us, but there is no need for you to be the governing power also!?"

Which Muslim could accept such a thing from us? Which just person would accept this bloodthirsty man as ruler after all the years of crimes he has committed against this nation, after the years of betrayal? He has killed the people's children, their young sons and daughters, their infants. He was the one giving the orders on Khordad 15 and it is said that fifteen thousand people were killed on that day upon his orders. No one dares kill the people on such a scale without first receiving the command from him, it is impossible. Not even once has he denied that he was responsible or said that it was his agents who carried out the killings. It is quiet obvious. For a lifetime this man has committed crimes against this nation and betrayed it, he has shed the blood of the country's children and yet now are we expected to say:" Well, in order to calm the situation let him reign, let him remain, the others will be the servants!?" Which nation could agree to such a thing? Which person who believes in God and Islam could agree to this and put such a plan into action? Only he who has mistaken ideas could do this, and to him we say correct your notions.

Furthermore, these gentlemen should realize that were this man given a respite today, were the nation to tell him to be the king, but not to govern, he would accept it" for now." He himself has said in the Parliament that he accepts the restrictions placed upon him by the law. However, he just wants to deceive you with this; he wants to deceive the people so that they will keep quiet; he wants to stop this movement which has started now and silence the calls for his removal and the cries of" death to this monarchy." Once this movement has been stopped, there is no way that it can be started again to the same degree. If this uprising, this movement, which has been brought to this stage through numerous efforts, loses its momentum, if the people return to going about their daily affairs, then it will be impossible to start again; and this man will massacre the people and his opponents on a larger scale than he is doing now.

Which person, which logic, would accept that now that we have forced an obstinate enemy of a nation to yield, now when he is getting ready to leave the country, we should give him a respite and take this matter step by step?! Now is the time to deal with this matter, we should extirpate the roots of this regime now. Moreover, this is something, which we all have to do together; all classes of the nation should take part in this. If someone does not agree with us in this matter, then he either has bad intentions, is ignorant of the facts, or has been ill advised. He who is ill-advised should be put right and he who harbors malicious intent should be castigated and told to stop. It is tantamount to treason against this nation which has sacrificed lives to say that for now we will take our first step, which is for him to reign or for him to go and his wife Farah to become the ruler of our country and a Regency Council to be formed, then later we will take our second step saying" No, he must now go too." Gentlemen, he must be removed from power now! To allow anything else would be a mistake. This nation, which has come so far, should make the move and just as now the people are moving forward like a flood and destroying the pillars of this regime one by one, so they should continue until all the pillars have been destroyed and this traitor leaves. This is what we are aiming for right now. We say that all those hands which hold sway over our country and which are taking our resources by force should be severed. These hands should be severed and removed from this country. The country belongs to us and we want to administer it ourselves. We do not want American advisers here; we do not want someone to take our gas and someone else our oil, our pasturelands and our forests. What has this person left for our country?

This is what we are calling for, and gentlemen, this that we call for is not a right which is ours to forgo, this right is a divine right, this command is God's command, the matter is one of a divine religious duty which no one can or should oppose. Someone who is the epitome of oppression must be removed. The roots of his regime must be eradicated. He is annihilating the Muslims of Iran; he must be removed so that the people can breathe a little easier. For more than fifty years, the people have been repressed and deprived of all kinds of freedoms. For fifty years, whether at the time of that father or this son, the people have been suppressed; they have sacrificed their children; and now [is the time] when they have reached this stage and have risen up; now that the people of Iran have courageously risen up; now even as you and I sit here, Iran is in a state of turmoil. We have heard from Qum that gunfire can be heard and such and such has been done today, Hamedan is in a state of rebellion, there are uprisings around Kerman «1» and there is always something happening in Tehran. Now that the people are ready and have brought the uprising to this stage; now that they are ready to make all kinds of sacrifices for Islam and their nation, should we turn around and say:" This is enough for the time being, we'll do that later! We'll take the first step now which is to tell this man to reign but not rule!" What is this that you are telling us to say? Which nation could accept such a thing? No, he must go; this dynasty must be destroyed; Iran does not want this dynasty; neither the seven-year-old child nor the eighty-year-old man wants this dynasty.

Now is the time for us all to join hands together. You who are abroad should do everything within your power to help the country and the people of your country. They are giving their blood; you should give your pen. You should do whatever it is within your power to do, demonstrate, deliver speeches to the people of these countries and tell them what is happening in Iran, what calamities have befallen the Iranian people so that, God willing, other nations will awaken also. We have been informed that the French nation has now accepted that this man must go. They are right, but still we must continue to tell them the facts for maybe many people here do not know what the poor people of Iran are saying because of the propaganda that they have been exposed to for years. The idea is disseminated that the Iranian people have been given freedom, and Carter says that they are opposing the Shah because they have been given a quick freedom! What kind of foolish talk is this? Are the people now shouting," Give us freedom" because they have been given freedom? Are they shouting because he is taking the country toward progress and the people do not want their country to progress!?

He has taken the country to the brink of destruction and if, God forbid, this man should remain, then in a few years' time you will have neither oil- because they have opened the pipes and it is gushing out- nor agriculture; and what is left when there is no oil or agriculture? What will we have left? Nothing! If this person remains in power for a few more years, he will destroy us, he will destroy the nation.

Now is the time for us all to join hands together and sever this root, and after that sever all the other roots of this regime too. The country is ours and we have something to say which is right and just and that is that we ourselves want to administer our own country. We have people to administer it, we have suitable men, we have Muslim men, we have educated people: There are so many in Europe and America who cannot return to their country for fear of being harassed, imprisoned or executed, and those things are real but once he has gone they will return to their country there to live and administer it.

Some say if he goes, the communists will take over! This is a mistaken notion. The communists are not involved in this matter; there are no communists in Iran. There may be a few young people who have been misled and sometimes say something- that is if they are not from SAVAK or have been incited by SAVAK- but they are insignificant, they will disappear, they are not going to take over the country if he leaves Will a country with a population of thirty million people who have risen the flag of Islam and are shouting" Islam, Islam," become communist? These people will shut the communists up! Is it possible for this country to become communist? This is just the Shah's propaganda. He wants to preserve his rule for a while longer so he says," If I leave, Iran will become a communist country." He is worse than the communists are!

You all, we all, are duty bound to help our friends in Iran. Those of us abroad now can help by propagating their cause; each of you should be a speaker for the people. When you go to your schools speak to some of those there with you, tell them the facts, tell them what is really happening in your country and what the people want, tell them what this man (the Shah) has done. You are all informed about the situation in our country now, so you know what to tell them. May God grant you success and protect you. God willing May He protect you. Make ready yourselves for your country. God willing, you will all return to it together and your country will be yours.(Salawat from the audience).