Interviewer: A reporter of the Palestinian Wafa News Agency
Question: [Our leader, Imam, without any doubt, your long life has been replete with various experiences and has had its ups and downs, causing you to deal with the problems from a strong position and express your demands and opinions very clearly. Moreover, millions of the Iranian people enjoy your leadership in their struggle. May I request you to explain various stages of these historic experiences and their impacts, which have become embodied in your present line of struggle?]
Answer: Before I explain the experiences of the era I have personally put behind, it is necessary to explain one point, that is, the current movement of the Iranian nation as I have frequently said is a hundred percent Islamic and its strategy, objectives and paths stem from Islam. If the Iranian nation is not ready to compromise with the Shah, an oppressor criminal, it is because Islam does no allow an oppressor to rule over the people. The Iranian nation is opposed to the monarchical system, for it is an imposed regime that has never been based on the people's votes and in this regard it is basically opposed to the determination and will of the nation. It does not consider itself duty-bound to comply with the objectives and demands of the people and such a regime is wrong (illegitimate) and Islam considers obedience to such a regime unlawful, making struggle against it obligatory. This struggle started from the lowest level of" prohibiting the evil," that is, expression of hatred of oppression and inequity, and will continue through war and armed struggle until oppression and oppressors are eliminated and the just Islamic government is established. If the people of Iran are fighting against the aliens, they are taking orders from Islam, for the Muslims are not allowed to permit the non-Muslims to interfere in their affairs to dominate their destiny. It is obligatory to launch Islamic struggle against the dominator to gain the independence of their society. Regarding my personal experiences, we observed that Rida Khan, who was not at all competent to rule, was forcefully imposed on the Iranian nation by the aliens quite contrary to the people's will. With the ascension of Rida Khan to power, the three following principles were trampled upon: first, the principle of justice of the Islamic ruler; second, the principle of the freedom of the Muslims in voting for their ruler and right to self-determination; and third, the principle of the independence of the Islamic country from any interference by the aliens and from their domination over the fate of the Muslims. If in those days attempts had been made to revive these three principles, the situation would not have been as such today. We have observed what crimes Rida Khan committed against the Islamic country and the Muslim nation. After Rida Khan, his son came to power and contrary to the above-said three principles, took the helm. He did not have any power at that time either. Therefore, he complied with the little demands of the people his father had neglected, but after he established himself, he committed such crimes that almost equaled those committed by his father. When he was weakened twenty five years ago and fled the country, «1» if the opponents had abided by these three principles and put an end to the Shah's rule, the situation would have been different today. We observed that when the Shah established himself and brought the situation under his control, throughout the past twenty-five years and particularly during the past fifteen years, he has committed such crimes that has surpassed those of the Mongols and Genghis; words fail to express the dimensions of his crimes. Therefore, at this juncture, the Iranian nation has decided to forward its movement with reliance on Islam and with the inspiration of the progressive Islamic principles and rebuild its society on the basis of the Islamic rules and regulations. The Iranian nation has also decided not to compromise and not to accept any middle way and other such figments.
Q: [Palestine was usurped in 1948 and with the cooperation of the great colonial governments, the Zionist dream was realized. What was the impact of this tragedy on the Iranian nation at that time? What was the reaction?]
A: Truly, it should be said that the usurpation of Palestine by Israel and with the cooperation of great colonial governments was a tragedy for the entire Muslims and it was a painful tragedy for the Iranian Muslims. It should be said that the real aggressors were the colonial powers of the time that hatched this plot against the Muslims in the region. The superpowers have inflicted numerous blows on the Islamic countries and this too was one of the great cataclysms, but created by the hands of the Zionists.
The Iranian nation- not the Shah and his government- considered the loss of Palestine tantamount to the dismemberment of a part of their body. This is why, despite the cooperation of the Shah, and his stooge governments, with Israel, the Iranian nation has always offered their deepest, purest sympathies with the Palestinian combatants. For more than fifteen years I have been frequently protesting against the Shah and his government's cooperation with Israel. A great number of the Iranians, clergy and non-clergy, have been imprisoned and tortured due to their protest against the Israeli aggressions. As a religious duty, we have always defended the Palestinians- to the extent possible- and God willing will always discharge this divine duty.
Q: [We should bear in mind that the experience of Musaddiq proved that we should all study the reasons for his defeat to show various political groups that they must change their method of struggle. May I request you to explain the lessons you have taken from this experience, the lessons that have assisted you to build confidence and establish strong ties with the nation?]
A: I have always opposed peaceful means; under no circumstance can and should the Shah reign.
Q: [As you know, the Palestinian revolution began in January 1965 and after the 1967 defeat, it gained power and also it spread further. Does the news of the revolution reach the Iranian nation? How?]
A: Yes, its news reaches the Iranian nation and through the same means that they reach other countries. Of course, the Iranian regime was trying- and has always tried- to report the news of war of the Muslims against the infidels in favor of the latter and has always introduced the Arabs as a handful of people who do not properly understand the problems. The regime is one of the greatest supporters of Israel. The Iranian radio and other mass media, either the state-run ones or those working under the pressure of the regime, used to report in favor of Israel, but from the very beginning we opposed all those plans and oppose them now as well.
Q: [The Shah announced in the 1960 s what came to be known as" the White Revolution" «2» for the land reforms and social changes. May you kindly explain the truth of this show? Particularly, given the fact that nowadays some mass media like Paris Match claim that one of the reasons for the revolution of the religious figures is their prejudice against the Shah for confiscating their lands and for the implementation of the principles of the White Revolution?]
A: After years of contemplation and consultation with foreign supporters, the Shah prepared a plan to plunder Iran in his own and his master's interests and also in his immature imagination, he thought that he could eliminate the domestic grounds of a revolution against himself. In order to justify his anti-national plans, first he forwarded the issue of the land reforms with the hope of deceiving the disinherited, poor Iranian peasants by promising them to become landlords and hence mobilizing them against his opponents. Of course the peak of the Shah's tragic plans for the Iranian nation was the Land Reforms. But they added the freedom of women to this peak of the so-called revolution and each component of the so-called revolution played a part in this absurd show. But what was the result? The result was that the Iranian peasant, who was poor, deprived and caught in the clutch of the great landlords, who belonged to the ruling system, had to migrate to the cities for a loaf of bread. The Shah immediately took advantage of this cheap labor market and under the pretext of industrializing the country, paved the way for the investment of foreign and domestic investors in industrial companies. Also we observe today that the very great landlords, who are all associates and mercenaries of the regime, have appeared as great owners of the factories. If yesterday the Iranian peasant was flogged for violating the orders of the landlords, today, the Iranian worker, under the pressure of the factory owners is shot by the mercenaries of the regime for seeking his rights. In some villages, where the rural people declined to migrate, since they had quality farmlands, they were displaced from their homes and their lands were confiscated by the Shah's court and the agents of the court. The Shah did not launch the Land Reforms for the sake of the Iranian nation, rather the so-called Land Reforms were launched by the United States and other colonial governments, for the result of the Shah's Land Reforms was that today more than ninety percent of the Iranian foodstuff is imported from abroad, particularly from the United States. However, the destructive results of the Shah's Land Reforms are not confined to this problem. The mercenaries of the Shah have said that the religious `ulama' have risen up against the Shah's Land Reforms because he had confiscated their lands. Which lands? Which one of the Iranian religious scholars has been an Iranian landlord? The lifestyle of the religious scholars is simple and at the level of the ordinary people. Do they need land ownership? All the lies of the Shah and his supporters have been exposed for the people. The aspects of the Shah's treacheries in the economic fields are not confined to these issues. The Shah speaks of the women's emancipation; the emancipation of which women? Today in Iran, the honorable women, who demand their humane rights and constitute the majority of the Iranian women, want the collapse of the Shah and all of them know that in Shah's logic the emancipation of woman means her decline from her humane position and reducing her to the level of a tool. Freedom of women in the Shah's logic means filling the prisons with the women who are not ready to surrender to the royal moral decadence.
Q: [Nowadays one of the slogans the Iranian people raise in the streets of the Iranian cities, and you also raise is that those who try to compromise are traitors. Would you please explain the meaning of this slogan and the consequences of a compromise?]
A: Compromise with the Shah means compromise with a treacherous oppressor and clearly compromise with such a person is betrayal of the Iranian nation and Iran. I have already explained why I do not accept the middle way solutions.
Q: [Is it possible to talk about the nature of your relations with the Palestinian resistance? It is known that there are open relations between the Shah and Israel in various fields, particularly the Shah assists Israel by supplying large amounts of oil to it. I request you to explain the nature of Iran-Israel relations after the Shah.]
A: As I mentioned earlier, on the basis of our abilities and available facilities, we support the Palestinian brothers in their attempts to put an end to the Israeli aggression and to liberate their Islamic territories from the clutches of the usurper Israel. We will never extend the slightest support to Israel.
Q: [Would you please explain the broad outlines of the Islamic Republic and its relations with the two great powers?]
A: The Islamic Republic means that the Islamic law would constitute the laws of the country, but the form of the government will be a republic, that is, it will be based on the people's votes. Our relations with all the countries
will be on the basis of mutual respect, that is, neither we will oppress them nor will we allow them to oppress us.