Interviewer: A reporter of the British Financial Times
Question: [The Western world does not have a proper knowledge of the Islamic government. Would you please briefly explain the outlines of an Islamic government?]
Answer: The Islamic government is a system based on the Islamic laws. Complete independence is observed in an Islamic government. We want an Islamic Republic. The republican aspect constitutes the form and type of the government and the Islamic aspect means its content, that is, the divine laws.
Q: [You had said that you would go back to Iran when you deem it appropriate. Will you go back if the Shah abdicates and a royal council is formed?]
A: I will go back to Iran whenever I feel it appropriate. The presence or absence of the Shah in Iran, the formation of a royal council or the lack of its formation, does not have any effect on my decision.
Q: [Should all the people, who have collaborated with the Shah, be tried in addition to him? To what extent cooperation is pardonable, and who, with what offenses, should be tried?]
A: We will try and punish the Shah and those who have committed treason during his reign. Their punishments depend on their offenses, but there is a group who joined him helplessly, we have nothing to do with them.
Q: [Bakhtiyar has said that the `ulama' must concentrate on religious affairs and leave politics for the politicians; what is your reaction?]
A: Bakhtiyar does not have any legitimacy. He is a traitor, for the two Houses of the Parliament that have voted for him are not legal. The people of Iran have not elected even a single representative freely. No government is acceptable to us while the Shah is there.
Q: [The Ayatullah's influence among the people is great, but it is no so in the army. What is the reason and is this issue basically right?]
A: Due to the fifty years of poisonous propaganda, the Iranian army has lost its thoughtfulness. We never expect the army to join the people immediately, but it will happen sooner or later.
Q: [What will be the ceiling of your oil production in the future?]
A: I have ordered the extraction of oil for domestic consumption, but I will never allow the foreigners to plunder our oil. Hence I have said that it should not be exported. The production of oil in the future will depend on the requirements of our country.
Q: [What major changes do you intend to bring about in your foreign trade?]
A: We will strongly stop all the items that are to the detriment of our country. We will never allow other countries to turn Iran into a consumption market of their goods. We will eliminate commercial dependence.
Q: [It is said that you have prepared the list of the cabinet members; without mentioning the names of the people, would you explain the type of people and their records?]
A: I have envisaged my plan for the transfer of power after the abdication of the Shah that I will enforce in due time. The people that I have appointed are those who have not betrayed the nation during the thirty-odd years of the Shah's reign.
Q: [In my interview with Ayatullah Shirazi and Ayatullah Shari`atmadari, the former said that he has identical views with you, but Ayatullah Shari`atmadari has said several times that he wants the Constitution and the Shah's reign is within the framework of the Constitution. Therefore, he supports the constitutional monarchy. What is the reason for this contradiction?]
A: I will hold a referendum on the issue of the Islamic Republic.
Q: [What happened that the Iraqi government expelled you?]
A: Under the pressures of Iran, Iraq tried to stop my political, divine activities. Since place was not important for me, in order to serve my country I had to leave Iraq.
Q: [Given some Islamic laws like interest ..., what will happened to the banks- domestic and foreign? How could the banks work in the Islamic Republic?]
A: Interest is unlawful. Another system must be introduced.
Q: [I have seen that the agriculture has been paralyzed during the past fifteen years; is it possible to develop it again?]
A: The Iranian experts and the Iranian people must make lots of efforts in this regard in order to reconstruct the destruction. Of course it requires a long time. The reconstruction of the country is necessary, but it would not materialize in the near future.
Q: [Is it possible?]
A: Everything is possible through hard work.
Q: [The approval of the constitution- seventy years ago- has been recognized as a victory for the people, although it has never been implemented. Is it possible to amend the same constitution, or a new constitution must be written?]
A: The constitution must be studied. The articles that are against Islam must be discarded. Of course it should be compatible with the current situation. Basically we should prepare a new constitution.
Q: [Some of the other laws that have been executed during the past fifty years might be good and some might not.]
A: They will be studied. If they are not against Islam, they will be approved, otherwise if they are against Islam, they will be put aside; and this will be in the case we do not introduce a new constitution. However, now we are preparing a new constitution.