Interviewer: Foreign reporters
Question: [What will be the first political step of the Ayatullah after the Shah's exit?]
Answer: The exit of the Shah is the first stage of our victory, but we have numerous problems ahead and the nation must know that the mere exit of the Shah is not the victory, but it is the dawn of the victory. Of course, I congratulate this dawn to the people. They must also bear in mind that the dawn of victory is the dawn of the elimination of the foreign domination as well, and the congratulation for this issue is more important than that for the Shah's ouster. Now we have very complicated problems ahead and are the inheritors of a disorderly country. The ruination wrought during the past fifty years of the Pahlavi reign and during the thirty-plus years of the reign of Muhammad Rida Khan should be reconstructed through the efforts of all the strata of the nation. The first step that we should take is the reconstruction of the ruination wrought by the Shah and the foreign agents; and it is not possible to accomplish this task except through the assistance of all the strata. I humbly request the entire strata of the nation to cooperate in this Islamic and national legitimate task; they should join hands, put the party and ideological differences aside and rise up with a single voice as a single body. They should rise up for an issue in which lies the salvation of this wrecked ship. And I beseech the Almighty God to make our nation more aware and wakeful. I ask the nation to take care of the law and order in the country and the zealous youth to take charge of the security of the cities, towns and villages and not allow the riot-mongers in these cities, towns and villages to- God forbid- commit acts of sabotage. I warn those who make ballyhoo and launch a disinformation campaign in these fields that a vigorous fate will await them if they try through opportunism to create riots against the nation or propagate in favor of figures who are abroad or in favor of a superpower. If they do so they will be punished, but if they repent, the Almighty God would accept everybody's repentance. They must return to the bosom of the nation and the nation in turn will accept them.
Q: [Does His Eminence Ayatullah not think that if he did not cooperate with the Bakhtiyar government, a military dictatorship and new round of bloodshed would occur?]
A: The time for a military coup has expired. If someone engineered a military coup or established a dictatorship, he would realize that he would not succeed to do anything and would only bring contempt for himself and those who are related to him. All those who want to take anti-people measures for utilitarian causes should know that the time for such steps has already expired. The Iranian nation is not the previous one anymore and the disinformation has lost its effect. The nation must continue its way until it achieves what it wants, that is, the elimination of the dictatorship, the establishment of an independent country in which all the classes and strata are free and an independent country in which no other country can interfere. God willing, this aspiration will be materialized in the very near future and we will soon introduce the government.
Q: [What will be the role and position of women in the future government?]
A: It will be the condition of a genuine human being and a free personality contrary to the time that we have put behind, when neither our women nor our men were free. A nation whose men and women were not free and were living under repression has been liberated from this situation and henceforth its men and women will be free. But if they decide to commit any act in contravention to the principles of chastity or take measures contrary to the exigencies of the country, they will be of course stopped.