Interviewer: Reporters of the Kayhan and Ittila`at dailies
Question: [What will be your first measure upon your return to Iran, envisaged for the next Friday? Will the members of the Revolutionary Committee of the Islamic government be announced beforehand?]
Answer: My first measure will be giving advice to the dear Iranian nation. If possible, we will, God willing, announce our path at Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery and will announce the preliminary steps that we must take.
Q: [In its configuration, will the council encompass the working class, revolutionary-Islami intelligentsia, and the peasants, or will most of its members be the clerics?]
A: Most of them will not be the clerics; rather, the clergy like other classes will have their representatives.
Q: [Would you please briefly delineate the general economic, social, and cultural outlines of the Islamic government?]
A: These are not the issues to be explained in brief right now. Islam will grant freedom and pay attention to the economy and will take care of other aspects of the state regarding which the experts will take action in due time.
Q: [Do you mean that the nationalization of the industries will be taken for granted in the Islamic government?]
A: This issue too must be studied.
Q: [Would you please explain the condition of the religious minorities who are living in Iran?]
A: The religious minorities are respected in Islam; like other strata of the nation will live in prosperity and there will be no problem for them.
Q: [What will be the limits of the freedom of expression and faith? Do you think that there should be some limitations or not?]
A: Freedom of expression is allowed, if it is not to the detriment of the nation. What is to the detriment of the nation will not be allowed.
Q: [Do you think that the Marxist and leftist groups that are in Iran will enjoy free activities?]
A: If it is to the detriment of the nation, it will be stopped, if not and if it is only expression of idea, there will be no restriction.
Q: [Do you mean that the political parties will be allowed?]
A: All the people are free except a political party that is against the exigencies of the country.
Q: [What will be the role of the women in the Islamic government? Will they, for instance, participate in the state affairs? For example, will they become minister or members of the parliament, if they demonstrate their competence?]
A: The Islamic government will decide about these issues. It is not an appropriate time to express ideas about these issues now. Like men, women too will play a role in the construction of the Islamic society of tomorrow. They will enjoy the right to elect and the right to be elected. In current the struggles in Iran, women's contribution is similar to that of the men. We will grant all sorts of freedoms to the women. Of course, we will stop corruption and in this regard there will be no differences between men and women.
Q: [A woman reporter: Since you have accepted me as a woman, it indicates that our movement is a progressive one; although others try to project it as retrogressive movement. Do you think that the women should necessarily wear the Islamic dress code? For instance, something like headscarf?]
A: As for your remark saying that I have accepted you, I have not accepted you! You came here and I did not know that you want to come here! And this is not a reason to prove the progressiveness of Islam or to conclude that as soon as you came here, Islam is progressive. Progressiveness is not what some of our women or men imagine. Progress is based on the humane and spiritual perfections as well as on the effectiveness of the individuals in the society and country, not, for example, on going to cinema or to dance. These are the kinds of progressiveness that have been forged for you and pushed you backward and we must compensate for them later. You are free in proper affairs, to go to the university and undertake any proper task; the entire nation is free in these affairs. But if they want to do something in contravention to chastity or to the detriment of the nation- against nationality- it will be stopped. And it is a reason for being progressive.
Q: [What will be the shape of private property, particularly land ownership, in the Islamic government?]
A: These issues will be determined later.
Q: [What should be the condition of the newspapers in your opinion?]
A: The newspapers that are not to the detriment of the nation and whose writings are not misguiding will be free.
Q: [Will you continue your relations with the countries that have openly supported the Shah during the course of the revolution, if they express their repentance?]
A: Yes, except Israel; Israel is an exception; likewise[ we will not have relations with ]South Africa and the countries that support apartheid.
Q: [In your remarks, you have said that Israel is an enemy of Islam. Is it possible that the Islamic government proclaims a war against this country?]
A: It depends on the expediencies of the time.
Q: [Shall the countries in the Islamic world that want to follow Iran and set up an Islamic republic, necessarily embrace Shi`ism?]
A: No. There is no compulsion with regard to religion.
Q: [Some small groups tell us through their telephone calls and letters that from the dictatorship of boot, they are going under the dictatorship of the clergy.]
A: They are the agents of the Shah. Those who make such statements have been making them for several years. The Shah has dictated these points to them and they tell them to you in order to reinstall the Shah. Tell them that the Shah will never come back. And if you see the Islamic government you will realize that dictatorship does not at all exist in Islam.
Q: [What will you do, if you probably face a military coup in your return to Iran?]
A: Nothing, I will struggle.