Interviewer: A reporter of the French Television
Question: [You have said in one your lectures that you will capture the power through legal means. What do you mean?]
Answer: The pressure of public opinion to change the regime means law. On the basis of this very law, we will assume power and set up the government.
Q: [What is the degree of the army's loyalty to the people in your opinion?]
A: We hope that the army, with all its generals, joins the nation. Of course, there are some layers in the army who are tilting towards the nation, but I deem it in the exigency of the army to entirely turn towards the people and refrain from any relations with the Shah who has gone and will not come back; they should not imagine that they should have any contact with him. The army should be the army of the people. We think that the army belongs to us. If there are a few criminals, they are exceptions. I hope that the entire army returns to the bosom of the nation, and we will welcome them.
Q: [In order to change the regime and transfer power to your friends, will you hold fast to legal methods or resort to public opinion?]
A: The pressure of public opinion is the very law. When the monarchical regime was in power in Iran, they thought that the monarchy was established through the vote of the people, while it had not been so from the very beginning. Now the public votes have dismissed the Shah. On the basis of the very pressure of public opinion, which is in effect the law, we must assume the power and establish the government.
Q: [What is your reaction to the rumors that the clergy are rich; also to the rumors about receiving assistance from other countries and possibility of returning to a medieval system?]
A: The rumors that the clerics are rich are a sheer lie. We also deny the receipt of any assistance from others. The Iranian clerics do not receive any assistance or financial support from anywhere. The Iranian people have Islamic affiliation to the clerics and render to them any assistance they seek; hence they do not need foreign assistance. As for the rumors about moving the country backwards, it is what the Shah has spread in order to rescue himself by clutching at every straw. We agree with the effects of the civilization. We are willing to equip our country with all effects of the civilization, but not in the manner the Shah has done. The Shah has turned all the outcomes of civilization into corrupt effects. Cinema has become a means to spread licentiousness. He has spoiled the morality of the youth, increased the centers for licentiousness, and prepared the grounds for the addiction of the youth; he afflicted our youth with addiction to heroin. We are opposed to these issues. We are not opposed to the effects of civilization and progress. We are against the Shah's intrusions that have taken us backward. Now the Iranian nation must make efforts for several years to reconstruct Iran and compensate for the ruination and the destruction created by the Shah in Iran.