Interviewer: The reporter of the French newspaper Le Monde
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Question: You have severely annoyed Americans or even you have had them kneel down. Ethically, you have insulted them. Where would you go from here? How far would you expand this enmity? Are you going to enter a war?
Answer: In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. We should treat the American nation and their government differently. We should never oppose the American nation as such. It is Mr. Carter who is instigating all this and has started a psychological warfare which might end up in military intervention. We have never insulted the American nation.
It is Carter who is giving asylum to our enemy «1» who has plundered us and created commotion and turmoil in the world. Our youths are keeping these spies to find out what they are.
Q: American sentiments are badly injured and Carter has no other option than war. Nowadays the issues of the bombardment of Qum and taking Imam as hostage are being brought up. What is your idea?
A: The issue of American sentiments being hurt is out of the question since Americans are told a false the story. The government will not let them be informed. Only a limited group has heard the story of the hostages. Carter's associates may have become annoyed, but not the American public. This topic is heard very often. When the deposed King did something which the Iranian nation opposed, he used to claim that the nation as such were content with it. The same story is repeating itself in Carter's case.
Mr. Carter is being rejected by his nation and should look for another job. He has shown that he is impotent. One who has got weak nerves and makes fuss over a trivial, task does not qualify to be the president and govern the American nation.
Q: The delegates from the Arab nations who gathered in Tunisia had an anti-Iran stance. How could you depend on Arab sympathy with Iran?
A: We hope the Arab governments would cooperate with us in the same way that their nations sympathize with us. And let the Arab statesmen realize what we have been after; we have been after liberation from foreign hegemony.
We prefer to gain our independence and do not want foreigners to plunder the Muslim nations. These Arab leaders do not oppose us. Some of them might have committed some errors in the past due to the indoctrinations to which they have been mischievously exposed to, but I hope someday they will make up for their mistakes. I hope, as well, to see all Muslim nations unit and keep away from the foreign plunderers.
Q: You have confirmed the stance of the Muslim Iranian University Students. «2» Is keeping these hostages Islamically justifiable? Even when a war is being fought?
A: What I have previously declared might have reached you in a distorted manner and I assume the Zionist mass media is responsible for this misunderstanding. I have said that the control of the youths will be beyond my reach if America continues to keep the Shah or tries to bombard us. Our nation has suffered for fifty long years from the super powers, especially from the United States. If the United States does something wrong to us, our youths know how to deal with the Americans. I won't initiate anything wrong. I have already sent some supervisors to inform me about the treatment the hostages receive. They have told me the hostages are comfortable. Not anyone of them has been hurt.
Islam orders to treat all people amicably except for those who will endanger the Muslim's interests.
Q: What is your comment on the present crisis in Iran?
A: The present crisis in Iran does not terrify us, but concerning a probable war, I remember the statement of Ave Sina (the great Iranian physician and scientist) who said: I fear bulls because they have weapons (i.e. horns), but lack common sense. In the same way, these superpowers have weapons, but unfortunately they lack common sense. And this applies pretty well to Mr. Carter. However, the world's nations and great powers will not permit such a thing to take place. Any war now would be a third world war and these superpowers fear it greatly. We are not worried about these issues, however. You see what our nation like.
We firmly believe that by getting martyred, we will gain a better position in the Hereafter. Why should a person be worried about transfer from a mean world to an excelled one? We are not daunted. Those who do not believe in the Hereafter must worry. They might even be tyrants who fear encountering the other world.
Neither would the economic crisis nor other issues make us worry. We have decided to cultivate the land ourselves, to harvest the product ourselves, but not to let anybody deprive us of our assets or interests. So no crisis really exists. Europe is fearful of such crises and they are right to be worried. It is now up to the French government and other European states to guide Carter to judge judiciously and deliver the criminal (i.e. the Shah) to us; then everything will be settled.
Q: The Shi`ite clergymen have always been in the lead of the political movements, but is it not also true that since the Shi`ite clergy have not been able to manage a country in this complicated world; they should be assisted in technical affairs by non-clerical elements?
A: This is also one of those cases of propaganda against the clergy. Does Mr. Carter, who is the president of the United State, do everything on his own? Of course not! He appoints experts to do the jobs for him. The clergy does not want to operate factories; neither do they want to fly airplanes. Those who claim that the clergy should get involved in politics are ignorant people. Perhaps they understand, but prefer to mislead others. The clergy watches the administrators not to go astray. They keep a watchful eye on the situation so that a coup d' etats may not take place. They supervise affairs so that nobody is treated unjustly. The clergy want to stop plundering, tyranny, injustice and theft.
Q: My last question. It seems improbable for the United States to deliver the Shah to Iran. Then what solution would you propose?
A: We will ask why the United States is not able to surrender him when the international law has stipulated that a criminal must be tried where he has committed a crime.
Mr. Carter is an obstinate person; he bears a grudge against us. Maybe he prefers not to understand the issues correctly. He is setting fire on his country and on other countries simply because he has given asylum to his friend through whom he has previously benefited a lot. He fears that he himself could be tried like the Shah for plundering this nation. However, he could easily solve this problem methodically; nobody would stop him. Even his own nation would appreciate his good work of getting rid of the Shah, but if he still continues to keep the Shah, we will insist on doing what is right. We will fear nothing. Despite the maxim uttered by Ave Sina, we are not daunted by the weapons this insane has in his hand. We are not worried because we do not care for this world. Because this world has nothing to offer to us except hunger, injustice and domination by super powers. We are prepared for everything.