WASHINGTON, 28 September 2003 — The grandson of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the fervent Iranian cleric, yesterday condemned Iran’s clerical regime and seemed to invite the United States to overthrow it.
“Mr. Bush should act like Churchill when he gathered around him the British population to fight against Hitler,” Hossein Khomeini said in reference to Britain’s World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Hossein Khomeini, 45, a hojatoleslam — or middle-ranking clergyman — is known as a maverick, but as a descendant of the late supreme leader, his comments cannot be easily dismissed.
Speaking before a packed audience at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, Khomeini accused Iran’s current rulers of oppressing the Iranian people and committing human rights abuses.
“Iran became an even worse dictatorship after the Iranian revolution,” said Khomeini.
“During the Shah’s regime, Iranians had personal liberties and religious freedom. And their religious leaders had legitimacy. But after the revolution, this was replaced with a ruthless dictatorship.”
“Democracy is compatible with Islamic law,” said the Ayatollah’s grandson, who is feared by Iranian hard-liners who worry that, under US sponsorship, the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala will become rival centers of religious authority and political activity.
Asking how Iran can obtain democracy and freedom, Khomeini said: “Our nation is ready, but there is no leadership. Other Islamic countries are following their own interests and will not campaign for Islamic freedom unless their own interests are at risk.”
Khomeini expressed “surprise” at the US decision to invade Iraq: “I don’t see any reason for them to have gone to Iraq.”
Noting the united States has no history of invading other countries — it had only become involved in World War II after being attacked at Pearl Harbor — “I was surprised that without any personal threat against the US, they went into Iraq.”
“This was a real blessing for the people of Iraq,” he said.
Khomeini said all free societies in the world should be concerned about Iran and the Middle East. “If they want safety in their countries, they should try to create hope in ours. The disappearance of hope is the result of the present dictatorship in Iran. The establishment of democracy and freedom in Islamic countries is the guarantee of peace and security in the world.”
“Religious radicalism has nothing to do with religion,” he said, “it has to do with psychologically imbalanced people and their obsessions.”
Asked how his father, the last Mustafa Khomeini, passed away, he said by “all appearances it was a heart attack. But the coroner said there were reasons to suspect it was not a natural death. But, as autopsies are not allowed in Islam, we don’t know.”
