Sunday, December 06, 2015

You Are Giving Islam a Bad Name!

Have you ever wondered what Islamists think when a non-Muslim, who has never read the Koran or the Sira [biography] of the prophet, tells them what they are doing is not Islamic?!

Well below is one example. The video below shows Ayatollah Khomeini amongst some of his disciples, reacting to the former US president, Jimmy Carter, who had claimed what Khomeini was doing, was not Islamic!


Translation:
Khomeini: "Becoming an Islamic expert seems to be on the rise, Saddam thinks he is an Islam expert, Sadat seems to be amongst these Islam experts too who think they can tell what is Islamic and what is not and recently Mr. Carter has joined the ranks of these Islam experts too [Laughter] during a meeting on one of his trips, [Carter] has claimed 'these things that are happening in Iran have nothing to do with Islam' [Laughter]
So it looks like Islamic experts are on the increase, may be [Menachim] Begin will also soon claim to be an Islamic expert [Laughter] These people keep going on about what Islam is or isn't and they don't even know how to spell Islam"

So the short answer to the original question on this post: "They laugh"

Thursday, November 26, 2015

"It Could Never Happen Over Here"

There was a time in Iran, when the state didn't tell you what you could wear, what religion you could follow, what music you could listen to, whose hands you could hold, who you could shake hands with or how you should piss, etc. 

During one of those days in Tehran, when Iranians still had their civil liberties, I was walking with my friends, after school had finished, towards the bus terminals in 24 Esfand Square along the wide pavements of the Shahreza Avenue that later become the scene of major protests against the Shah and is now called Revolution Avenue. On that day, our daily fun filled fifteen minutes walk was suddenly interrupted by a loud noise of glass shattering and chants of Allah Akbar. 

I saw some bearded young men hurriedly run into the side streets and some women wearing black chadors hurl some leaflets in the air before they too disappeared into the side streets. The bearded men had smashed the bank's front glass panel by throwing bricks at it, leaving the people inside the bank looking dazed and shocked.

The entire incident took a few seconds, like a temporary visual abberation. Once it was over, I asked my friends "what the hell was all that about?". One of my friends replied "They must have been Khomeini's supporters" and I asked again "who the hell is Khomeini?" 

Until then, I had never heard of Khomeini. When my friend explained Khomeini to be this cleric who had been exiled and wanted to turn Iran into an Islamic Republic forcing women to wear the veil and rule the country according to the Islamic Sharia, I laughed and said "Well that would never happen here!", what a fool I was!

Every time I hear the phrase "it could never happen here", I am reminded of that childhood incidence, but whereas I could be forgiven for being no more than a naive school kid, the politicians, statesmen and those responsible for the security of their citizens should not be forgiven for burying their heads in the sand and neglecting their responsibilities to safeguard their citizens.

Such manifestations of naivety amongst officials who should have known better was best demonstrated during the Carter administration years. 

Andrew Young, Carter's ambassador to UN at the time of Iranian revolution, described Khomeini as a “saint”.
Carter's national security adviser, Brezhinsky, thought “we can get along with Khomeini”.
Carter's ambassador in Iran, William Sullivan, referred to Khomeini as Iran's Mehatma Gandhi.

Those who had actually bothered to read Khomeini's books and had dared to tell the truth, were silenced and accused of being scaremongers. When three American newspapers published extensive accounts of Khomeini's writings, that revealed him to be as anti-Western and extremely reactionary, Henry Precht, the Head of US State Department's Iran Desk, said those newspaper accounts were severely misleading and likened the newspaper articles that revealed the true nature of Khomeini, as “at best a collection of school student notes and at worst a forgery”!

Well, hindsight now tells us who the "school students" were and which was a "forgery". If this bitter experience of Carter administration callowness and gullibility had taught the politicians and their advisors a useful lesson, it wouldn't be so bad, but unfortunately history keeps repeating itself and I keep hearing  "it will never happen here"  optimist rebuttals over and over again.

I remember in year 2000, I was describing a scene to a colleague that I had witnessed in the Speakers Corner, London, involving the Islamists there and expressing my concern over the rise of Islamic fanatics in the UK. My colleague's response was to shrug his shoulders and to reassure himself by saying the famous words "It will never happen over here"! 

It is probably unnecessary for me to list all the things that have happened here in UK since that casual conversation 15 years ago, perhaps its best to talk about why they happened here and why they will continue to happen and the only way that it can be stopped.

Extremism is not hard to define. Extremism is when a group of people become totally absorbed by an ideology to the extent that everything becomes justifiable for them to serve their ideology. They perceive their ideology as so great, so superior and so impeccable that any crime in the service of the ideology becomes justifiable for them. They will kill innocent civilians, they will kill women and children, because human life compared to their perceived sanctity and superiority of their ideology becomes totally insignificant, no matter how innocent. 

Extremism requires foot soldiers however. Extremists are not after winning the hearts and minds of the mainstream public, they are after brainwashing and recruiting foot soldiers as canon fodder. They are after brainwashing receptive minds of disgruntled individuals and recruiting  them to deliver violence, by turning ordinary individuals into zealot thugs, who misguidedly think their violence is for a good cause, they have an impact far greater than their numbers. Extremists want to seize power by whatever means available to them and not necessarily by a majority vote.

To do the above they need institutions, infrastructure and umbrella organisations and this is where the Western politicians have failed their citizens. In order to reach the highest common denominator for votes and attract as many votes from any quarter, they have preferred to ignore or simply not recognise how these building blocks function for breeding extremism.

For example it may surprise most readers that the Supreme Leader of Iran, who encourages his followers to chant death to England and burn the British flag, has a representative office here in London. Even when the Iranian embassy was closed in the aftermath of the attack on the British embassy in Tehran, the Supreme Leader's office in Maida Vale continued to thrive and carry on with its activities which include a Muslim school network that teaches its pupils loyalty to the Supreme Leader of Iran. The British Council in Iran however still remains closed. 

It may also surprise the readers, that a reactionary Ayatollah in Iran, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, a holocaust denier and someone who has issued a death fatwa against an Iranian rap singer in Germany has a registered charity in UK and also has a representative office in Harrow Road. Whats more, he has received financial aid and grant from Brent Council for "promoting religious freedom and tolerance"! The mind boggles at such stupidity and ignorance.

Throughout Western democracies and by using the loopholes in democracies, Mosques, Madressehs, book shops, charities, TV stations etc. are being set up by extremists as the breeding grounds they require to thrive. The existing laws often suffice in closing them down, but what is lacking however is the courage to apply the existing laws.

Extremism doesn't grow overnight, it needs to spread its seeds and then nurture them over the years through institutions and build an infrastructure that can thrive and spread. Until our politically correct politicians are reluctant to pluck the courage and dismantle these institutions and our voters don't push them into doing so, arresting and killing the perpetrators of terror acts, only creates martyrs who can easily be replaced by new more experienced and more hardened terrorists, as we have witnessed since the last decade.

Friday, November 06, 2015

An Ardent Follower of Imam "Romeyni" in Iran

This is a scene from Wednesday's annual organised nationwide rallies across Iran that marks the 36th anniversary of the takeover of the US embassy. They have found some disgruntled black man and shipped him to Iran to speak to the crowds outside the former US embassy in Tehran - ["The den of spies"].

As you can see from the video, he tells the crowds that if they remain united; then they will be able to "destroy America".  

The black man claims he is a follower of Imam "Romeyni" and that this mysterious Imam "Romeyni" was "one of the greatest leaders of the last time"!


Please note when he asks to "Destroy America" and chants "God Damn America", he probably means the 'policies of the US government' and it should not tarnish the Islamic Republic's sincerity in implementing the JCPOA.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Western Media Coverage of Gen. Hamedani, Copy/Paste of Official Iranian News

My main reason for starting this blog,  ten years ago, was my frustration at the way Iran related news was reported in the Western mass media. I felt the Tehran based correspondents  gave an unrealistic rosy picture of Iran so as not to upset the Iranian authorities and risk getting deported and I felt someone needed to tell the other side of the story.

Ten years on, with the advent of citizen journalism, social media and more news websites in English by other Iranians fluent in both English and Persian, we do not have to only rely on reading the news from media correspondents,  nevertheless it is still the mass media that has the largest readership and reading the mass media coverage of Iran news is still very frustrating at times.

One such recent sloppy news coverage was that of Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, killed in Syria earlier this month.
Here is this ridiculous tweet by the Guardian's "Iran expert" who is responsible for making up and disseminating many current media myths and falsehoods about what is going on in Iran:

It is clearly obvious from the above, Saeed Kamali Dehghan had no idea who Brig. General Hamedani was and had never heard of him before!

The most important information that was not reported in the mass media's coverage of Brig. General Hamedani was that he was a commander of the Qods Force, the elite IRGC unit for overseas operations led by General Qassem Soleimani. In fact at times it seems the mass media in the West thinks the Qods Force is just made up of one person, Qassem Soleimani.

Also missing from the mass media coverage was Hamedani's prolific role in the crackdown on Iranian protesters in 2009, particularly on the Ashura uprising as the head of Tehran's 'Mohamad Rasool Allah Corps.'.
In his last media interview, Hamedani described how he had re-trained thugs and hoodlum who had been imprisoned before, for non-political offences, and had let them loose on the protesters. A crackdown method that has always proved very effective with the Islamic Republic ever since its inception.

Hamedani despised the leaders of the Green Movement. After Moussavi, Rahnavard and Karroubi, the leaders of the Green Movement, were imprisoned, Hamedani claimed "Even if they repent, they will not be forgiven".

In Syria he set up the National Defence Force, modelled on the Iranian ‘Basij’ militia". The NDF soon became another Islamic Republic engineered disaster in Syria. The indiscipline and lawlessness of the NDF not only led to much resentment by the regular Syrian military officers and the population but on 30th April this year, fighting broke out between the Syrian government security forces and the NDF outside Homs, resulting in several deaths.

Hamedani was blamed for much of Iran's failure  to bring the situation under control in Syria. He was recalled to Iran and demoted to be in charge of 'integrating the logistic equipments for Syria'.

News of his death was first announced by pro-regime journalists and websites, who said Hamedani was injured in a motor vehicle accident in Syria and died in the ambulance on his way to hospital:



The IRGC official statement that came out hours later said Brig. Gen. Hamedani was martyred while fighting IS forces. Of course to be killed by the 'Takfiri' infidels in battle is a whole lot more appealing than being killed in a road accident, but again the mass media bought the official Iranian line.

What we got in the Western mass media regarding Gen. Hamedani's death, was a more or less copy/paste of the official Iranian news, an Iranian IRGC "advisor" was killed by ISIS in Syria!










Tuesday, August 25, 2015

David Shariatmadari’s links with Iranian regime and the Guardian’s credibility gap

David Shariatmadari, the Guardian editor who recently authored a much-derided hatchet-job on the leading British Muslim liberal Maajid Nawaz, has long been something of an enigma. Homosexual and a self-described “sort of pan-theist”, he has nonetheless regularly painted a rosy picture of Iran’s theocratic government and has also, according to a variety of Muslim liberals, blocked reformist voices and those who are critical of the Islamic Republic of Iran from writing for Guardian's "Comment Is Free". 

Born in London to an English mother and an Iranian Muslim father, educated at the exclusive Christ’s Hospital School in Lincoln, Shariatmadari attained a degree in Arabic, Persian and Linguistics at Kings College, Cambridge, and subsequently a Linguistics MA at SOAS in London. On the way, he flirted with the right, including penning a sub-Rod Liddle diatribe against ‘diversity’ and civil service waste for the Spectator (“You can hardly move for diversity action plans and diversity monitoring grids”) and for the corporate world, writing for BP’s in-house magazine Horizon.

So far so typical of the Guardian’s upper-middle class commentariat. However, Shariatmadari also seems to harbour a dark family secret that he has never revealed publicly. His father’s brother, who he has described fondly in the Guardian itself, is directly implicated in some of the 20th century’s worst human rights abuses in the name of Islam, a fact never unacknowledged publicly by Shariatmadari. In one 2009 reminiscence for the Guardian on the 1979 Iranian revolution, Shariatmadari wrote lightheartedly of his childhood encounters with his unnamed Iranian uncle:

"My uncle, who sent us boxes of 'gaz' - a Persian delicacy from Isfahan - and pistachios every so often and had been put in prison by the Shah (three months solitary confinement for attending a protest against French actions in Algeria), started working for the new government. He came to see us when I was about three, with "protection" in tow. This man appears sheepishly in some of our photo albums. He was a student and assistant really, but in family myth he became a bodyguard with a gun"

In another article, he again casually references meeting this, still unnamed, uncle on a visit to Iran, writing of his “a simple trip to see my uncle and aunts, the town my dad grew up in, my grandfather's grave”.


Who was this mysterious, un-named but clearly powerful uncle, who arrived escorted by a bodyguard, who David so coyly describes as “working for the new government” of post-revolutionary Iran?


It can now be said with a high probability of certainty that Dr Ali Shariatmadari, one of Ayatollah Khomeini’s closest political lieutenants and the man entrusted with purging the country’s universities of suspected secular and ‘un-Islamic’ intellectuals, and particularly Leftists, is his mysterious uncle.


A former school teacher, university lecturer and a committed Khomeini zealot, who was indeed jailed briefly under the Shah, Ali Shariatmadari was initially appointed as Minister of Science in Iran’s relatively moderate and inclusive post-revolutiona interim government in 1979. 


However, once Khomeini’s Islamists took full control of the government later in 1980 and launched their assault on their erstwhile Left-wing allies, Shariatmadari was appointed Minister for Higher Education. Soon afterwards, in June 1980, Khomeini personally appointed him to co-establish the country’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the unelected body which to the present day imposes draconian restrictions on Iran’s cultural, educational and intellectual life in the name of revolution and Islam. 


Khomeini’s statement announcing this on 12 June, reads in part:

"Hence, their Excellency Mr. Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Mr. Mehdi Rabbani Amleshi, Mr. Hassan Habibi, Mr. Abdulkarim Soroush, Mr. Shams Al-e Ahmad, Mr. Jalaleddin Farsi and Mr. Ali Shariatmadari are made responsible to establish a headquarter and invite committed experts among Muslim professors, committed employees and other educated, committed and faithful layers of the society to form a council being charged to take measures in planning for various courses and for the cultural policy of the universities in future on the basis of Islamic culture and through selection of efficient, committed and vigilant professors and for other issues relevant to the Islamic academic revolution.”

In this dual role on the Supreme Council and as Minister for Higher Education, acting under Khomeini’s personal orders, Ali Shariatmadari led the Islamist regime’s purge of Iran’s intellectuals; universities were closed in 1980 for two years to facilitate the purges, over 800 lecturers and academics were dismissed, many into lives of poverty or exile, and others – including intellectuals, academics and poets – were jailed or executed after often cursory show-trials. An estimated 8,000 people, men, women, old and even teenagers were executed by the regime during the eighties.


While others on the Council grew uneasy and resigned, some such as Abdol Karim Soroush even later becoming opposition, David Shariatmadari’s gift-bearing “Uncle Ali” remained steadfastly loyal to the most conservative elements of the regime, being reappointed to the Supreme Council by Ayatollah Ali Khameini in 2007. Indeed, he 

continues to sit on the council today, a fact which David Shariatmadari has strangely never acknowledged in his numerous articles for the Guardian on Iran – even ones that directly reference his uncle!

No-one should be held guilty of the crimes of others. However, it is legitimate to ask to what extent David Shariatmadari’s family ties to the senior Iranian government officials impact his reporting on Iran in the Guardian? In one of his articles on the subject of Iran’s government, David Shariatmadari has made some lukewarm criticisms of the regime, referencing ‘the executions’ in passing, before issuing this spectacular cop-out:


"But who am I to talk with any authority? I experienced the Iranian revolution at one remove and was in no position to make sense of it. Even now it's impossible to give a judgment; there were millions of revolutions, experienced in millions of different ways." !!

Has moral equivocation ever been so immoral? The Iranian ‘Islamic’ revolution, partly thanks to the actions of David’s own ‘Uncle Ali”, has led to judicial stonings, the execution of adulterers, the public hanging from cranes of those guilty of ‘apostacy’, the discriminations against homosexuals, the systematic restriction of women’s rights, the casual routine execution of political prisoners (5,000 in 1988 alone) but who is David Shariatmadari, the nephew of Dr Ali Shariatmadari, to judge? How much do his family ties prevent him from reporting on the true nature of Iran’s government?


In other instances, David Shariatmadari has gone further than sitting on the fence and has actively defended the regime, perhaps out of misplaced familial loyalty. For instance, in one 2009 piece on Iran’s presidential elections, he said had voted for the more moderate candidate, Hossein Mousavi, and then concluded with a woefully inaccurate rose-tinted analysis of the situation in Iran:


"Iranian democracy is far more than the regime-orchestrated sham many westerners assume it must be. It falls short on two crucial measures: all parliamentary and presidential candidates are vetted by the conservative Guardian Council, and the supreme leader of the nation is, of course, unelected. But there is no denying that in 2009 we have had a real contest; the candidates have been exposed to scrutiny, there is significant difference between the policies on offer and the results are, as yet, anyone's guess."


Within days, however, Iran’s conservative faction had effectively rigged and stolen the election, arrested the winning candidates, and then cracked down violently on the resulting protests. As “many Westerners” – and many better informed Iranians – had correctly surmised, “Iranian democracy” was indeed a “regime-orchestrated sham”. Undeterred, rather than apologising for his woeful analysis, he soon after published a lengthy denunciation of Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) the Leftist Islamist opposition/rival group to the mullahs who helped the mullahs come to power in 1979 but then fell out with them when they received no share of the power. 


Now, if David Shariatmadari wishes to defend elements of the Iranian regime and to attack Muslim liberals and to block them from writing for his employers at the Guardian, this is his personal choice. However, it seems only fair for Guardian readers, and would-be liberal Muslim contributors, to know of his links to the regime and of his uncle’s role in the systematic persecution of Iran’s intellectuals. Indeed, given David Shariatmadari’s close family ties to Iran’s brutal theocratic and massively corrupt rulers’, his recent snipes at Maajid Nawaz for his “closeness to the law-making elite” can also now been seen as exposing jaw-dropping level of hypocrisy.


In his recent article on Nawaz, Shariatmadari took aim at what he calls Quilliam’s “credibility gap”. Maybe his next article should ponder his own deliberate silence over his uncle Ali’s role in the bloody persecution and the silencing of Iran’s leftwing and liberal intelligentsia, and then consider why The Guardian, like so much of the British Left, has its own “credibility gap” with Muslim and secular Iranians.

Before writing this post, I emailed, messaged and phoned David Shariatmadari to give him an opportunity to deny Ali Shariatmadari is his uncle, but he refused.



Thursday, August 20, 2015

Khomeini's Damnation of Mossadegh

What happens when the management of a company choose bad advisors? Well usually bad advise leads to undesirable consequences and the company suffers, but when the management is the US administration that appoints bad foreign advisors, then the undesirable consequences become global catastrophic calamities!

I am still so infuriated about Obama apologising to the mullahs in Iran for the toppling of Mossadegh in 1953. It shows that none of the things we talked about or wrote about after Madeline Albright made the same mistake,  including articles written by the likes of Ray Takeyh, are reaching the US administration which is more hell bent on listening to advice on Iran from their NIAC advisors, considered by many as a lobby group for the Islamic Republic. 

So it is with little hope that I am writing this post, except that this is not my opinion or that of a learned person's accurate recount of what really happened in 1953. This is Khomeini's damnation of Mossadegh in his own words. Perhaps by watching this, the future US administrations will learn that they need not apologise to the mullahs for the events of 1953 in Iran or consider it a reason to justify the actions by the mullahs today!

Perhaps Ayatollah Khomeini's damnation of Mossadegh will make the US administration realise that they really are listening to very bad advise!


"right from the beginning when Ayatollah Kashani saw that they [Mossadegh supporters] are misbehaving and spoke against them, what they [Mossadegh supporters] did was to put a pair of glasses on a dog and named it Ayatollah [audience cries]..this was at a time when his [Mossadegh] supporters speak so proudly of him, Mossadegh was not a Muslim either. That day I was in the house of one of Tehran's high ranking clerics, when I heard the news that they have put a pair of glasses on a dog and are walking him in the streets calling the dog, Ayatollah. I told that high ranking cleric that I was with at that time, this is now no longer a matter of personal animosity with Mossadegh, he will be slapped for this, and it wasn't long before he was slapped, and had he [Mossadegh]  remained in power, he would have slapped Islam"

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Baseless Concerns on How Iran's Unblocked Assets Will be Spent

There were immediate grave concerns by many on how Iran will be spending the $120 Billion it was to get back as is stipulated in the Vienna JCPOA. These concerns centred on two issues, the Islamic Republic was getting this windfall without having to implement anything in return and that the regime was most likely to spend this money on its proxies such as the Hezbollah, the Syrian regime, the Houthis, the Hashd Al-Sha'abi etc.

John Kerry made an unconvincing rejection of the above concerns in his interview with the BBC World by saying, Iran will only spend some of this on its proxies and in any case it would have carried on spending money on its proxies regardless of the windfall!

Well there is good news for those who became even more concerned after John Kerry made those statements and started questioning the sanity of the US secretary of state. Evidence has come about that Iran will spend some of that $120 Billion windfall on development and construction within Iran to improve the lives of ordinary Iranians.

Last week the revolutionary guards, amidst much pomp and ceremony, opened a new bridge in Deh Darreh, in the Lorestan province, West Iran. See picture of the opening ceremony:


There were huge banners of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini and the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei erected for the purpose of the opening ceremony. The banners praised Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei as representatives of God on earth and all their services for building a better Iran.

All the key officials, including the local MP, who thanked the revolutionary guards for this impressive construction project, were there. 

A local beneficiary of this magnificent piece of engineering was asked to cut the tape to demonstrate the regime's grass root popular support, with a revolutionary guard doing his best to keep the tape steady while it was being cut. See picture:


Finally, the picture below shows the full extent of this 3 metre bridge which could become listed as the eighth wonder of the world:


The revolutionary guards generously paid for half the cost of building the bridge [$3000], while the other half was collected from the local inhabitants.

Picture of the first car to cross the bridge, without the bridge collapsing or showing signs of wobbling. Three Islamic Republic flags adorn the full length of the bridge on both sides. See picture:



Friday, July 17, 2015

Who Has Obama Been Listening to?

What does it tell you when the US president justifies the behaviour of the clerical theocracy in Iran with the toppling of Mossadeq in 1953 and thinks the United States should apologise to the mullahs for the overthrow of a "democratically elected regime in Iran"??!!!

Watch Obama's apology here:



It proves beyond any reasonable doubt that NIAC have got as far as the president's bedroom, right in between his bed sheets actually, and the likes of Mehdi Hasan have been teaching him the wrong history of Iran!

Read my article published in the commentator about the toppling of Mossadegh and why the clerics in Iran are the last people to apologise to for this:

Listening to Obama is like listening to NIAC

In response to Obama's pathetic uninformed apology about the 1953 events, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, made the following reference to Obama's interview with Thomas Friedman during his important speech on Saturday:

"he [Obama] admitted to America's past mistakes. Of course, he said a hodgepodge of things. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in Iran on the 28th of Mordad [Toppling of Mossadegh]......I would like to offer a friendly word of advice to these excellencies: today - after the passage of many years from the 28th of Mordad, the eight-year war and the defense that the Islamic Republic put up there - you acknowledge that you have made certain mistakes. I would like to say to you that you are making a mistake in the present time as well..."

It may also be a good idea to include the full translation of the Supreme Leader's speech, copied exactly from Ayatollah Khamenei's website. It is extremely well translated and accurate. 
In contrast to a weak, apologetic US president, the Supreme Leader is defiant, resolute and strong.
Unlike Western Media's translation of the speech, Supreme Leader never once refers to a "deal" but consistently calls it a document and that is the most important thing about the Supreme Leader's speech:

"In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate and infallible household. And greetings be upon the Imams of Muslims and supporters of the oppressed, especially upon the Commander of the Faithful, the Mistress of all women, Hassan and Hussein - the children of mercy and the Imams of the guided - Ali ibn al-Hussein Zayn al-Abidin, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ja'far ibn Muhammad, Musa ibn Ja'far, Ali ibn Musa, Muhammad ibn Ali, Ali ibn Muhammad, Hassan ibn Ali and Hujjat al-Qaem al-Mahdi, Your representative among Your servants and trustworthy ones in Your land.
The first thing that I would like to say in the second sermon is to greet and congratulate all the brothers and sisters who say prayers and to advise them to observe piety.
The events that occurred in our region during the month of Ramadan and before that, were and still are bitter events. Unfortunately, some vicious hands made the blessed month of Ramadan bitter for the regional peoples. Many Muslim peoples in Yemen, Palestine and Syria experienced difficult days and fasts because of the evil plots of the enemies. All these events are important to our people.
Another issue is a domestic one: the issue of the nuclear negotiations. I deem it necessary to raise a few points in this regard. The first point is a word of thanks to officials in charge of these long and arduous negotiations - the honorable President and particularly the negotiation team who really made great efforts and worked hard. They will certainly be divinely rewarded whether the document that has been prepared will- through its determined legal procedures- be ratified or not. We have said this to those brothers in person as well.
Of course in order to ratify this document, there is a clear legal procedure that, by Allah's favor, has to be taken. We expect that these officials take the interests- interests of the country, interests of the people- into consideration by paying careful attention, so that when they deliver the matter to the people, they can do so with their heads held high in front of Allah the Exalted as well.
The next point is that by Allah's favor and grace, no one will be allowed to take advantage of this document in any way and to undermine the fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic whether this document is ratified or not. The defense capabilities and the security area of the country will- by God's grace- be protected although we know that the enemies have placed great emphasis on these areas. The Islamic Republic will never give in to the enemy's greed in the area of protecting its defense capabilities and security- particularly in this environment filled with the enemies' threats.
The next point is that whether this document is ratified or not, we will not abandon our regional friends: the oppressed people of Palestine, the oppressed people of Yemen, the people and government of Syria, the people and government of Iraq, the oppressed people of Bahrain and the sincere mujahids of the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine. These people will always enjoy our support.
The next point is that our policy towards the arrogant government of America will not change in any way despite these negotiations and the document that has been prepared. As we have said many times, we have no negotiations with America on different global and regional issues. We have no bilateral negotiations with America. Sometimes, we have negotiated with them in exceptional cases such as the nuclear issue and we have done so because of our interests. The nuclear issue was not the only case. There were other cases as well which I have referred to in my previous public speeches. The American policies in the region are 180 degrees the opposite of the policies of the Islamic Republic. The Americans accuse Hezbollah and the Lebanese Resistance - who are the most self-sacrificing forces in their country in the area of national defense - of terrorism. There is no injustice worse than this. This is while they support the terrorist child-killing government of Zionism. How can one do business, negotiate and reach an agreement with such a policy? There are other cases as well and I will expand on them in other speeches.
Another point is about the Americans' blustering in recent days. In the recent days that the negotiations have been concluded, the American excellencies - their male and female officials - are busy blustering. Each of them is blustering in a different way. Of course, this is alright with us. Their domestic problems force them into blustering. They claim that they have dragged Iran towards the negotiating table, that they have made Iran surrender, that they have obtained such and such concessions from our country and other such claims. However, the truth is something else. They say that they have prevented Iran from building nuclear weapons, but this has nothing to do with our negotiations with America and other countries. They themselves know this and sometimes they have spoken about the importance of the fatwa that bans nuclear weapons.
According to the commands of the Holy Quran and Islamic sharia, we consider building, keeping and using nuclear weapons as haraam and therefore, we will not do so. This has nothing to do with them and with these negotiations. They themselves know that this is the truth. They know that what prevents the Islamic Republic from building nuclear weapons is not their threats and intimidating behavior. There is a religious barrier behind this and they know the significance of this fatwa, but they still claim that it was they who prevented Iran. They are not honest with their own people and they do not tell them the truth. On various other matters, they say that they have adopted such and such a measure about Iran's nuclear industry and that they have forced Iran to surrender, but they can only see Iran's surrender in their dreams.
From the beginning of the Revolution until today, five other U.S. presidents died or were lost in history dreaming that they would force the Islamic Republic to surrender. You too will enjoy the same fate. You too will never achieve the dream of forcing the Islamic Republic to surrender.
There was one point in the statements that the American president made in recent days: he admitted to America's past mistakes. Of course, he said a hodgepodge of things. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in Iran on the 28th of Mordad. He admitted that the Americans made a mistake in helping Saddam Hussein. He admitted to two, three mistakes, but he did not mention tens of others. He did not speak about the 25-year oppressive and treacherous rule of the second Pahlavi monarch. He did not speak about the many instances of torture, looting, massacre, disaster and calamity that were caused by America. He did not speak about the destruction of the Iranian peoples' dignity and America's efforts to trample upon their domestic and foreign interests. He did not speak about the Zionists' domination, the killing of Iranian passengers on a passenger plane and many other things. Nonetheless, he mentioned a number of mistakes.
I would like to offer a friendly word of advice to these excellencies: today - after the passage of many years from the 28th of Mordad, the eight-year war and the defense that the Islamic Republic put up there - you acknowledge that you have made certain mistakes. I would like to say to you that you are making a mistake in the present time as well. In the present time too, you are busy making mistakes in different places in the region and particularly towards the Islamic Republic and the people of Iran. In a few years, someone else will turn up and show you your mistakes, just as today you are admitting to the mistakes that your predecessors made. You are making mistakes as well. Therefore, you should awaken, correct your mistakes and understand the truth. You are making grave mistakes in the region.
What I want to say to the people of Iran is that by Allah's favor and grace, the Islamic Republic has become powerful and strong. It has become stronger on a daily basis. It is 10, 12 years now that six great global powers - which are among powerful countries in the world in terms of economic wealth - have been sitting in front of Iran, trying to prevent it from pursuing its nuclear industry. They have said this openly. Their real goal is to open the nuts and bolts of the nuclear industry. They have said this to our officials many years ago. In the present time too, they pursue the same dream. The result of a 10, 12-year struggle with the Islamic Republic is that they have been forced to tolerate the operation of several thousand centrifuges in the country. They have been forced to tolerate the continuation of this industry in our country. They have been forced to tolerate the development of this industry and the continuation of research on it. Research and developing the nuclear industry will continue. The cycle of the nuclear industry will continue.
This is what they have been trying to prevent for many years, but today they have signed on paper that they have no problem with our nuclear industry. Apart from the power of the Iranian people, what other meaning does this have? This has been achieved because of the people's resistance and steadfastness and our dear scientists' courage and innovation. God's mercy be upon the likes of Shahriari, Rezainejad, Ahmadi Roshan and Ali Muhammadi. God's mercy be upon our nuclear martyrs. God's mercy be upon their families. God's mercy be upon a people who stand by their truthful claims and rights.
I would like to raise another point which is the last one. An individual has said that he can destroy Iran's army. Our predecessors used to call such statements, "boasting among strangers" [audience laughs]. I do not want to say anything more in this regard. If those who will hear this statement want to know the truth and if they are willing to use their experiences correctly, they should know that should any war break out - of course we do not welcome and begin any war - he who will emerge humiliated [literally: "head-cracked"] out of it, will be transgressing and criminal America."


Tuesday, June 09, 2015

What Do Iran's Clerics Talk About?

What do Iran's clerics talk about? Well the short answer is, not just about the spiritual and religious matters as they should, but just about everything and all topics that they find interesting.
In the Iranian comedy movie, the Lizzard, there is a scene where a cleric is talking on state TV about Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and describing in detail Tarantino's quintessential techniques as a film director, while the hero of the film, the fugitive prisoner who has to disguise himself as a cleric to escape, watches with amazement and says "these clerics can talk about everything!".

You may also be amazed when you watch this clip below and read the translation of what the cleric tells his faithful audience about the sharia aspects of oral sex and the canonical legalities of swallowing semen.

Translation of the sermon above:
"Eating semen is forbidden and its a sin. People ask me, 'Mr. Dehnavi is sex by the mouth ok? 'What Westerners refer to as oral sex, meaning sex with the mouth and the tongue, man or woman. whether the man wants to have sex with his mouth and tongue or the woman.. Yes that is ok. Thats ok in Sharia. Its eating the sperm which is haram and forbidden ... sex by the mouth in the holy sharia however is not haram, although personally I find it distasteful, I am not that keen on it, I have even said so on state TV, yes it may be that some men and women will become doubly excited, yes it is possible...others however may be turned off by it. Some men think if they are enjoying it their wife must be enjoying it and force them to have oral sex, although it will probably put her off, if she has just warmed up and is about to be turned on, she may lose her urge to have sex altogether and not be able to please him.."

As you can see in the video, there are plenty who go to his 'scholarly' talks to be enlightened. The important thing is men and women are separated in the audience and women are all covered up.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

The Fiery Speech by a Female Iranian Teacher Protesting for Better Pay

This footage below was sent to me by one of the teachers taking part in the widespread strike by the Iranian teachers. They are demanding better pay and conditions.

The video shows a fiery speech made by a female teacher. See the translation below:


"Most of the martyrs in the war were from our ranks, the teachers and pupils, so we have paid our fair share for this revolution, but sadly we have received the least just rewards for our sacrifices, during these days of strike, I read things that saddened me, I want to address the Friday Prayer leaders who in their sermons speak against us teachers, they say "when a teacher talks about money, it means knowledge has been abandoned in exchange for wealth"! I ask these clerics who have put on the prophet's robes, who wear the messenger of Allah's turban on their heads, why is it that when wealth comes your way, it doesn't mean your religion has been abandoned for wealth? Why is it that most of the factories are owned by your lot? [crowds applause] Is religion just for me, a teacher? I am proud that I am a teacher, we are the faithful servants of real Islam, for us the first teacher is God and then his messengers, yet they say if there is talk of free lunch somewhere, the teachers will run to there, this is sad, Yes, I, a teacher am hungry, because there are many greedy stomachs in our country, [crowds applause] Yes, I a teacher have no money, because all the cash has been plundered by the children of the officials running the country, [crowds applause] My pockets are empty, because the sons and daughters of this country have such grand villas in Canada and European countries, [crowds applause] .."

Monday, May 11, 2015

A letter to Zarif

Letter written by Mitra Pourshajari, whose father, Siamak Mehr, languishes in Iran's jails for having expressed his opinion on his blog, to Islamic republic's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, who told Charlie Rose, no one is jailed in Iran for their opinion!

"Mr. Zarif, your Smile Cannot Hide your Fear"

Once again, one of the high ranking officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its internationally  renowned Foreign Minister, denied the arrest and punishment of Iranian citizens for dissenting and using of their basic rights including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom to express dissatisfaction with their government. In an interview with PBS America on april 19, 2015, Mohammad Javad Zarif, stressed to millions of American viewers that ''We do not jail people for their opinions.''

Mr. Zarif's speech has haunted me ever since I heard it, reviving all the bitter memories of the past five years and the situation of my father who in 2010, was tried and sentenced to death initially and then to prison for what he wrote in his blog. It's so painful and difficult to live with the fact that the dearest person in your life is living in the most deplorable conditions of solitary confinement, torture and prison, with severe health problems threatening his life every day. It is even harder to see that Iranian officials who have failed to improve the living conditions for my father and other prisoners of conscience, ignore and deny their very existence.

It was about three years ago that my interrogator, a man named "Mohammadi" from the Ministry of Information in Mashhad, glanced at me from head to toe, stared in my eyes and said: ''I have your 5-years prison sentence in my hand for informing the public about your father and communicating with foreign media, you are too young to be able to bear this time in Mashhad's Vakil Abad Prison. Your father is in our hand and try to cross the stream where it is shallowest. Those people and media abroad can't help your father at all, they just use your situation for their own benefit''.

Mohammadi's dirty and hateful gaze convinced me to leave the country for good as soon as I could. The fear of imprisonment and rape forced me to leave my father alone there and carry with me, wherever I live, my regrets, loneliness, and the pain of being separated from him.

So, why where they so apprehensive of my activities and my revealing the real identity of my father and what he was about?

Siamak Mehr, the pen name of my father, Siamak Pourshajari, the writer of ''The report to the land of Iran'' weblog, was a 50 years old man who wrote about his beliefs and personal views. In his blogs, he mainly criticized Islam, protested against Islamic Republic's policies, defended freedom of opinion and expression, and called for the establishment of a democratic and secular state in Iran. In 2010 he was assaulted and arrested by revolutionary guards and intelligence foces and was detained in solitary confinement for eight months and tortured.

His interrogators had printed and highlighted my father's blogs and showed them to him before beating him to the edge of unconsciousness. They told their colleagues to rinse the pen with which he signed the interrogation sheets because, they said, he had insulted the Prophet and is ''unclean''. They tortured my father because they believed that in one of his articles, he had insulted ''Henry Corbin'' - a French scholar of Islam. Finally, in order to stop the pressure, not repent, and avoid self-incriminating confessions, my father tried to commit suicide by breaking his eye glass and cutting his wrists.  After a few days of being unconscious, it was with the slaps of an agent telling him ''You must not die, you must die from pain for having insulted sanctities and the Imams" that he woke-up. And the agent meant it.

Twice the interrogators asked my father to write his will, took him to the gallows to be executed, and then brought him back to his cell. To torture him further as a blogger and a prisoner of conscience, they incarcerated him with prisoners convicted of crimes, such as murder, kidnapping, rape and banditery.
When, I went to see, for the last time, the judge in charge of implementing sentences to protest against my father's transfer, I asked him to send him - based on the principle of separation of prisoners - to Rajai Shahr prison's political prisoners ward, the judge was clear about why my father was in prison. He told me:
Do you know who your father is and what he has written? Do you know that he has questioned and insulted all of our sanctities? In my view he is not a human being and should stay there to die, if I could, I would execute both of you right now..."
For what reason other than expressing his views in his writings is my father treated with such cruelty, insulted, and humiliated? During these years of physical and psychological pressure, my fahter has had two strokes and is still suffering from high blood pressure, kidney disease, and prostate problems. He is loosing his life, bit by bit. And yet, a high ranking official claims that stories of people like my father are lies and fabrications.

Thousands of Iranian have been murdered, executed or imprisoned and tortured in the Islamic Republic for their opinions. So many among them have done nothing but excercising their rights as authors and publishing their critical views against the regime. Their crime is their pen. If Mr Zarif believes that these people's misdeeds are not related to their beliefs, what have they done to spend so many years of their lives in prisons and torture chambers of the Islamic Republic? If charges against them are not baseless, why are you trying them behind closed doors so that Iranians and the world do not learn about their beliefs, do not hear their defense, and do not see how their right to due process is violated and how unjust your justice is?

With your hypocritical smiles Mr. Zarif, you are trying to deceive the world's public opinion on the Islamic Republic, where human rights violations are systemic and grave, and reduce international pressures to secure the longevity of a regime that survives by suppressing dissent.

Mr Zarif, if my father is not a prisoner of conscience, why then his writings were used against him? If there are no prisoners of opinions in Iran, then open the prisons' doors to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs. If you are not afraid to see the unlawful behavior of the intelligence and law enforcement forces and that of the judiciary being exposed;  if you are not afraid to see the general public learn about the beliefs of my father and other opponents of the Islamic Republic; if you are not afraid to see the world realize that you are not speaking on behalf of all Iranians, open the doors of your courtrooms to the public and respond to citizens' criticism in front of TV cameras rather than in interrogation rooms.
 Mr. Zarif's outrageous denial may have gone unchallenged by Charlie Rose, his PBS interviewer, but I am here to challenge him on behalf of my father and other prisoners of opinion who are wasting the lives in Iranian prisons today.

Mitra pourshajari

Sunday, May 03, 2015

68 Minutes with Charlie Rose and Pinocchio

"Iran does not jail people for their opinions" That is what the Islamic Republic's Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif told American anchorman, Charlie Rose on Friday.

I have often criticised the American interviewers for their velvet glove questioning of the Islamic Republic officials and compared it to the way, they used to interview the former Shah of Iran. Zarif's interview with Charlie Rose however was too much even for many Iranians who have been his impassioned supporters and adulators until now.

I will not even bother to challenge the hogwash drivels made by Zarif in his interview with Charlie Rose, others and most notably those Iranian political prisoners who have been jailed for expressing their opinions, have already done an excellent job in exposing Zarif's lies after that interview. The people I want to address and educate in this post however are those who think they can change Islamic Republic's behaviour by holding dialogue and pleasantries exchanged during meetings and negotiations.

The entire Islamic Republic's foreign policy is based on values and principles that are incompatible with the accepted international norms and instead pursue a confrontational guidleine. Islamic Republic's foreign policy doctrine is that Iran is the "Mother Country of the Islamic Nations" [Um-Qara of Islam], just like the Soviet Union was to the other so-called Socialist countries, and Iran's Supreme Leader is not just the leader of Iranians but of all the Islamic nations.

The Islamic Republic is therefore duty bound to defend the "downtrodden Muslims" and help all "liberation" movements across the globe. Should there be a contradiction between the Iranian national interests and that of the Islamic nations, then the later has priority over Iran's own national interests.

Within the Islamic Republic's constitution, the export of the Iranian version of the Islamic revolution and its ideals are enshrined as the major goals of Iran's foreign policy.

This is how interference in the affairs of other countries is justified and this is why chants of "Death to America", "Death to England"  are repeated even after the most pleasant meetings and optimistic negotiations with the Western counterparts have been conducted and this is why the Islamic Republic will never recognise Israel and continue to fund those fighting to destroy the state of Israel, despite Iran having no territorial or other national interest disputes with the Israelis.

Sure, as the Supreme Leader himself eloquently explained, there may be need for "heroic flexibilities" at times but the ultimate goal is well beyond any well-wisher's optimism for restoring normal relations between Iran and the Western world, despite all the efforts to daze and dazzle the Western audience via television interviews and social media postings.


Friday, April 24, 2015

How the Islamic Republic Out Foxed Mr. Olympia

As soon as I heard Ronnie Coleman, the eight times Mr. Olympia bodybuilding champion, was going to Iran to promote his training methods and products, I knew it was going to be a controversial visit and I Tweeted about his visit.

The first controversy that came about was when the Islamic Republic authorities learned that Ronnie Coleman's itinerary included a training seminar for a mixed audience of men and women. Heavens forbid for the Muslim women of Iran to gawk at a non-Muslim American man's herculean sinewy body!
IRGC affiliated website, Mashregh News, asked with disbelief "Does this muscle machine intend to pose for our women?".
So that was a definite no-no and the seminar was cancelled.

Next, a picture of Ronnie Coleman with a Syrian opposition flag wrapped around him hit the headlines. Coleman was accused of being a Jebhat Al-Nusra supporter. His Iranian trip sponsors claimed Ronnie Coleman was a typical American who had no idea where Iran or Middle East was [May be he should work as a Homeland security officer in a US airport] and was totally apolitical oblivious to what that flag represented.

To fully compensate the embarrassment of being perceived as a Jebhat Al-Nusra supporter, Ronnie Coleman was led to believe he was going to the Behehsht Zahra cemetery to pay homage to Iran's war martyrs. Except that the grave he was made to pay homage, was not an Iranian martyr who had fallen fighting Saddam's aggression against Iran, but in fact it was the grave of the Lebanese suicide bomber, Mustafa Mazeh, or better known as“the first martyr to die on a mission to kill Salman Rushdie in London".

Coleman even squatted by the grave and laid his finger on Mustafa Mazeh's grave stone, as if reading the Muslim prayers to bless the soul of the dead. In this case of course the dead person who was being blessed, was a suicide bomber who tried to kill a British author but accidentally blew himself up. 

One would have thought this single act of propaganda value alone would exonerate Ronnie Coleman and he could then continue with his scheduled program in Iran, but instead he was then told all his scheduled programs were cancelled.

In a way all this reminds me of how the Islamic Republic out foxed Bill Clinton's secretary of state, Madeline Albright. Madeline Albright was perplexed as to why Iran does not want to normalise its relations with US. Albright was bending over backwards to do anything she could to bring her Iranian counterparts to like America. Albright was told that Iranians were still stewing over the US role in deposing the Iranian Prime Minister, Mohamad Mossadeq, in 1953, and if only the US apologised for their role, then all would be forgiven. 

Of course no one in the US State Department's vast legion of wide-eyed gullible graduate bleeding hearts alerted Albright that. hang on a second, why are you apologising to the mullah regime?! the mullahs were the very ones who helped overthrow Mossadeq and they have no love for him,
Albright, unaware of the full story of the 1953 overthrow of Mossadeq, apologised publicly, unreservedly and officially, thinking that all would now be forgiven and both sides will kiss and make up. 

Right after Albright's apology, the Islamic Republic used her apology as proof that US did oust an Iranian Prime Minister via a military coup and should therefore pay compensation to the Islamic Republic!

Ronnie Coleman is just a body builder who probably has no idea where the Middle East or Iran is, as his Iran trip sponsors tried to  argue, and one would not expect him not to be out foxed by the Iranian authorities, but it seems successive US administrations are repeatedly outfoxed by the experienced clerics who rule Iran.


Friday, April 10, 2015

The Complete Translation of the Speech Made by the Supreme Leader

One may disagree with the utopia that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has in mind, but one has to admit that he is resolute and unwavering in leading the path to that utopia.

I got so fed up with the short cherry picked tweets about his speech, his first reaction to the Lausanne joint statement, that I set out to translate his entire speech myself, below:

"And now to the nuclear issue,

Some people ask the question, why isn't he [Khamenei] saying where he stands on the nuclear issue ?
the answer is there is no reason to make a stand. Our officials, our nuclear experts our advisors are telling us nothing has happened yet. Nothing binding between the two sides has taken place.
Where is there to stand? If they ask me are you for or against? I will say, I am neither for or against, because nothing has happened yet. The whole hard work will be on the details which they are to sit and individually discuss, this is what the officials have said too. Thats what they have told us and what they have said in their interviews, they told the people this. The difficult path all lies ahead after this.

It could be the opposite side is a stubborn, perfidious and untrustworthy side, they may be back stabbers and they may attempt to encircle our nation and our negotiators inside a ring later on, but there is nothing yet, nothing binding has been achieved.

this is meaningless when they congratulate me or congratulate others, what congratulations? What has been achieved so far is neither guaranteeing the principle of the agreement and neither the negotiations leading to an agreement, nor does it guarantee the contents of an agreement

It does not even guarantee that the negotiations will reach an end and lead to an agreement. This is what has happened so far. It all depends on what happens after this.

I will mention a few points about the nuclear issue:

I have never been optimistic about negotiations with the US. Not because of an illusion, but based on experience. We have experience, now if one day God willing, you [the audience] – for we will not be around on that day naturally, [Crowd cries and prays] . But you will be and if God willing read about the writings and the notes and the details of these negotiations, you will see where our experience has come from... we have experienced this, but despite the fact that I was not optimistic with negotiating with the Americans, I did not object to negotiations on specific issues and I agreed to them and I wholeheartedly backed our negotiators and I still support them.

I will fully support an agreement that supports the interests of our nation and the integrity of our nation, and I will welcome it. Let everyone know this. If someone says we are against reaching an agreement or a milestone in an agreement, then no they are telling lies.
If an agreement is reached that secures the interests of the nation and the country then I will be totally for it.
Although we have said before, not doing a deal is better than doing a bad deal. This is what the Americans say too. This formulae is a correct formulae. Not doing a deal that stampedes over the rights and esteem of our great nation is much more honourable than doing a bad deal.

The next thing is that I have not interfered in the details of the negotiations and I still will not. I will interfere in the overall issues, the main guidelines, the important frame works, the red lines..
I have always told these things to the country's officials, I told the respectful president with whom I have regular meetings, and on a few occasions to the respectful Minister of Foreign Affairs. The main and major guidelines.. The details and the small specifics, which have no affaect on the overall guidelines are not an issue, these are within their boundaries and they can work on these. To say the details of these negotiations are under the control of the leadership is not an accurate thing to say.

Of course I feel responsible regarding this issue and in no way am I indifferent. We have said all this to the public and said all this more completely to the officials.

Next thing is that I trust the negotiators, you should know this. I have no doubts about those who are doing the work, not so far and God willing not after this either, but at the same time I have serious concerns. These concerns are because the opposing side is extremely deceitful and lies and welches on agreements. Thats how they are. We saw one aspect of this after the recent negotiations. After our negotiators, just a few hours after, the White House statement was published to explain what was negotiated. This statement that they published and called it “factsheet” is in most cases contrary to the truth. In other words their narrative of what has been negotiated and agreed is a distorted and wrong narrative.

They brought this factsheet for me to see. Its 3,4 or 5 pages. These 4 or 5 pages were not made up in the two hours after the joint statement, they wrote this at the same time they were negotiating. You see thats what they are like. At the same time they are talking to you about issues that are being negotiated, they are working to come up with something which is contrary to what is being said between the two sides and as soon as your negotiations is finished they go and publish their own statement. Thats what they are like, they are cheaters, they are welches. They talk and then they say these are just to save face, so that they don't lose face in front of their opposition at home, they just write something.

Well thats nothing to do with us, what they have written for sure will not be our criteria. Of course they say the same things about us. They claimed after the negotiations the leadership may, to save face, express some opposition!
The non-believer thinks everyone has the same religion as him [Persian proverb] [audience chuckles]

We on the other hand speak to our people based on mutual trust. The people have trusted this humble meek person [himself] and I too trust every single person in this nation. I trust this mass movement, that God's hand is behind this movement, look at the anniversary of the revolution, in that cold, with all those difficulties, look at the Qods day, in that heat while people were fasting, what is it that brings our people to the streets? what do they gain by coming out on the streets? this is the hand of God. We see God and we trust this popular movement, this popular feeling, this popular honesty and this popular foresight and we talk to each other.

They [Americans] are of a different ilk and they assume we are like them. This is why, I, the humble servant, have these real concerns, about what they will do and how they will go on about it.

Next thing, some have been for and some against it in our press, in our cyber space sites, some admire and some oppose, we shouldn't rush things, I believe we shouldn't exaggerate either, we have to see what happens. I have said this to the officials, they should inform the public and especially the elite about the details, we have no secrets. This is the manifestation of empathy with the people.

Empathy is not something that can be imposed on the people, its not something that can be ordered,
you can't have someone order the people to empathise with the government and make the people say, Yes Sir! How can that be empathy?

Empathy is like a flower, is like a flower bulb, it has to be planted in the soil, then looked after, you have to water it, defend it from harm, so that this empathy grows, otherwise it wont happen.
This is what I advise everyone, now is a good opportunity for empathy, some are opposed and have objections, ok our officials who are honest people, who are interested in the interests of the nation,
, let them invite some of the notable opposers and listen to them, may be they have a point! And if they don't, then convince them, this will create that empathy. This will be unifying the hearts and actions.

They may say we only have three months, well three months may become four months, well the Sky won't fall if takes 4 months, like in the past they postponed things for 7 months. So what if the final decisions are delayed? Nothing will happen

Next thing is that in these negotiations which are partly with the Americans, these negotiations are only on the nuclear topic. That's it!

We have no other negotiations with the Americans on any other topics! None! Let all know. Neither on internal issues, regional issues or international issues. Its only nuclear issues.

This will be an experience for us, if the opposing side refrain from their wrong doings it will be a new experience for us, it will prove to us that we can negotiate with them on something else too.
Otherwise our past experience of them will be reinforced. And note that the side that opposes us, is not the rest of the world. I hear sometimes from our own people, and I have criticised it when they say “the international community opposes us”, there is no international community against us, its one America and three European countries, thats it! There is no one else that opposes us!

Only two years ago in our own capital we hosted more than 150 countries, we had 50 heads of state attend, for the non-aligned movement conference. That wasn't 100 years ago, it was two years ago. Thats the international community! This nonsense that the international community doesn't trust us, what international community?! The international community totally trusts us and even in these countries that oppose us, they have many people who do not agree with their governments.

Lastly, the things which I have demanded from the officials . I have had certain demands that I have relayed them to the officials
One is that they should know our nuclear achievements are a worthy achievement.
I want them to know this and not look at it as a trivial thing.
Nuclear industry for Iran is a necessity. This thing about some pseudo intellectuals writing things like “What do we need nuclear industry for?” this is a deceit This is like what some Iranian officials during the Qajar dynasty said about Oil. When the British had discovered oil in Iran and wanted to take it away, the Qajar official had said “what do we want this smelly substance for? Let them take it away”

Nuclear industry is a necessity for the country, for energy as well as medicinal purposes, as well as converting the saline sea water to fresh water and for many other demands in agriculture and others.
Nuclear industry is an advanced industry in the world.
Our own children have made this achievement by themselves, this was as a result of the explosion of their talents and capabilities.

Now some backward country claims “If Iran enriches then I want to have enrichment too” So go and have your enrichment!” [Crowd chuckles] Its not as if we have stopped you from doing it. It was our own talent, if you have the same talents within your nation, then go and do enrichment yourself
such childish excuses that some countries come up with!

enrichment and what has been achieved until today is extremely important this is not a trivial thing
These are only our preliminary steps in this industry, we need to make more progress, now there are some criminal states like America who have applied this knowledge to nuclear weapons and used it or have tested it like France, only 10-12 years ago, France carried out three nuclear tests in the ocean, testing which is destructive, testing that damages the sea environment, three very dangerous tests, and yet only a minor public controversy and soon everyone was made to shut up. Who are they to tell us off?!

We are not after creating nuclear explosions, nuclear tests or nuclear weapons, not because of what they say but because we have chosen not to. For the sake of our religion and for the sake of our own wisdom. This is our religious fatwa and this is our rational fatwa too.

Our rational fatwa is that we do not need nuclear weapons neither today, tomorrow or ever and nuclear weapons are a cause of trouble for us, for our country ,which we can talk about more at another time.

Our next demand from our officials is that we have told them “Do not trust the other side”
Fortunately, recently one of the respected officials explicitly did say that we have no trust for the opposing side and for me this is very good to hear.

We said do not trust the other side, do not be taken in by their smiles, do not trust their promises, when their donkey has passed the bridge they will turn around and laugh at your beard. Thats how hideous they are.

Look at how when today some kind of understanding has been reached, a note has been written or a joint statement has been made with no legal bindings, right away you saw the American president appear on their TV so full of himself.

Next issue ,which we have told the officials and so we will tell the people too, is that during the next few months, where the important details are discussed, what must happen is that sanctions must fully and in one go must be cancelled. This thing that sanctions will be cancelled 6 months later, one of them says 6 months, another one says oh it may take a year, and another one says it may even take longer than a year, this is their usual game plays, none of these ae worth consideration or trustworthy, if God willing they managed to reach an agreement then on that very day of the agreement, then all sanctions must be completely abolished. This has to happen
[crowds chant: Allah Akbar, Khamenei is the leader, death to those who oppose the Supreme Leader, Death to America, Death to England, Death to hypocrites, Death to Israel]

If it is to be that the sanctions be cancelled until the end of yet another process, then why did we even start the negotiations? What was all the negotiating and talking and arguing for? It was all for having the sanctions removed. If they want to link this to something, it is in no way acceptable.

The next issue which we notified the officials and we also let you in on, is that under no circumstances, should they under the excuse of monitoring and inspection, penetrate into our security and defence privacy. No way!
[chants Khamenei is the leader, death tho those who oppose the Supreme Leader, Death to america, Death to England, Death to the Hypocrites, Death to Israel]

The military chiefs of our country under no circumstances should feel obliged, under the excuse of
monitoring and inspection and such like, let foreigners have access to our defence and security places or pause the defensive development of the country.
The defence development and capability of the country is the mighty fist of the nation and it needs to remain strong and become stronger.

Or our support for our brothers involved in the resistance movements across the globe must not be tarnished.
No non-standard monitoring or inspection that treats the Islamic republic as a special case will be tolerated. Only the standard inspection which is the norm every where else will be acceptable here and nothing more.
Further research and development into the nuclear field should in no way be stopped, may be we will accept a few limitations, we are ok with that, but the technical development must be continued with more fervour than before.

These are the things we have told our officials in regular meetings in the last year and half that we have with the respected president and occasionally to our respected foreign minister.

These are my principal demands now how they achieve these, thats up to them. Let them go and find the best methods of negotiations and benefit from the most informed and trustworthy , listen to the critics and achieve what needs to be done.

So thats the nuclear issues, now the issue of Yemen, the Saudis have laid a bad cornerstone in the region and of course they have made a mistake, what the Saudis are doing in Yemen is exactly what the Zionists did in Gaza.

There is two issues about this, one is that this is a crime, it is genocide, it is worthy of international investigation, thats one dimension of the issue, they kill children, destroy houses, destroy the infrastructure and the national assets of a country, well this is all a great crime, the other dimension however is that the Saudis will face a loss in this. In no way, will they be victorious.
[crowds chant Allah Akbar]

There is a very obvious reason why they will be defeated, the reason is the military capabilities of the Zionists is several times that of the Saudi so and so's [crowds chuckle]

Zionists had several times their military capability and they faced a tiny Gaza, here the Saudis face a country made up of tens of millions, a nation, a vast land and country, if they [the Zionists] could become victorious over there [Gaza] then these [Saudis] can be victorious here [Yemen]
Of course even if they [Zionists] could have won, the chances for these [Saudis] is zero! Now it is below zero!
[Crowds chuckle]

The Saudi will definitely receive a blow, for sure the Saudi noses will be rubbed on the ground,
[Crowds show appreciation]

We have several differences with the Saudis on many political issues, but we always used to say the Saudis show some dignity and grace in their foreign policy, they have lost this too now.
A few inexperienced youngsters have taken over the running affairs of that country and their savage side is winning over their serene appearances.
This wil be a loss to them. I warn the Saudis they must refrain from their criminal act in Yemen. This is not acceptable in this region.

[chants Khamenei is the leader, death tho those who oppose the Supreme Leader, Death to america, Death to England, Death to the Hypocrites, Death to Israel]

And the US of course supports them too, this is the nature of America, they always back the tyrants instead of taking the side of the downtrodden. This is their nature and they are dong the same here too. But they will receive a knock, they will be defeated.

Now they will make a hoo-ha that Iran is interfering in Yemen, yes we say a couple of words and they call this interference, yet their criminal planes have made the skies of Yemen unsafe and thats not interference?

The excuses they come up with is neither acceptable according to the international law, nor do nations accept them and nor does God accept these excuses.

The nation of Yemen is an ancient nation, its a great nation with thousand years of history, this nation has the capacity and capability to decide for itself. Of course some have tried to create a power vaccum and repeat the sort of things that has happened in Libya, there is a disastrous bad situation in Libya and they wanted to repeat a similar scenario in Yemen, but fortunately they were unable, a faithful and enthusiastic youth were able to stand up to them, Shiites and Sunnis and all sects stood up to them and God willing they will be victorious and victory belongs to the nations.

Lord make our brethren wherever they are victorious
Lord destroy all the enemies of Islam and enemies of Muslim nations wherever they are
Lord acquaint us with our duties
Lord make us perform our duties
"