For 25 years, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been the guiding force behind the Islamic Republic. He has constitutional authority or significant influence over both the government and military. On domestic issues, Khamenei encourages Iranians to become strong and independent so they can stand up to foreign powers. And he stresses the need to maintain the country’s religious character in the face of Western culture and globalization. On foreign policy, Khamenei’s outlook is driven by animosity to the West, especially the United States. The following are excerpted remarks by Khamenei on key issues from the past three decades and images from his office's Facebook account.
Nuclear Weapons
“The Iranian people and their officials have declared time and again that the nuclear weapon is religiously forbidden in Islam and they do not have such a weapon. But the western countries and America in particular through false propaganda claim that Iran seeks to build nuclear bombs which is totally false and a breach of the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation.”
June 4, 2009 in a speech marking the 20th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s death
“Nuclear weapons are neither a security provider, nor a cause of consolidation of political power but rather a threat to both. The events of the 1990s proved that possessing such weapons would not save any regimes including the Soviet Union. Today as well, we know countries who are faced with fatal torrents of insecurity, despite having nuclear bombs.”
Aug. 30, 2012
The United States
“If we are to find a regime in the world which is evil towards everyone and plots against everyone, that regime is the American regime. It is the United States of America which is evil towards everyone, as wherever it strides in, it does so with aggressiveness, arrogance, voracity and insolence.”
Oct. 29, 2008
U.S.-Iran Relations
“The main center for designing machinations against the Iranian nation is America and today after the passage of 34 years, whenever the word ‘enemy' is mentioned, the Iranian nation quickly thinks of America.”
March 23, 2013 in an address marking Persian New Year
U.N. Security Council
“The UN Security Council has an illogical, unjust and completely undemocratic structure and mechanism. This is a flagrant form of dictatorship, which is antiquated and obsolete and whose expiry date has passed. It is through abusing this improper mechanism that U.S. and its accomplices have managed to disguise their bullying as noble concepts and impose it on the world.
“They protect the interests of the West in the name of ‘human rights.’ They interfere militarily in other countries in the name of ‘democracy.’ They target defenseless people in villages and cities with their bombs and weapons in the name of ‘combating terrorism.’”
Economy
“Of course, our need for resistance economy is more than other countries, because on the one hand, our country is connected to the global economy and is determined to continue this relationship and [therefore it is] naturally affected by global economic trends. On the other hand, the Islamic establishment, due to its independence-seeking... [nature] and its insistence on not being influenced by the policies of the world powers, is under attack and the subject of ill intention and sabotage.”
“Social justice is one of the most important [macroeconomic] factors...because the Islamic establishment does not accept economic prosperity without social justice and with any economic progress in the country the conditions of the less fortunate... [members of society] must be improved.”
March 11, 2014 to a group of economic officials
Men and Women
“Islam considers man strong and woman delicate and elegant. This is neither an insult to women nor an insult to men; this is ignoring neither man’s nor woman’s rights; it is actually a proper view on their nature. They are in fact equal on the pan balance, that is, when you put the delicate and elegant gender which is a source of peace and beauty at home on one pan balance, and the managing, working gender which is a source of trust, reliance and support for the woman on the other pan balance, the two pans weigh equal. Neither of them is preferred to the other one.”
Dangerous Freedoms and Western Hypocrisy
“[Western-style] freedom in the economy, political scene and moral issues…reflect terrible, bitter, heinous and in some cases abhorrent realities in the Western society. The results are discrimination, bullying, warmongering and double standards towards noble issues like human rights and democracy.”
Nov. 14, 2012 in a meeting with academics and teachers
Sectarianism
“Discord among Shias and Sunnis is a sword in the hands of our enemies. Publicizing differences, expressing religious disagreements in an outspoken way, speaking out words that can fuel hatred is one of the means which our enemy makes maximum use of. We should not do something to help the enemy succeed in his goal and sharpen his sword. “
April 20, 2014
Globalization
“Countries assume that globalization will open up global markets to them. But when it means that an independent nation should become a cog in the wheel of western capitalism, it should not be accepted by any independent nation. If genuine globalization was to be practiced, all countries would be able to preserve their economic and political independence. Otherwise, the globalization introduced by organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization - all of which are American means of arrogance - is worthless.”
Syria
“The two sides of the conflict in Syria are not Shiite and Sunni, rather they are the supporters and opponents of anti-Zionist resistance. Neither the Syrian government is a Shiite government, nor is the secular and anti-Islam opposition a Sunni group.”
April 29, 2013 at the Islamic Awakening and Ulama Conference in Tehran
Islam
“Islam has come for the liberation of mankind both from the chains and cuffs of arrogant and oppressive systems’ pressure on different classes of people and thus establish a just government for the mankind and to liberate [mankind] from wrong thoughts, ideas and illusions ruling man’s life.”
Israel
“If the Zionist regime makes a wrong move, the Islamic Republic of Iran will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.”
March 21, 2013 in an address to a crowd in Mashhad for Persian New Year
Holocaust
“Does anybody dare talk about the Holocaust in Europe? The Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain and if it has happened, it's uncertain how it has happened.”
March 21, 2014 in an address marking Persian New Year
