Iranian Politics Quotes

Ahmed Khomeini, son of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is the Mrs. Wilson of modern Iran.

America overthrew his government even though Mohammad Mosaddegh had shown no animosity toward us. He stood up to the British and trusted the Americans. He had hoped that the Americans would help him; he had friendly relations with them….Arrogance … required that the Americans ally with the British. They gathered money and brought it here and did their job. When they brought their coup into fruition and had returned the Shah …, they had the run of the country.

The U.S and England are not worthy of security council membership. Those who want good relations with the Iranian people should bow and surrender to its right and might.

Khomeini had spent far more time thinking about the religious penalties for fornicating with animals than how to run a modern economy.

Everyone in Iran is perceived to be a child with a paternal authority vested in the Guardian Council and the Sufi elders. They're supposed to be grateful. They can never for a moment not be afforded this wonderful protection. The father who will never go away. The father who will never quit caring for them.

The Zionist regime is a dried up and rotten tree which will be annihilated with one storm.

I think of myself, an Iranian/American artist, and wonder what would I want if I'm ever imprisoned by the Iranian government for the work that I make? I answer: I would hope that the United States government comes to my rescue.

I call on the Iranian people: it is not too late to replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values and not of bombs and missiles... How can a nation allow a regime to instill fear, take away the people's freedom and shock the young generation that seeks its way out of the dictatorial Iran.

Politics in Iran is not played like American football. It's played like chess. There are multiple moves. You're jumping ahead. And a lot of it is very subtle, and it catches you by surprise later on. So I don't want to go overboard on this.

Few Westerners know Iran as well as Robin Wright: her first trip there as a journalist was in 1973, and she has covered every important milestone since, from the Islamic revolution and the hostage crisis to the more recent staring contest with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.

That's what I do not believe - that dividing Iran into 'reasonable' and 'unreasonable' forces is either correct, conducive, or anybody's business. When the United States exercised that practice in the past, it didn't produce results.

Iranians hate Arabs. They're a fairly well-educated population and they have centuries of experience with self-government.

To see the Persia of poets and painters, hiding in plain sight behind the much-maligned Iran of our newspaper headlines, would be my fondest wish.

The regional security in the Middle East cannot be further compromised by an Iranian loose cannon.

If I hear, 'Be afraid of Tehran,' I'm like, 'I'd better go to Tehran.'

I'm not an Iran expert.

Most Iranians are sick and tired of revolutions. They've had one for the last 25 years, and they don't want another one. Those who've tried to spark another revolution have failed time and again. I don't think there's any evidence that somehow, if the U.S. gave these guys the high sign, it would make regime change somehow more likely. Every time the U.S. has tried to interfere in Iranian affairs to help a particular group of Iranians, it's backfired on us, and hurt the group we tried to help.

The Revolutionary Guard controls almost everything in Iran, and this is hurting the people.

The Ayatollah of the Assembly.

The mullahs are part of the past in Iran, not its future. But change in Iran will come through engagement, not through confrontation.

That President Mohammad Khatami's policies have been blocked is the bitterest incident in the contemporary Iranian history. This means that the wishes of millions of people who voted for Khatami and called for freedom and justice have been ignored... Why should cultural activities and journalism be so risky in Iran?

I hate Iran. I hate the Iranian government. It's a cruel and evil government.

A younger generation of Iranians, whose worldviews were forged in the atrocities of the Iran-Iraq War, have come to power, wielding a more fervently ideological approach to politics than their predecessors. The children of the Revolution are now its leaders.

The ayatollah in Iran says he believes that he got the letter, but he thinks he accidentally threw it out with his Crate & Barrel catalog.

So Ahmadinejad wants to be the first Iranian in space - wasn't he there just last week? 'Iran launches monkey into space.'