Iran

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Western civilization, and the United States in particular, is at risk.

I say this because this is exactly what happened to my country 45 years ago. Iran, you might say, was the testing grounds for what my late father called the unholy alliance of the red and the black– radical Marxism and radical Islamism. These two ideologies converged not to create, but to destroy. Indeed to destroy the very notion of Iran. As the Ayatollah Khomeini himself upon his return to Iran said: “Patriots are of no use to us. We need Muslims. Islam is opposed to nationalism. Because nationalism means we want the nation, nationhood, and not Islam.” He quickly put his ideology into action. Our National Consultative Assembly became the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Our conventional, national army was shunned in favor of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Lion and Sun symbol which adorned our national flag for centuries was replaced with Allah-o Akbar. This united front of Marxists and Islamists took hold of my homeland but was never satisfied with just taking over Iran as these two ideologies do not believe in the concept, much less the borders, of a nation. Indeed the Islamic Republic in Iran does not view itself as defending or limited to the borders of the “mellat” or the Iranian nation, but rather to the “ommat” or the Islamic brotherhood. This expansion has gone far beyond the Middle East. Everyday we see graphic, distressing images of the consequences this regime’s expansion has brought all the way to Europe and the West. From looting universities that were once the envy of the world, to supporting terrorist cells taking hold in Europe, to attempting to annihilate Israel, to expanding its criminal footprint to Latin America, this is not an accident. This is the Islamic Republic’s political strategy. Sadly, this has all too often been ignored by many in the mainstream media and the fellow travelers who have come to dominate the commentariat class. Even this week, we are seeing this fifth column of the Islamic regime rear its ugly head in the media to try to convince you that the Islamic Republic’s new president is a reformist. He is no such thing. He is nothing but a loyalist and lackey of this regime and a proponent of its radical, imperialist ideology as he publicly wrote to the Hezbollah secretary-general, reiterating the regime’s commitment to its proxies and their terror, just this week. Indeed the rise of radical Islam around the world can be traced directly back to the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the establishment of this usurping, anti-Iranian regime backed by a minority and sustained through oppression and violence. The problem that began in Iran must be ended in Iran. But do not mistake this as a war between Iran and the West, nor a call for one. It is neither. This is not a conflict between nation states but the war of a radical, internationalist ideology on all nations, from the Iranian nation to your own. Indeed, it was the great and historic nation of Iran that was the first victim of this unholy alliance and of the resulting Islamic Republic. For 45 years, Iran has been taken captive and my compatriots have been held hostage. They have been held hostage not by American sanctions or Western policies but by radical Islamism. But Western political elites have indeed been accomplices– not only in my compatriots being held hostage but accomplices in the crimes against your own citizens and nations. The chief accomplice of the ayatollahs in their violent march to their global caliphate has been American political naïveté about the true nature of this regime and European guilt and fears of “Islamophobia”. You do not have to fight the war against this poisonous and murderous ideology on your own, but you must be aware that it is waging war on you. I do have good news because there is an army rising up against this poisonous ideology, this unholy alliance. That army is the Iranian people, the united Iranian nation. Today I come to you with a message from that rising army, that nation under captivity… those citizens taken hostage. The Islamic Republic may have taken hold of Iran but it has never taken hold of Iranians’ love of country. Today Iran – inspired by our ancient history and our great civilization – is in the throes of a national revival, a national re-awakening, a national renaissance. Iranians are a proud, strong people with a proud, storied history and they are not willing to lose it to this unholy alliance. As my compatriots on the streets, or at the tomb of Cyrus the Great, chant, “We will fight, we will die, we will reclaim Iran!” But there are those who stand against them. There are global interests who would rather see the Islamist regime in Iran stay in power. They’re making too much money, taking too much advantage, or perhaps it’s simply too convenient. I know this because I’ve had powerful men, wealthy men, well-connected men tell me to stop the fight, to give up the effort because they have grander, global plans at work. Some want to keep the regime in place forever, some want to light the country on fire so that out of its inevitable explosion they can create statelets over whom they can play the role of benefactor, master, and God. But I will not stand for this and I will not give up, for my compatriots deserve better. But do not be mistaken. This national reawakening is an Iranian project, not something to be cooked up in Washington, London, Berlin, or Paris. So why am I here with you today? I am here with a message from my compatriots, a message from the Iranian nation. My friends, the people of Iran would like to see you in the United States as a partner. Their message is that they seek not an entangling alliance but an alliance of shared values and mutual interest, one which will serve Iran’s true national interests and your own. Indeed, Iran is one of the few foreign policy questions where the United States can squarely align its interests with its values. While its dictator has attempted to brainwash Iran’s youth with daily calls of “Death to America!” my compatriots take to the street and say “Death to the Islamic Republic!” and “Our enemy is right here, you lie when you say it’s America!”. When the regime puts American flags on the ground, my compatriots refuse to step on it and walk around or jump over it. And this is not a new phenomena. Iranians are the only people in the Middle East who poured onto the streets on September 11, 2001 to mourn alongside you and to stand with you. They have continued to see both their compatriots and yours killed in aimless conflicts the Islamic Republic has brought about in the Middle East. And they are offering you a solution to free yourself of these conflicts, rebalance the region, and solve the issues of the Middle East with a Middle Eastern solution. Because while the Islamic Republic seeks to spread its radical caliphate across the region, my compatriots denounce this imperialism and respond with shouts of “Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life is only for Iran!” They are tired of having their once radiant country run like a radical cause. They want a government that cares for its own, and does not spend blood or treasure meddling in foreign wars, as it has in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon or Yemen. They want to return Iran to being a nation-state, as we have been for more than two millennia. How can all of this happen? My friends, we are not seeking your intervention. We are not seeking your charity. I am not here to ask for your permission to get rid of the Islamic Republic nor am I here to ask you to do it for us. The true Iran, the ancient Iran, and the soon-to-be free Iran doesn’t seek your patronage, it seeks your partnership. It doesn’t seek your funding, it seeks your friendship because our interests are aligned in the most unique of ways. So as opposed to the growing threat of this unholy alliance of the red and the black, what, my friends, might a partnership with the Iranian nation look like? What will it look like when sovereignty over our ancient nation is returned to its true sovereign– the Iranian people? Iran will once again be the anchor of peace and stability in the Middle East, so you can finally bring your boys and girls home from faraway lands, but, with dignity. Iran will once again be the center of prosperity in the region and a safe haven for foreign investment – not foreign aid. Iran will once again be an ally of the United States and a close partner of both Israel and the Arab states and see the Abraham Accords grow to the Cyrus Accords. Iran will once again be the engine of progress, the defender of freedom and righteousness, not the spreader of terror and evil. You will notice I say “once again” because this is nothing new. This is the type of relations our two nations had before, particularly under the leadership of my father and President Nixon. Then, Iran sought peace and productive relations based on mutual interest with all nations. We were friends with America and its European allies. But we also maintained a balanced foreign policy by having stable, cordial relations with the USSR and China. We worked with both India and Pakistan. We had relations with both Israel and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Iran kept the peace in the Middle East, and we can help to do so again. But what is missing? What has prevented this, until now, has largely been an American policy on Iran guided by intellectual naivete based on the false premise that you can change the behavior of those who believe in such a radical ideology. But this is not a conflict between nation states, but against a radical, destructive ideology that cannot be negotiated with. This ideology cannot be reasoned with. It cannot be changed. There is no “better deal” to be made. It must be defeated, which is exactly what my compatriots have been fighting for. Perhaps some of this makes you weary. I know. It should. Some conversations like this in decades past have led your political leadership down the wrong road. In Afghanistan, when 70% of the country’s post-Taliban tribal parliament wanted to restore the constitutional monarchy of Zahir Shah because his people saw him, even in his old age, as a symbol and source of national unity, the American administration denied this national claim and this sovereign right. By forcing an inauthentic Western construct on a society with its own traditions, norms, and means of governance the result was corruption, chaos, and collapse of the state. It was a devastating mistake, the consequences of which we continue to see today. This did not achieve security for America, nor was it successful in defending your values. Today, terrorist attacks are once again launched from Kandahar and women are once again enslaved in Kabul. Because although America’s aims may have been well intentioned, the failure to listen to Afghans led it down a road to hell, paved with those very same good intentions. Only a few years later in Iraq, Washington’s political elite’s arrogance and ignorance subjugated Iraqi national interests and sovereignty to small-minded, sectarian interests that not only failed to unite the country but further divided it. Citizens of Iraq were forced to see themselves not as Iraqis first and foremost but as members of their religious sect, their ethnic group, or their clan before seeking themselves as co-equal citizens of their nation. And let us not forget that all of this was brought about with military force. Let me make myself clear. That mistake should not be repeated in Iran, and I will not stand for those radical few who might advocate it— Iranians or Americans. But there is another path to this partnership between these two great nations, Iran and America. A path that rejects appeasement of the radical Islamists who have taken Iran hostage and are taking their war to you, right here on American soil. A path that rejects war and the imposition of inorganic Western constructs on a proud and ancient nation. This new path, this third way, requires maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic and maximum support for the Iranian people. Iranians are not seeking a handout. They do not want you to change their regime for them. They are fighting on the streets of cities across Iran for the rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and to reclaim their most treasured inheritance– their nation. What they want is for you to stop emboldening their captors and killers by sending them billions of dollars. And as opposed to bringing about peace through strength, bringing about chaos through weakness and appeasement. My friends, you have a fight on your hands. But your fight is not with the nation of Iran. Your fight is with the radical ideology of the Islamic Republic and its defenders right here in Washington. But you are not alone in that fight. Because it is the same fight Iranians are fighting everyday on the streets of my country. In the fight between the Islamic Republic and Iran, my compatriots have chosen to step forward to accept the call of history and fight to reclaim their nation. So have I. And I hope you will join us. For as Burke said: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one.” Being with you just a few days after you celebrated America’s independence day is quite fortuitous because some 250 years ago as he authored the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson did so inspired by the values of the Iranian King Cyrus the Great. Iranians have never forgotten this connection and today as they fight not to create, but to liberate their nation, they are inspired by your struggle for freedom and love of country. Our two great nations share this special bond. Great civilizations, true nations, never remain subjugated. And we Iranians will reclaim our country. As this eventuality becomes a reality, be with us in this fight – not as our patrons, but as our partners. Not as our funders, but as our friends. For our battle is one.

Thank you.

The text of my full remarks to

Reza Pahlavi