Iranian grief is remembered today. Today, 46 years ago, Iranian armed forces capitulated to Imam Ruhollah Khomeini. In Tehran and elsewhere today, the regime's thin following will shout slogans against America and Israel. Islamists hide their intention:
Khomeini (1979): 'I want in Iran, a system that is good for all classes. May under its protection all classes be free and independent, may they think freely, may the press be free, may all parts of the nation be wealthy, may the spirituality of our nation be proper progressive spirituality, may their materiality be progressive materiality.'
The reality (2024): No freedom of the press, no prosperity and oppression of everyone. Only the regime's supporters are free to express their views. Yesterday, the dollar exchange rate reached its provisional high: for 1 dollar, Iranians pay almost 92,000 Toman. Before the Revolution, 46 years ago, 1 dollar cost 7 Toman. Now, there are more poor in Iran than in the Shah's time. Every day, groups of people demonstrate for unpaid salaries, electricity, and gas.
Khomeini: 'Islam always respects the rights of religious minorities'
The reality: the Baha'i faith is banned in Iran. Baha'is are routinely persecuted and sentenced to death or long-term imprisonment. Those who choose Christianity in Iran are apostates and persecuted. In fact, the regime wants everyone to convert to Islam.
Khomeini: 'I and other clerics will not play any role in state affairs in the near future'.
Reality: Ayatollahs have ruled by violent means for 46 years.
Khomeini proclaimed that true freedom and justice are achieved only under the Islamic State. Iran's Islamic State is a pure form of a terror state.
The West's love affair with Islamists
Western intellectuals love noble savages. Some media in the West, and even French philosopher Michel Foucault, defended Khomeini and his regime.
Foucault defended ayatollahs with bizarre arguments. For instance, he claimed that Shia clerics would not rule because of their faith.
Khomeini explained precisely in his book, back in the 1960s, why the establishment of an Islamic state led by ayatollahs is necessary. Foucault and, with him, other Western intellectuals were bewitched by anti-Western, anti-democratic movements and figures. They desired anti-colonial spirituality. We see the same today. Some academics and journalists sympathize with Hamas by downplaying October 7 pogrom.
Self-hatred and hatred of the West characterize some intellectuals and journalists. They constantly fantasize about a paradise on earth without Western democracy. Anything that was and is against Western culture and tradition is embraced by certain influential intellectuals. Foucault was embarrassed by the mass executions of dissenters, soldiers, and homosexuals a few weeks after the Islamic Revolution.
The tyranny of Islamists makes people long for the past. People now appreciate the Iran before the Islamic Revolution under the Pahlavi dynasty. That is why the son of the Shah is so popular inside and outside Iran. Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi wants the people themselves to choose the constitutional design (monarchy or republic). He now has the historic task of uniting dissidents with different views and backgrounds against Islamic tyranny. It would be in Europe's interest to support him in this process.
Within the regime is an apocalyptic movement of ayatollahs and Islamic Guard Corps (IRGC) generals who see the destruction of Israel as a precondition for the return of the Shiite 12th Imam. The same generals led by Khamenei have already proved that they can fire real ballistic missiles at Israel. If they could have nuclear weapons, no one in the Middle East and Europe would be safe. Peace between Palestinians and Israelis would never happen as long as the ayatollahs' regime supplies terrorist organizations (such as Hamas and Hezbollah) with money and weapons. While the Iranian people desire friendship with Israelis and Americans.
Forty-six years of Islamic tyranny have left deep marks in different countries and individuals. I myself have lost two family members. They were executed in the 1980s. Iran's grief: the Islamic State.
West-hatred and Israel-hatred end in tyranny.
The writer is a Dutch-Iranian philosopher and law professor. This article was originally published in De Telegraaf in the Netherlands.