Invitation to an invasion

last updated 8 January 2015

Tehran

The grandson of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has repeated his call for foreign intervention to overthrow the current regime. In an interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, Ayatollah Hussein Khomeini said that the Islamic state his grandfather envisioned back in 1979 had become “a dictatorship of clerics who control every aspect of life.” He said freedom should be restored “in any possible way, whether through internal or external developments.” Khomeini first called for regime change in 2003, on a visit to Washington. He was reportedly allowed to return safely to Iran after that only because his grandmother, the revered widow of the grand ayatollah, threatened to denounce the regime if he were harmed. The Al-Arabiya interview was the first time since 2003 that Khomeini has spoken to the press.