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Ayatollah Khamenei Says America Must Apologize for 1953 Coup: PRESS TV, Islamic Republic of Iran

Posted by WILLIAM KERN in Religion.
Oct 30th, 2008 | Comments

Does the United States owe the Iranian people an apology for the 1953 CIA-sponsored coup that overthrew that nation’s democratic government? And is there any justification for the way American diplomats at the U.S. Embassy on Tehran were taken prisoner in 1978? According to this news account from Iran’s PRESS TV of a speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, the answers to both questions are yes – and if America’s new president wants to improve relations, he’ll have to issue an apology for America’s past misdeeds. Some might regard Khomeini’s words as a provocation. Others might see them as an overture to Barack Obama that talks could come if America acknowledges its ‘wrongdoing.’.

The article says in part:

“Speaking six days before the U.S. presidential election, the Leader said that Iranian “hatred” toward the White House is a result of America’s plots against the people of Iran over the past 50 years. … Iran holds the United States responsible for a CIA-launched coup in 1953, against the then-democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. The coup marked the CIA’s first successful overthrow of a foreign government, after which the United States restated its close ally the Shah, Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, in Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei said it was disappointing that American politicians have never expressed regret over their past anti-Iran actions. “Instead, they continue to adopt the same arrogant attitude,” the Leader said.”

Talking of the 1978 takeover and hostage-taking at the U.S. Embassy in Iran, Khomeini is quoted as saying:

“His Eminence said that the capturing of the U.S. Embassy – which was a center for espionage – on November 4, 1978, was the result of the collective sense of responsibility on the part of the prominent youth of the time.”

Then talking of Obama, the ‘Supreme Leader’ hints that Iran would like talks to include more than its nuclear program:

“American Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has pledged to directly and diplomatically engage with Iran should he take office, raising the prospect of closer Tehran-Washington relations. But according to Senator Obama, diplomatic methods would only be used to address Iran’s nuclear program.”

October 29, 2008

Islamic Republic of Iran – Original Article (English)

Ayatollah Khamenei has said that the dispute between the United States and Iran is very deep-seated. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says that the United States must apologize to the Iranian nation for its wrongdoing, if it wishes to have closer ties to Tehran.

Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic ties in 1979.

In a Wednesday address to Iranian scholars and students, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution asked why there is such a divide between Iran and the United States, drawing attention to the causes for the Iran-America conflict. “In order to answer this question we must deeply reflect upon the issue. That’s because the conflict goes beyond differences of opinion on certain political issues – and relates to how the victory of the Islamic Revolution put an end to U.S. control over its main foothold in the oil rich Middle East region.

READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated and English-language foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.

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Hisui

My first reaction was slight suspicion.

But this would be great, if the US can humble itself slightly by admitting we're not always right, and work some things out with the Iranians.

Obama, if president, might become a busy man with visiting many countries for talks if this works out positively.

Lit3Bolt

Sure, we'll apologize...right after Iran apologizes to our ally Israel and establishes formal diplomatic ties with them.

No? Pity.

lotusflwr

The Smithsonian magazine had an excellent article on the history of Iran and why they hate the US. I'll admit I avoided reading it at first, figuring it would be a bunch of touchy feely rhetoric or something, but when I actually read about the history of Iran from the 1800s to modern day, I came to feel that this was a country that was highly exploited by the British and US up until the point of the hostage-taking when our "cold war" with Iran started. The fact that we overthrew the closest thing to a fair democracy they had and reinstated a brutal dictator directly resulted in causing their people to take their fledgling independence to the mosques which was the only place they could speak without fear of torture, murder and harassment by the brutal monarchy we reinstated. We stacked the deck for a fanatical theocracy to emerge.

I don't believe the Iran hostage incident was in any way an acceptable response to what was done a few decades earlier, but I do not believe that should preclude all notion of apologizing and making up for a reprehensible action on the part of our government -- an action that set Iran on the fast track to religious fanaticism, set Saddam Hussein up as the head of a puppet government in Iraq to watch over Iran and led to our current predicament and now has our country fighting a war more about oil and religion than one about liberating peoples and fostering democracy.

The easy way out is hatred, mistrust and holding a grudge. I fully abhor what the Iranian hostage-takers did and understand that the majority of people in our country remember that chapter in our recent history with anguish, anger and hatred. But there are always two sides to any story and the fact is that our interference in Iran has set that country and its people back severely. We are lying in the horrible bed we made for ourselves in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan. We cannot move forward by refusing to acknowledge the huge mistakes our government has made; look how that has gone in Iraq.

We can stand firm with our condemnation of hostage-taking and terrorism while still acknowledging that we have not always acted judiciously. Our country needs to get out of the government-overthrowing business. People in my generation were born into a world of absolutes but are already weary of the constant antagonism and mindless violence on both sides of the conflict and seeing the huge cracks in the facade of the United States as a liberator and nation-builder and we are tired of it --we are more informed and more connected and less willing to accept that Muslim automatically equals bad.

Something's got to give and it'd be a lot less dangerous and a lot more wise to take a new tact and review our past actions and present attitudes and temper them with the truth. Read up on the history for yourself and think on how virginal and blameless the US is in these affairs.

draines

Well we have here some old bad feelings on our side vs VERY old bad feelings on their side. And a middle ground has to be found between the two for any equal serious discourse to happen.

wastan

In March of 2000 the US Secretary of State did apologize for 1953. This is simply an Iranian debating point. Saying "oh yeah, in 1953..." is their way of avoiding directly responding to the real issues that are troubling today (for example they would very much like the international community to forgive and forget 20+ years of deceit on the nuclear question)

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