"Welcome Mister Khomeini," read the unlikely sign hanging on the 12th floor of a Washington building, home to a conservative think tank hosting the Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson.
Facing journalists and re-searchers in dark suits, Hossein Khomeini, dressed in a traditional white jacket and black turban, took easily to the question-and-answer routine.
"Do you think that Iran has an atomic weapon?" asked an Iranian-American journalist in Farsi.
Khomeini's piercing eyes darkened as his eyebrow furrowed.
"I have no specific information. But it is such a troublemaker-regime that I won't be surprised. And if they don't have it now, they will have it in the future, I have no doubt about it," he said, running his finger along his beard, which is not yet as thick as his grandfather's.
He spoke softly, but still set the tone for 90 minutes of relentless criticism of the Islamic regime in his country. Hossein Khomeini, a well-educated Shiite Muslim steeped in Western philosophy, had been asked by the ayatollah to keep quiet with his ideas for a true democracy in Iran.
But after his grandfather and his uncle Ahmad died, Hossein received threats and lived in isolation in the holy city of Qom, until he decided to flee across the border with Iraq.
"Under the shah, at least, religious practice was free. Today, after the revolution, Iran is one of the worst dictatorships," he said, running his fingers along his prayer beads.
Khomeini welcomed the US-led invasion of Iraq, which he said had made it a "free country," and called on US President George W. Bush to intervene in Iran and install a "true democracy."
"Iran is intruding into Iraqi territory, and maybe it will force the United States to intervene in Iran too," said Khomeini, who has lived in Iraq for several months.
"Mr. Bush should act like Churchill when he gathered around him the British population to fight against Hitler," he said, before singing the praises of Western democracy and its "indispensable" freedoms of thought and of religion.
Another question, this time about terrorist groups backed by Iran, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
"No Muslim should be allowed to have such activities. Unfortunately, Iran is a longtime supporter of terrorism. This regime is one of the most active supporters of terrorism," he said.
Before he left, Khomeini wished a "happy new year" to his sur-prised host.
"The Jewish New Year," explained the translator.
Khomeini left the room to a round of applause.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
IT’S A DEAL? Including the phrase ‘overlapping claims’ in a Chinese-Indonesian joint statement over the weekend puts Jakarta’s national interests at risk, critics say Indonesia yesterday said it does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights. Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian neighbors over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a “nine-dash line” on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries. Joint agreements with China in the strategic waterway have been sensitive for years, with some nations wary of deals they fear could be interpreted as legitimizing Beijing’s vast claims. In 2016,
RSS