Discussion With Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani

Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani discussed his opposition to the ruling regime in Iran with representatives from the government, media, and academia at the JINSA offices, Thursday January 16. Sponsored by the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, Dr. Rouhani’s visit was one of the rare opportunities to hear the senior Iranian opposition cleric speak in the United States.

Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani discussed his opposition to the ruling regime in Iran with representatives from the government, media, and academia at the JINSA offices, Thursday January 16. Sponsored by the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, Dr. Rouhani’s visit was one of the rare opportunities to hear the senior Iranian opposition cleric speak in the United States.

Rouhani is unique among the Iranian opposition in exile in that he challenges the authority of the Tehran regime on religious grounds. His older brother is the Grand Ayatollah Sadeq Rouhani, one of Iran’s most senior and widely respected clerics. Sadeq Rouhani has been under house arrest in Qom since 1985 for opposing the Tehran regime.

Rouhani told his audience that the United States must neither seek friendly relations with the Tehran regime nor even, as it has in the past, seek improved relations or even a low level dialogue. Such actions serve only to embolden the Tehran regime and its terrorist proxies and convince the Iranian people that their own opposition to the regime is doomed. This, he said, is what turns the Iranian people against America – the perception that the U.S. views the corrupt and repressive Tehran regime as the legitimate rulers of Iran.

Rouhani rejected the notion that the Tehran regime, including Ayatollah Khameini, had any legitimate religious standing in the Shiite community. Dismissing Khameini and the other government clerics as “small time preachers,” Rouhani said that they were good at overthrowing the Shah, but when it comes to running a country they are inept. Only 2% of the Iranian people actually support the present government, Rouhani said. Those in opposition feel “duped and cheated” by a regime that swept to power full of promises and has since failed at every project and has been every bit as repressive as the Shah’s regime.

Concluding his remarks, Ayatollah Rouhani urged his audience to promote a tough American policy toward Iran – to give time to opponents of the mullahs both inside and outside of Iran. We do not want direct U.S. action, he said, only moral support and a halt to trade that could enrich the mullah’s regime. Contrary to some Western European countries which continue to promote trade with the present government.