In a blatant threat, Mohammadi added: "Salman Rushdie continues to make insulting remarks which only add to Muslims' repugnance at him across the globe." Mohammadi is to take up the post of the mullahs' ambassador to London shortly.
These comments, only 48 hours after the deal struck between mullahs' Foreign Minister and his British counterpart, reaffirm the validity of the Iranian Resistance's position that this medieval regime will never abandon terrorism. The mullahs' propaganda campaign in recent days and repeated calls by the state-run media for the death of Rushdie clearly show that any retreat by the regime from exporting terrorism undermines the regime in its entirety.
Last night, the state television reported that Fazel Lankarani, one of the most senior clerics in the regime, issued a statement dismissing "any illusion that the fatwa to murder Rushdie has been revoked." He declared: "This fatwa can in no way be rescinded or changed. Now, as before, Muslims the world over are duty bound to implement it."
Another senior cleric, Nouri-Hamedani stressed the "need to carry out Imam Khomeini's fatwa on Salman Rushdie." He said in remarks broadcast on the state television: "This fatwa is an irrefutable decree in Islam and can never be changed or undermined."
Simultaneously, many state-run dailies such as Jomhouri Islami, Ressalat and Kayhan International underscored the eternal nature of the fatwa and the need to carry it out. Jomhouri Islami wrote: "If anyone would say anything to the contrary, regardless of his position, he is expressing his personal view. Such a position is in no way related to the stance of the Islamic Republic. The prize for Rushdie's murder was approved by Imam Khomeini and no one can oppose it." The daily added: "Nothing but execution or slow death in a clandestine life awaits Rushdie."
These positions demonstrate that exporting crisis and terrorism, like suppression and terror, are indispensable to the theocratic regime ruling Iran. So much so that even such meaningless maneuvers as the Cook-Kharrazi deal not only lack any practical value, but only aggravate the clerical regime's internal crises and feuding.
The rush by the British government and the Foreign Office to reach a compromise with the criminal mullahs, although the latter has essentially not changed its position on the fatwa to kill Rushdie, only encourages the ruling regime in Iran to pursue its policy of blackmail and profiting from terrorist threats in its dealings with foreign interlocutors.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 28, 1998
Back Home