Never ever will Iran roll out the red carpet for the US

Gholamali Haddad Adel, a principlist MP and a one-time parliament speaker, has said in light of the fact that the blood of many Iranians has been shed it is impossible for the Islamic Republic of Iran to roll out a red carpet for the United States.

The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) on December 8 reported the comments of Haddad Adel in a gathering dubbed “We are here as long as the struggle continues” in the University of Tehran to mark national Student Day (December 7). The following is the translation of what he said:

Students should be outspoken advocates of the quest for freedom, truth and independence. They should not allow our enemies and outsiders to interfere in the country’s internal affairs. This is what stands out about students, maybe all over the world.

Sixty-one years ago today Iranian students protested against a trip by Richard Nixon to Tehran which resulted in the murder of three students in the University of Tehran. Sixteen years later Nixon – US vice-president at the time – paid another visit to Tehran and was greeted with stone-throwing student protesters on the streets.

Prior to this event, some would not get engaged in any struggle; some only supported the fight against domestic tyranny, and some others believed that nothing could be done unless foreign despotism was confronted. However, the truth-seeking spirit of students showed that domestic tyranny and foreign despotism could be countered simultaneously.

Students should get engaged in the country’s political issues. They should not remain indifferent to the fate of their homeland. Rather, they are expected to knowingly critique what is happening inside the country since society’s fate is in the hands of the same students.

Political questions should be reviewed critically in universities. Students should talk about fundamental and vital things that the revolution needs to survive. The point is that critical viewpoints should be aired out of commitment to and care for the country, and based on responsibility and conscience.

Students should remain vigilant not turn into tools in the hands of outsiders and foreigners as they walk down the political path. Also they should be vigilant not to lead the student movement off course.

After 1997 we learnt that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and foreign plotters had plans for Iranian universities and students. They attempted to prompt the students to stand up to the Islamic Republic on student day. That’s why they struggled to prod some people to take on the Islamic revolution on December 7.

The Americans were seeking to simulate the events that unfolded before the revolution. Since the student movement rose up against the regime of the Shah and gained support among people, the enemies thought that such movements can be launched in the era of the Islamic government as well.

It defies common sense to think that a university, which used to be a bastion of the fight against anti-revolutionaries, can change course today and act as the main supporter of the US. The attempts of those who sought to take action against the Islamic establishment misfired because they lacked logic and were only part of a plot dictated to universities.

Islamic Student Associations, Basij in particular, which have acted vigilantly over the years, are expected to insightfully and responsibly act in keeping with the Supreme Leader’s remarks at a gathering of Basij forces.

Questions have been recently raised in student circles as to why the Islamic Republic does not get along with the US or what the sticking point between Iran and the US is. I’ve come here today to provide you with an answer: these are front-page headlines of some newspapers, but to learn about what has gone wrong between the two countries we should look at what the US has done in the world following the Second World War.

In the wake of the War and the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Americans viewed themselves as the unquestionable master of the entire world or the chief of the global village.

They are after oil wherever it is. The US is present anywhere oil can be found. They fix the prices of crude oil. They put the money they spend [on oil purchase] back into their pockets by selling their consumer products, quality and shoddy goods alike.

Recently, the chokehold death of a black man at the hands of the US police for illegally selling loose cigarettes took Americans, black and white, to the streets from coast to coast. Protesters shouted I can’t breathe – the dying words of the murdered black man. The US treats its own citizen this way, what would it do to us if it got its hand on us?

December 7 should live on in this country as a symbol of the quest for freedom and independence.