In response to President Obama’s speech at West Point last week, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khomeini spoke before throngs on Wednesday above a banner reading “AMERICA CANNOT DO A DAMN THING.” Khomeini’s speech came on the 25th anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini.
“The Islamic Awakening might be suppressed in part of the Islamic world for a while but undoubtedly it would not be uprooted. It would keep growing,” he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has the first say when it comes to policy making in the region; it stands alone against the usurper regime (of Israel), that is supported by the world bullying powers; it does not tolerate the tyrant while defending the oppressed.”
Khameini also stated, “military attack is not a priority for Americans now,” adding, “They realize that military attacks are as dangerous or even more dangerous for the assaulting country as they are for the country attacked.”
Khamenei then called the United States the “Great Satan” and said, “Despite the sanctions imposed upon it, Iran today is launching satellites and sending live organisms into space and is producing nuclear power.” He added, “Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist.”
He stated that the battle would end only when “the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body, and thought.”
The White House responded to Khamenei’s speech by pooh-poohing it, citing Obama’s statement that “we have an opportunity to resolve our differences peacefully.”