Word: khamenei
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...days later, one of Khomeini's colleagues, President Ali Khamenei, declares that the death sentence might be rescinded if only Rushdie would repent. Rushdie duly issues a formal apology, saying he meant no insult to true believers. Will Khomeini forgive him? Will the death sentence be lifted...
...most astonishing ideological pirouette was performed by President Khamenei, who had seemingly tried to defuse the crisis a few days earlier when he spoke of Rushdie's possible repentance. But Khamenei sounded almost as fierce as the Ayatullah last week, saying of the death edict, "The long black arrow has been slung and is now traveling toward its target. There is nothing more that can be done." Western governments, he added, had made the mistake of confusing "freedom of expression with the freedom to insult 1 billion Muslims...
...were these unnamed liberals in addition to Khamenei? One was certainly parliamentary Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has hinted that Iran should have ended the war in 1982, after driving the invading Iraqis out of its territory. Within days, he too chimed in with an attack on the West. "We know what our duty is regarding those who are a partner in cursing the Prophet," declared Rafsanjani. "The ground has been laid for a vast battle between Islam on the one hand, and paganism and arrogance on the other." But he tried to forestall stronger reprisals from Europe in case anything...
...first hint came in a statement from the general command of the Iranian armed forces, which called for "new stances in order to continue the sacred defense." Then came a startling message from Iranian President Ali Khamenei to United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, declaring Tehran's willingness to abide by U.N. Resolution 598, the measure calling for a cease-fire in the eight-year-old war between Iran and Iraq. Still, much of the world remained skeptical, aware that Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini had personally vowed to continue the fighting "with the last drop of blood...
Tehran Radio quoted Khamenei as saying, "Iran considers it to be its definite right to avenge the blood of innocent children, men and women...