Rafsanjani: There Was No Violent Activity in Ayatollah Khomeini's Programs

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, praised Ayatollah Khomeini, calling him a "promoter of the mercy of Islam" and claimed that the idea of violence had no place in the activities of the founder of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Hashemi's statements were made on Wednesday, June 3, during a meeting titled "A World Free of Violence in the Thought of Imam Khomeini," held on the eve of the 26th anniversary of Khomeini's death. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was considered a close figure to Ayatollah Khomeini, stated at this meeting: "The revolution that Imam [Ayatollah Khomeini] designed and led was free of any violence, and there was never any violent activity in his planning." He added that after the victory of the revolution, by Khomeini's order, "all state institutions were preserved, and only specific individuals who committed specific crimes were tried, whereas bloody purges occurred in communist revolutions, and many past officials were punished." These statements come at a time when the last year of Ayatollah Khomeini's rule was marked by the execution of thousands of political prisoners in Iran, the exact number of which has not been disclosed. Documentation of this event, including letters and memoirs published later by Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the then-deputy leader of the Islamic Republic, shows that these executions were carried out under Khomeini's orders. Additionally, after the fall of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's regime, many affiliates of the former government who remained in Iran were executed, such as Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the former Prime Minister of Iran. However, Hashemi Rafsanjani claims that "Islamic flexibility" was one of Khomeini's characteristics alongside "religious authority." He also stated that the Pahlavi era "was one of the possible ways to engage in armed struggle [against the regime]," but Ayatollah Khomeini "always relied on the people and never approved of armed struggles." The head of the Expediency Discernment Council also referred to the Iran-Iraq War during Saddam Hussein's rule, stating that "Ayatollah Khomeini would never allow advances into Iraqi territory." This claim comes at a time when one of the main slogans during the eight-year war was that "the path to Jerusalem passes through Karbala." On the other hand, Iran managed to capture parts of Iraqi territory, including Faw, at certain points during the war. Hashemi Rafsanjani also said: "At the end of the war, when the possibility of increased crimes by the Ba'ath regime against the people of Iran and Iraq was explained to him, despite his previous statements about a twenty-year resistance and fighting to the last drop of blood, he accepted the ceasefire resolution." During Ayatollah Khomeini's rule, which lasted more than 10 years, Iran witnessed an eight-year war with Iraq and bloody clashes between the government and opposition groups. Recently, Hashemi stated that he has not yet expressed Khomeini's views and opinions regarding the ceasefire resolution ending the war with Iraq.