Ayatollah's grandson calls for U.S. overthrow of Iran

Ayatollah's grandson calls
for U.S. overthrow of Iran
'My grandfather's revolution has devoured
its children and has strayed from its course'

An Iranian Shia cleric – and grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the 1979 Iranian Revolution who dubbed the U.S. the "Great Satan" – has called on the President Bush to "come and occupy Iran" and "break the prison [doors open]."

Speaking from the Shia holy city of Qom, Hossein Khomeini, in an interview marking the 17th anniversary of the ayatollah's death, blasted the current regime and it's alleged quest for nuclear weapons and called for freedom to come to Iran.

"My grandfather's revolution has devoured its children and has strayed from its course," he told Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based Arabic-language station. "I lived through the revolution and it called for freedom and democracy – but it has persecuted its leaders."

He dismisses the clerics who inherited power from the revolution as "wearers of the turban" and accuses them of abusing their power.

Khomeini made headlines in 2003 when he criticized the Islamic Republic during a visit to Washington and New York, where he called for an armed invasion of Iran. He avoided retaliation from the regime when he returned to Iran due to the protection of his grandfather's widow, but media organizations were banned from interviewing him. The hardline opposition to the Ahmadinejad government, expressed in the Al-Arabiya interview, is the first time he's broken his silence in three years.

"Iran will gain real power if freedom and democracy develop there," Khomeini said, adding that if he came to power, one of his first acts would be to make wearing of the Muslim veil optional for Iranian women. "Strength will not be obtained through weapons and the bomb."

As for his call for the U.S. military to occupy his country, he said, "Freedom must come to Iran in any possible way, whether through internal or external developments. If you were a prisoner, what would you do? I want someone to break the prison [doors open]."

Khomeini's opposition is more hardline than that of Iranian exile groups who've called for the U.S. to back a domestic uprising while opposing foreign military intervention, noted the London Telegraph.

Another well-know dissident who also opposes Khomeini's desire for U.S. military action is Reza Pahlavi, son of the the late shah. Pahlavi told Time Magazine he could not imagine the U.S. invading Iran.

"I cannot foresee any military action which could be feasible," he said. "The thought of foreign tanks rolling into Tehran is beyond imagination. No Iranian could tolerate an invasion. It would be an attack on our homeland. Even limited air strikes: If you want to alienate people, strike the first blow."