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Sadegh Zibakalam, a retired Tehran university political science professor, stated in a January 20, 2025, lecture at the Doha Arab center that anti-Americanism, particularly the chants of "death to america," is the "soul of the Islamic Republic of Iran." he noted that today, young Iranians in particular hate Palestinians, are pleased with the election of Donald Trump, and "love" Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Zibakalam observed that whenever Supreme Leader Khamenei speaks, regardless of the topic, he refers to the "heroic struggle of the Iranian people" against the United States. In 1979, he explained, Iranians from all walks of life supported the Palestinians, viewing them as heroes, while Israel was seen ss "Satan." however, he pointed out that since October 7, there has been a surprising shift, with many Iranians, especially younger people, now harboring negative feelings toward Palestinians.
Zibakalam also mentioned that Iranians were pleased with trump's election because he claimed to know how to tackle the Islamic republic. Additionally, he remarked that Iranians admire Netanyahu for his statements about teaching the mullahs a lesson.
According to media reports, on January 28, 2025, charges were brought against Sadegh Zibakalam by the Iranian judiciary for statements made during this speech. Zibakalam had begun serving a three-year sentence in Evin prison for spreading "propaganda" on may 12, but has been on medical furlough since September.
Sadegh Zibakalam: "Anti-Americanism, death to America, is the soul of the Islamic Republic of Iran. If you take away death to America from revolutionary Iran, one wonders what is left to be discussed. What are we going to talk about? If we are not going to talk about death to America.
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"When the Iranian supreme leader Khamenei, whatever the issue is it, refers to the heroic Iranian struggle against the United States. It doesn't matter but it is, uh, the martyrdom of the Iranian Imam or it is something to do with Iran/Iraq war or whatever the issue is, we end up by uh, referring to the uh, struggle heroic, struggle of the Iranian people, of the Muslims in Iran and throughout the world. Their heroic struggle against the Unites States of America that has been going on for forty-six years. How on earth I could imagine we could imagine an Iran whose Supreme Leader would not mention death to America. It is very difficult for me to foresee such a day, such an era.
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"Late Yassar Arafat came to Iran. I think it was two weeks or three weeks after the Islamic revolution. And because i saw it with my own eyes, because I saw it with my own eyes, I could tell you that the crowd the Iranian crowd welcomed him and to say long live Palestine was incredible. The only crowd that I had seen up until that day when Yassar Arafat came to Iran was the day when Ayatollah Khomeini came to Iran.
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"If Yassar Arafat would ever return back to Iran nowadays not only no one would welcome him, but everyone would swear at him.
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"Every single Iranian whether he or she was religious, rich poor, educated, uneducated, came from suburb of Isfahan or Shiraz or came from heart of Tehran, would support Palestinian. Palestinians were heroes and Israelis were Satan. Devil. All the fault of the cruel action had been committed by the Israelis and the Palestinians were just innocent Muslim people. That was the opinion of nearly 34 million Iranian revolutionaries in 1979. You'd be surprised today since the 7 of October last year, you'd be surprised at the number of Iranians who hate Palestinian. What happened to that sympathy? It's gone, it's evaporated.
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"I saw it with my own eyes during the past fifteen months. The degree of hatred of younger generation of Iranian against Palestinian.
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"If you ask Iranian people why are you so happy, why are you so excited that Trump has been elected, what do you know about Trump? Nothing again. So why are you so happy? What does it do in Iran that Trump has become president? Because Trump has said that 'I know how to tackle the Islamic republic'. That's enough. That's enough. Why do you love Netanhayhu? Because he has said 'I will teach these Mullahs in Tehran a lesson'. And that's enough for the younger generation."