I will not accept it until he resigns

Translated by Mandana Karimi

2025-3-13

When I got back from exile, I went to Mashhad and stayed there for a while. Then I came to Tehran to do a joint project with friends. They insisted that I stay in Tehran. It was my own intention too but Muharram and Safar were coming and Imam had issued special orders for Muharram and Safar. At his order, we were supposed to organize the work related to this time in Mashhad with the help of friends. In Mashhad, just like other places, organizing things related to people was awkward. The protests and organizing important and unprecedented marches of several hundred thousand people in Mashhad, was in my way to come to Teheran. So I stayed there until Martyr Motahari sent me a few massages that I have to go to Teheran for an important thing. So I contended my friends in Mashhad and left for Teheran.

The matter was that Imam had chosen me as a member of the Revolutionary Council and I was not aware of it. Imam’s decision made me stay in Teheran and settle in Refah School, the place where the welcoming committee was formed. I remember a memory from the intense days before Imam’s arrival and February 1^st that might be interesting to you. The memory is from the night that they closed the airport the next day. Bakhtiar was supposed to read an announcement on the radio, but because some members of the Revolutionary Council had a friendship history with Bakhtiar or maybe were a bit formal with him, they sent the announcement to the Revolutionary Council to see if they agree with it or not.

Although maybe the name “Revolutionary council” was not used for this group but they knew a council existed but they did not know who was in the council. They just knew there is a group that is in contact with Imam. The most prominent of them were Martyr Beheshti, Martyr Motahari and some of our other brothers such as Mr.Hashemi and Martyr Bahonar. These were among those who were personally in contact with Imam regarding matters related to protests and etc. That night, one of the people who was associated with Bakhtiar’s group brought Bakhtiar’s announcement. The announcement said that Bakhtiar wants to go to Paris for some negotiation with Ayatollah Khomeini. Imam agreed with it. This was unimaginable to us. How was it possible for Imam to accept a meeting with Bakhtiar so easily? We already knew that Imam’s condition for visiting him was resignation from all positions and even more so, renouncing the monarchy and things of that sort. We knew these were his conditions, so it was unimaginable to us that Bakhtiar, with such a bland and weak text, had got the permission to visit him. But the person who brought the announcement, was a member of the council himself and stated that this had indeed been done.

At first, when they brought the announcement, Martyr Beheshti was not in the meeting. Before his arrival, Martyr Motahari corrected one of the announcement’s phrases. Then when Martyr Beheshti came, another correction was done. In result, the announcement’s content almost changed, and they said that if it is phrased like this it may be accepted by Imam. With all of this being done, still most of the members thought it was unlikely for Imam to accept something like this. During the discussion, one of our like-minded attendants said for solving the issue it is better for us to ask Paris on the phone. Martyr Motahari said that he will ask himself and went to the adjacent room that had a telephone.

He came back after a short time and said Imam has accepted. Mr.Motahari had said that we had corrected these two places and that we were going to convince Bakhtiar to accept it. Imam accepted the first text and said do not insist on changing it. Just make it get to the 8 p.m. News. We said at least keep these two corrections. In that time, Qom clergies and Ayatollah Montazeri and all of the clergies who had come to Teheran to welcome Imam and were staying in Alavi School, were having a meeting. We went to their meeting as well. I do not remember exactly whether Martyr Motahari or Martyr Beheshti read the article as a breaking news in that meeting. The fellows who were at the meeting such as Ayatollah Montazeri said: “No Imam did not accept it.” And that was what we thought. I mean, we also thought it was unacceptable for Imam. Fellows said that we had contacted Paris and Imam has accepted but Mr.Montazeri said : “ I won’t believe this until I talk to Paris myself.” Finally, there was a debate over this matter, that will Imam accept the corrected text or not. We all agreed that if Imam accept the text, an odd thing has happened. But we had phoned and were aware of this. But because the attendants have not talked to Paris themselves, it was hard for them to believe. That is why they wanted to contact Paris directly themselves. I think Mr.Montazeri phoned and told Paris: “Write down what I say and tell it to Imam and give me the answer.”. We went back to Refah school and waited for Imam’s answer. It was midnight when Imam’s short announcement arrived. Imam has said: No, I have not made a promise to anyone, I will not accept it until he resigns.

Source: Sotudeh, Amir Reza, Pa Be Pay-e Aftab, (Along with the Sunlight), Vol.2. Teheran: Panjereh Publishing Co. 1994. Pp. 192-194.