Pars Today

This time we are going to review the reactions to Ayatollah Khamenei’s recent letter in different media.

On November 30, 2015, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei wrote a missive for the youths in the West, especially North America and Europe which was published by the media. The Leader, in the letter, touched upon the US contradictory policies vis-à-vis terrorism, military aggressions to the Islamic world, terrorist incident in Paris, and chronic bloodshed and massacre in Palestine, Iraq and Syria. Leader of the Islamic Revolution, addressing the necessity of confronting violence-breeding thoughts and terrorism as the common pains of the Islamic world and the West, urged the Western youths to precisely study Islam via first hand sources.
The letter which was released after the terrorist events in Paris very soon went on viral, especially the part referring to the necessity of contemplation on mechanisms and dialogue to solve problems. He wrote, “For me, it is unfortunate that such incidents would have to create the framework for a conversation, however the truth is that if painful matters do not create the grounds for finding solutions and mutual consultation, then the damage caused will be doubled.”
This letter was given coverage by almost all regional media and most of them paid attention to the Leader’s disclosure of the nature of terrorism and its global supporters. For instance, the Lebanese network al-Mayadeen and the news agency al-Ahd, releasing parts of Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter, pointed to his sharpness and insight in the current sensitive circumstances.
During the days after the release of Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter, the Western media have highlighted parts of his letter. American Herald Tribune published the text of the letter and highlighted the issues such as criticism of the duplicitous policies of the international organizations against terrorism, expressing sadness over terrorist events in Paris and slamming the policies of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people.
Associated Press wrote the Iranian Leader has announced that blind terrorism which caused evil incidents in France have urged him to write this letter; and that he has been annoyed with bloodshed between Israel and Palestinians and the violence created by ISIL in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The French News Agency (AFP) considered direct and first hand studying of Islam as the main axis of the letter and wrote that Iran’s Leader wrote the letter to deter the flood of prejudices and negative propaganda against this religion. This view on Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter was evident in Foreign Policy, Bloomberg and New York Magazine, too. CNN related the nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the other 6 countries and published parts of the letter two days after its release. Then the analyst of the channel wrote that “closeness of Tehran-Washington ties in nuclear talks” didn’t deter Ayatollah Khamenei from pounding the Western stances. This report has covered parts of the Leader’s letter which were translated into different languages and published on the cyberspace. Although the text of the letter had to be published on the page of the website, the columnist gave his analysis of the Tehran-Washington relations and its impact on the Leader’s stances, writing, “Ayatollah Khamenei, two weeks ago had put a post on the nuclear negotiations in his page on Twitter where he had called the US as enemy. In August, on the same page, he had strongly lashed out at the American police’s behavior with the colored people who were protesting the murder of a youth in Ferguson.”
New York Times also reacted to the letter of Ayatollah Khamenei, writing, “Iran’s Leader has asked the western youths to have an independent perception of Islam via accessing the genuine and pristine sources.”
Foreign Policy magazine wrote, “Leader of Iran’s Islamic Republic has always said that he has no enmity with the American people and rather he is critical of the US politicians. The weekly New York Magazine, releasing the Leader’s letter, wrote that the leader’s usage of social networks indicates his awareness of the world developments.
The Russian radio’s website also wrote in its French section that the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in his message to the youths of North America and Europe said that the West is in pursuit of spreading hatred against Islam and Muslims. It added that Ayatollah Khamenei in his open letter has asked the youths not to be the victim of the spurious campaign and get to know Islam via its genuine source (the holy Qur’an).
The Israeli media covered parts of the letter in which Ayatollah Khamenei points to the atrocities of the Zionist regime and covered it in such a way as of the message was just about Palestine and Israel. Times of Israel, under the heading, “Khamenei: Israel is more savage than Paris terrorists”, wrote that Iran’s Leader has said that no evidence can show the brutality of the Zionist regime more clearly than settlement constructions. This daily continued that Iran’s Leader wrote in his letter, “If the people of Europe have now taken refuge in their homes for a few days and refrain from being present in busy places- it is decades that a Palestinian family is not secure even in its own home from the Zionist regime’s death and destruction machinery. What kind of atrocious violence today is comparable to that of the settlement constructions of the Zionists regime?”
Reuters, however, pointing to the Palestinian issue in the letter, wrote that Iran’s Leader has supported the Palestinian youths and people in his letter and believes that the west is the main supporter of the Zionist regime and the youths in the west shouldn’t be negligent of this issue.
 Legatum Institute is a charitable public policy think tank based in Britain. This institute analyzed Ayatollah Khamenei’s proper usage of the social networks and new methods of communication. It wrote on translation of the leader’s first letter into 21 languages as a sign of effectiveness of his message.
RM/ME