From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Great Satan
Great Satan
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• Ali Khamenei The Great Satan (Persian شيطان بزرگShaytân-e Bozorg) is
• Assembly of Experts a derogatory epithet for the United States of America
• Speaker in some Iranian foreign policy statements. Occasionally,
• Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani these words have also been used toward the government
Executive of the United Kingdom.
• President (List) The term was originally used by Iranian leader Ruhol-
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lah Khomeini in his speech on November 5, 1979 to de-
• Vice President scribe the United States whom he accused of imperialism
• First (List): and the sponsoring of corruption throughout the world.
• Mohammad-Reza Rahimi Ayatollah Khomeini also occasionally used the terms
• Others Iblis (Diabolis - the primary devil in Islam) to refer to the
• Cabinet United States and other Western countries.
• 90th Government
• Supreme National Security Council
• Secretary Background history
• Saeed Jalili Iranians have considered the United States and the Unit-
• Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution ed Kingdom as Imperialist states, who have a long history
• Chairman of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs. In 1907, the Anglo-
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Russian Agreement between Russia and Britain divided
Legislative Iran into spheres of influence, challenging Iran’s moves
• Islamic Consultative Assembly toward independence. At the height of the Cold War, the
• Speaker administration of the U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhow-
• Ali Larijani er approved a joint Anglo-American operation to over-
• Expediency Council throw elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadeq, in
• Chairman the pretext that his nationalist aspirations would lead
• Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to an eventual communist takeover. The operation was
• Supreme Audit Court code-named Operation Ajax. At first, the military coup
• City and Village Councils seemed to fail, and the Shah fled the country. After wide-
Judicial spread rioting —and with help from the CIA and British
• Supreme Court intelligence services— Mossadeq was defeated and the
• Sadeq Larijani Shah returned to power, ensuring support for Western
• Attorney General oil interests and snuffing the perceived threat of com-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Great Satan
munist expansion. General Fazlollah Zahedi, who led the
military coup, became prime minister.
Controversies
Ayatollah Khomeini was exiled to Turkey for his out- The term has been discussed extensively and addressed
spoken denunciation of the Shah’s Status of Forces bill, within the context of U.S.-Iran relations by some mem-
which granted U.S. military personnel diplomatic immu- bers of the United States foreign policy establishment. [6]
nity for crimes committed on Iranian soil. From Turkey,
Khomeini moved to Iraq in 1965 and remained there until
1978 before moving to Paris for four months. He then re-
See also
turned to Iran and led the 1979 Iranian revolution. • U.S.-Iran relations
The United States supported the Shah starting from • Axis of Evil
the 1950s, but this waned toward the end of the 1970s, • Devil (Islam)
particularly under the Carter administration. The Irani-
ans hated the Shah, and felt that the U.S was against
them. When Saddam Hussein came into power, the U.S
References & notes
also at first supported him.[1] Demonstrators commonly [1] Imperialism is the answer Mark Steyn. October 14,
chanted slogans such as "Independence, Freedom, and Is- 2001
lamic Republic". [2] Christopher Buck, Religious myths and visions of
America: how minority faiths redefined America’s
world role, page 136 [1]
Definition of the term [3] Iran & the Great Satan
Khomeini is quoted as saying on November 5, 1979, [4] 1,300 years later, Iraq can’t stop bleeding by ANISA
"[America is] the great Satan, the wounded snake."[2] The MEHDI
term was used extensively during and after the Islamic [5] America’s foreign policy: Manifest Destiny or Great
Revolution,[3] but it continues to be in used in some Iran- Satan? - Contemporary Politics
ian political circles. Use of the term at rallies is often ac- [6] Purdum, Todd S. (2002-02-15). "With Candor,
companied by shouts of "Marg bar Amrika!" ("Death to Powell Charms Global MTV Audience". The New
America" is an inexact translation of "Marg Bar Amrika", York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/15/
but is supposed to mean "Down with America").[4] The international/15POWE.html. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
term has also found in political statements of Muslim and
anti-American activists throughout the world. It is used
in academic journals and media.[5]
External links
• The Great Satan by Kavitha Rao, April 26, 2000
• ’Great Satan’ warned of a burning hell by Ian Black,
The Guardian, February 16, 2005
• How the "Great Satan" Became Just Great
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Satan&oldid=459027500"
Categories:
• Iran–United States relations
• Political slogans
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