against Iran since the revolution.
Giving the sermon at the Eid al-Adha prayers last Monday, Khatami, who is not related to the former president, said:
“During the past 32 years, we have witnessed different types of plots by global arrogance against us, especially of the US and its illegitimate child, the Zionist regime. I have written down 10 types of these.”
He then went through them one-by-one.
1—He described “ethnic wars” as the first type of plot, referring to alleged military support given rebel Baluchis, Kurds and Arabs.
2—Then he cited “assassinations” and said: “Over 12,000 people have been assassinated by the US and its agents in this country.” He added that Iran possesses 100 “undeniable documents” that prove America’s involvement in the assassinations inside Iran and also in other countries.
3—He referred to the “eight-year imposed war” (the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war) as the third plot. The Islamic Republic has always insisted that the United States recruited Saddam Hussein to invade Iran in 1980.
4—He termed “influences up to the level of the president” as the fourth type of plot, a reference to the 2009 presidential candidate Mir-Hossain Musavi being an American agent, a charge not broadly accepted within the regime.
5—Describing “coups” as the fifth type of plot, he said six coups were initiated by the US in Iran, all of which, he said were “foiled” with the help of God. Iran has often described the abortive US military mission in 1980 to rescue the embassy hostages as actually a coup attempt.
6 & 7—He called the “soft warfare and “1388 sedition” (2009 post-poll protests) the sixth and seventh types of America’s and Israel’s plots against Iran. “Soft warfare” refers to alleged efforts by the United States to enduce Iranians to launch a non-violent revolution like the “velvet” revolution that toppled the communist government in Czechoslovakia some 20 years ago.
8—Khatami said the US “intrusion into Afghanistan” in 2001 was a plot actually intended to create a base against Islamic Iran.
9—The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not to topple Saddam Hussein but rather a plot to establish control over Iran.
10—The “New Middle East” proclaimed in speeches was aimed at curbing “the wave of the huge Islamic Revolution.”
Khatami said that all these plots were “foiled” with the help of God.