Salehi said, “With the realization of Iran’s Islamic revolution, the ‘isms’ of the world—such as nationalism—have slowly faded and Islam has now found its place in the world.”
Islam, he said, has succeeded in “penetrating all layers of humanity” and continues to spread among all human societies.
It isn’t known if Salehi actually believes what he was saying. It is almost essential politically, however, for the regime leadership to tell its people that under Iran’s leadership Islam is spreading to every comer of the world. That is used to justify the sacrifices the Iranian people are making.
Salehi, 63, as foreign minister, travels more widely than almost any other Iranian and presumably has a better insight into world perspectives on Islam and Iran. He is a fluent English speaker. Born in Karbala, Iraq, where his father had a business, he got his undergraduate education at the American University of Beirut, which operates in English, and his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In his speech to the 8th International Conference on the Doctrine of Mahdiism, which would be messianism or belief in a messiah in Christianity, Salehi said, “The concept of Mahdiism is not specific to one single religion only, but belongs to all divine religions.”
In Shia Islam, Mahdiism is the belief that the 12th Imam will emerge from occultation and return to earth in a second coming to fulfill his role leading the faithful to salvation.
Salehi said this belief has different names in different religions. But the fundamentals of other religions show the recurring theme of a Messiah returning to earth as the savior and liberator. This belief can be found in Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism “as well as a host of other religions,” Salehi said.