Iranian Quotes - Page 3

• I call on the Iranian people: it is not too late to replace the corrupt regime and return to your glorious Persian heritage, a heritage of culture and values and not of bombs and missiles... How can a nation allow a regime to instill fear, take away the people's freedom and shock the young generation that seeks its way out of the dictatorial Iran.

  Shimon Peres

  Iran, Young Generation, People

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• I think women in Iran are very resilient and I am very proud of all the Iranian women that are standing up for their rights and speaking out, and I hope that they will succeed and I am glad the international community is paying attention and supporting them as well.

  Anousheh Ansari

  Thinking, Community, Attention

  Source: bigthink.com

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• Social media is important, but it does not bring down governments. Governments can shut down the Internet. Governments can control media access. If they do what the Tunisians did and try and negotiate with the opposition, then the media's still open, the international community can learn what's happening in the country, and then that can provide inspiration. But in mid-2009, the Iranian regime just shut down the Internet. Facebook went dark. Twitter went dark. BBC Persian, Voice of America, Persian News Network all went dark. That was it.

  Ilan Berman

  Country, Inspiration, Dark

  Source: www.esquire.com

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• Now, the Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization. Iran has acted in ways that's not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region: their threats against Israel; their pursuit of a nuclear weapon which could potentially set off an arms race in the region that would make everybody less safe; their support of terrorist organizations in the past - none of these things have been helpful.

  Barack Obama

  Past, People, Support

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

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• The Iranian regime suppresses its own people as well as others in the region. It prevents peace by sponsoring terror globally. With the ultimate weapon that it is deceptively developing, the regime aims to gain hegemony over the entire Middle East and hold the world's economy hostage.

  Shimon Peres

  People, Middle East, Hegemony

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• I was born in Iran, left at a very young age-less than a year old-and grew up and was educated in the West. I grew up thinking of myself as an American but also, because of my parents and the Iranian culture that was in our home, as an Iranian. So if there's any such thing as dual loyalty, then I have it-at least culturally.

  Hooman Majd

  Loyalty, Home, Thinking

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• It's probably more frustrating to me as an Iranian living in America than it is when I'm over there. Inside Iran, people are actually quite well educated about America. There are things they don't understand, particularly in the government, but the people, by and large, know the American sensibility quite well, and the reverse is not true. There's a lack of knowledge about Iran and the Iranian people.

  Hooman Majd

  People, Educated, Frustrating

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• The Iranian government has become pretty open about the drug problem in recent years. Opium use is a very traditional, cultural thing in Iran, so the government is actually more open about it than they are about some of the other ills in society. They just don't want to talk about things that might relate to a Western lifestyle even though they know that Iranians indulge. Because there is no real public life left in Iran - people go and have dinner and then everything retreats behind these Persian walls.

  Hooman Majd

  Wall, Real, People

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• The Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons would be infinitely more costly than any scenario you can imagine to stop it.

  Benjamin Netanyahu

  Acquisition, Would Be, Nuclear

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• I don't think Israel can accept an Iranian terror base next to its major cities any more than the United States could accept an al Qaeda base next to New York City.

  Benjamin Netanyahu

  New York, Thinking, Israel

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• Iranians defend and present their Islamic and Iranian identity to other people worldwide.

  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

  Islamic, People, Identity

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• For three years now, probably more, there is a clear common interest developed between Israel and the leading Sunni moderate entities. The Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan. And the common interest is to block radical Muslim terror, to counter the Iranian hegemonic and nuclear intentions, and to join hands in a huge infrastructure project from water, energy, transportation, whatever, in the whole Middle East.

  Ehud Barak

  Block, Water, Energy

  Source: www.politico.com

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• More likely, there were probably some real divisions within the Iranian government - some groups wanted to ally with al Qaeda against us, others didn't want to have anything to do with that. So I think that debate resulted in no decision being made for awhile. The problem was they left the al-Qaeda folks in Iran in the hands of their intelligence services and Revolutionary Guard, who didn't really keep an eye on them - and may not have kept an eye on them on purpose.

  Kenneth M. Pollack

  Real, Eye, Thinking

  "The Persian Puzzle: An Interview With Kenneth Pollack". Interview With Bradford Plumer, www.motherjones.com. January 24, 2005.

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• The Europeans are starting to show that they're finally serious about the Iranian nuclear program, and they appear to be willing to use sticks against Iran. So I think it is imperative that the United States sit down with the Europeans and say, "Let's make this very clear to the Iranians. Either they can give up their nuclear program and their support for terrorism, in which case we'll given them all kinds of benefits. Otherwise, we'll join in comprehensive, multilateral sanctions that will cripple their very fragile economy."

  Kenneth M. Pollack

  Giving Up, Thinking, Support

  "The Persian Puzzle: An Interview With Kenneth Pollack". Interview With Bradford Plumer, www.motherjones.com. January 24, 2005.

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• Most Iranians are sick and tired of revolutions. They've had one for the last 25 years, and they don't want another one. Those who've tried to spark another revolution have failed time and again. I don't think there's any evidence that somehow, if the U.S. gave these guys the high sign, it would make regime change somehow more likely. Every time the U.S. has tried to interfere in Iranian affairs to help a particular group of Iranians, it's backfired on us, and hurt the group we tried to help.

  Kenneth M. Pollack

  Hurt, Tired, Thinking

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• In the United States, Iran is nothing but a whipping-boy. Few Americans have any real use for Iran. Most of us, what we know and remember about Iran are things like the hostage crisis in 1980, or they think about the Iranian attacks in Lebanon, or on the Khobar Towers. So you don't get a whole lot of political mileage in the United States by going out and advocating better relations with the Iranians.

  Kenneth M. Pollack

  Real, Thinking, Political

  "The Persian Puzzle: An Interview With Kenneth Pollack". Interview With Bradford Plumer, www.motherjones.com. January 24, 2005.

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• Our support for the Shah, the CIA coup in 1953 - has become infused into the Iranian political discourse. The regime that came to power in 1979 during the Iranian revolution actually defined itself as anti-American, and that's now a critical ingredient in the Iranian domestic political debate. That really is the source of our problems - the regime in Tehran continues to see itself as opposing the US. In their eyes, everything the US does is directed at them in a very malevolent way, and therefore they have to fight back against it.

  Kenneth M. Pollack

  Eye, Fighting, Support

  "The Persian Puzzle: An Interview With Kenneth Pollack". Interview With Bradford Plumer, www.motherjones.com. January 24, 2005.

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• Being someone who prays or fasts doesn't mean you want an Islamic state. Islam in the form of the Iranian state has been defeated in the Arab world. All Islamist movements now want to copy the Turkish model.

  Burhan Ghalioun

  Islamic, Mean, World

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• I can't speak for all Iranians, but I think that many of them would be uncomfortable with Ahmadinejad if Iran had nuclear weapons and he had his finger on the button. But the reality is that Iran's system of government is actually very complex. It has a lot of checks and balances, and neither Ahmadinejad nor any Iranian president would ever have his finger on the button. There are too many people involved in a decision of that magnitude.

  Hooman Majd

  Reality, Thinking, People

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• If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior.

  Hillary Clinton

  Trying, Pieces, Influence

  Hillary Clinton's speech at the Clinton-Sanders Democratic presidential debate in Durham, New Hampshire, hosted by MSNBC, www.nytimes.com. February 4, 2016.

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• We [The United States] believe the Iranian people want a future of freedom and human rights: the right to vote, to run for office, to express their views without fear and to pursue political causes. We would welcome the progress, prosperity and freedom of the Iranian people.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Running, Believe, Rights

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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• A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a region free of Iranian nukes are worthy goals that should be able to withstand public scrutiny in every Middle Eastern capital.

  Edgar Bronfman, Sr.

  Two, Goal, Nukes

  "The Arab Role in Making Peace" by Edgar M. Bronfman, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 3, 2010.

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• My hopes for Iran's future lies with women first and foremost. Iran's feminist movement is very strong. This movement has no leader or head quarters. Its place is the home of every Iranian who believes in equal rights. This is currently the strongest women's movement in the Middle East.

  Shirin Ebadi

  Strong, Lying, Believe

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• Two-thirds of the Iranian people would like to be reconciled with the West. They don't like the fanaticism of the governing religious council. It's the only place in the world where the last six elections have been won by the more progressive candidate, two for president, two for the mayors, two for the parliament. So most people there are sympathetic to the world we Americans want to build, whether we're Republicans or Democrats. On the other hand, almost everybody there wants them to have nuclear power. They see it as a status symbol, and a sense of their own security.

  William J. Clinton

  Religious, Hands, Two

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• The notion that we would condition Iran not getting nuclear weapons in a verifiable deal on Iran recognizing Israel is really akin to saying that we won't sign a deal unless the nature of the Iranian regime completely transforms. And that is, I think, a fundamental misjudgment.

  Barack Obama

  Nature, Thinking, Israel

  "Obama admits Iran nuclear deal only delays inevitable, leaves problem for future presidents", www.foxnews.com. April 7, 2015.

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