“The recent events in France and similar ones in some other Western countries have convinced me to directly talk to you about them,” Khamenei’s letter reads. “I am addressing you, [the youth], not because I overlook your parents, rather it is because the future of your nations and countries will be in your hands; and also I find that the sense of quest for truth is more vigorous and attentive in your hearts.”
The Paris attacks, which have provoked a wave of anti-Islam protests in the West, were retribution for Charlie Hebdo’s lampooning of Islam over the years. The magazine’s first issue after the attack, which features a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed on its cover, has sparked demonstrations across the Muslim world.
But the leader of Iran, where chants of “Death to America” have been a familiar refrain at Friday prayers and parliamentary sessions since the Islamic republic’s founding in 1979, strikes a more conciliatory tone in his message to young people in the West.
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And in November, Khamenei tweeted a nine-point explanation of why Israel should be “annihilated” — a comment that infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged Western powers to pull out of nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Khamenei’s letter in full can be read here.
