"Welcome Mister Khomeini," read the unlikely sign hanging on the 12th floor of a Washington building, home to a conservative think tank hosting the Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson.
Facing journalists and re-searchers in dark suits, Hossein Khomeini, dressed in a traditional white jacket and black turban, took easily to the question-and-answer routine.
"Do you think that Iran has an atomic weapon?" asked an Iranian-American journalist in Farsi.
Khomeini's piercing eyes darkened as his eyebrow furrowed.
"I have no specific information. But it is such a troublemaker-regime that I won't be surprised. And if they don't have it now, they will have it in the future, I have no doubt about it," he said, running his finger along his beard, which is not yet as thick as his grandfather's.
He spoke softly, but still set the tone for 90 minutes of relentless criticism of the Islamic regime in his country. Hossein Khomeini, a well-educated Shiite Muslim steeped in Western philosophy, had been asked by the ayatollah to keep quiet with his ideas for a true democracy in Iran.
But after his grandfather and his uncle Ahmad died, Hossein received threats and lived in isolation in the holy city of Qom, until he decided to flee across the border with Iraq.
"Under the shah, at least, religious practice was free. Today, after the revolution, Iran is one of the worst dictatorships," he said, running his fingers along his prayer beads.
Khomeini welcomed the US-led invasion of Iraq, which he said had made it a "free country," and called on US President George W. Bush to intervene in Iran and install a "true democracy."
"Iran is intruding into Iraqi territory, and maybe it will force the United States to intervene in Iran too," said Khomeini, who has lived in Iraq for several months.
"Mr. Bush should act like Churchill when he gathered around him the British population to fight against Hitler," he said, before singing the praises of Western democracy and its "indispensable" freedoms of thought and of religion.
Another question, this time about terrorist groups backed by Iran, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
"No Muslim should be allowed to have such activities. Unfortunately, Iran is a longtime supporter of terrorism. This regime is one of the most active supporters of terrorism," he said.
Before he left, Khomeini wished a "happy new year" to his sur-prised host.
"The Jewish New Year," explained the translator.
Khomeini left the room to a round of applause.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not