Iranians Quotes

In the eyes of the Iranians, they don't respect or fear Barack Obama. He drew a line against Assad when he used chemical weapons and did nothing about it. And our friends, the Arabs and the Israelis, don't trust President Obama. ~ Lindsey Graham

I am sure the majority of Iranians want a peace agreement with Israel and want Iran to integrate with the international community and accept its universal values. ~ Moshe Katsav

The case of Iran, a nuclear program that the Iranians admit was 18 years on, that we underestimated. And, in fact, we didn't discover it. It was discovered by a group of Iranian dissidents outside the country who pointed the international community at the location. ~ David Kay

I do believe that the Iranians are a good neighbour. The Iranians have supported the people of Yemen. ~ Mohammad Marandi

So the villains aren't gay-hating Islamists or women killing tyrants, but actually us: an American Congress bent on the apocalypse. Don't we understand? Iranians love their children too. ~ Greg Gutfeld

Reagan survived the Iran-Contra scandal because the elements of it that were illegal (aiding anti-communist Nicaraguans) were popular and the things that were unpopular (arming the Iranians) were quite legal. ~ David Frum

I would love to have a good deal to end the nuclear ambitions of the Iranians, but I don't trust the Iranians. They've been lying and cheating. ~ Lindsey Graham

We want to see the Iranians engage, and as you know, we have attempted to bring about that engagement over the course of the last three-plus years. It has not proven effective. ~ Barack Obama

Citizenship rights is about making all Iranians feel they are part of one nation, one identity, under one umbrella they can feel proud of. ~ Hassan Rouhani

In 1979, Iranians carried out an illegitimate act: They overthrew a tyrant that the United States had imposed and supported, and moved on an independent path, not following U.S. orders. ~ Noam Chomsky

The Iranians know what they need to do in order to become a responsible member of the international community and in order to become a good neighbor, and it's really up to them to change their behavior. ~ Adel Al-Jubeir

Iranians defend and present their Islamic and Iranian identity to other people worldwide. ~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

For hundreds of years Iranians have been migrating to many parts of the world. They took Islamic culture to other parts of the world and established it there. ~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. ~ Hillary Clinton

I think the best thing, if you can't get an air-tight deal with every "I" dotted and every "t" crossed is let the next president have a chance to deal with the Iranians. ~ Lindsey Graham

Interpreting dreams for Iranians was just as much a sacrament as reading coffee cups was for Turks ~ Soroosh Shahrivar

Fortunately, Iranians are politically active worldwide. ~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

During the 19th century, Iranians lost vast territories in disastrous wars, and corrupt monarchs sold everything of value in the country to foreigners. ~ Stephen Kinzer

I don't see that there is a credible threat for American action - the rhetoric of the U.S. President is too vague, very amorphous. I don't see that Obama's words will be translated into more tangible intentions and therefore this is probably why the Iranians don't take it seriously. They speak out against it and they dismiss it. ~ Tzachi Hanegbi

Iranians hate Arabs. They're a fairly well-educated population and they have centuries of experience with self-government. ~ Michael Ledeen

The visual possibility of seeing the historical person (as opposed to the eternal Qur'anic man) on screen is arguably the single most important event allowing Iranians access to modernity. ~ Hamid Dabashi

The United States has weakened itself with Iraq; Iranians feel victorious - they feel capable of filling the void. I think from the very outset the nuclear issue has been secondary to the more strategic outlook, in which the United States has, since 1991, pursued a policy that it cannot permit any country in the region to become too powerful and challenge American hegemony. ~ Trita Parsi

I think oil prices are down for two reasons. One is, there is a lot of supply. There is a lot of supply because the U.S. now produces a lot of oil and there is a lot of supply because the Saudis seem to want to produce a lot of oil, maybe to punish the Iranians and the Russians. ~ David Wessel

You've got the North Koreans building weapons; you got the Iranians building weapons. You've got - the Pakistanis already have at least 100 nuclear weapons. Do you think there's any serious effort in this country to come to grips with that? ~ Newt Gingrich

Our case was straightforward: The deal prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. The Iranians had to remove two-thirds of their centrifuges, couldn't use their more advanced centrifuges, and had to get rid of 98 percent of their stockpile. They had to convert a heavy water reactor so it couldn't produce plutonium.
Inspectors would have 24/7 access to Iran's nuclear facilities, and the ability to access Iran's entire nuclear supply chain - from uranium mines and mills to centrifuge manufacturing and storage facilities. To cheat, Iran wouldn't just need a nuclear facility like Natanz or Fordow - they'd have to run an entirely secret supply chain. If they cheated, sanctions would snap back into place.
Then there were the consequences of not having the deal. Without it, Iran could quickly advance its nuclear program to the point of having enough material for a bomb. That would leave us with a choice between bombing their facilities and acquiescing to a nuclear-armed Iran. Holding out for a better deal was not going to work. It was diplomacy or war. ~ Ben Rhodes

If the Obama administration is this afraid of Glenn Beck, how do they deal with the Iranians? ~ Newt Gingrich

The riots that shook Abadan led many Iranians to rally to the workers' cause, partly out of instinctive sympathy but also because of the grossly unequal terms under which the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company operated. In 1947, for example, the company reported an after-tax profit of £40 million-the equivalent of $112 million dollars-and gave Iran just £7 million. To make matters worse, it never complied with its commitment under the 1933 agreement with Reza Shah to give laborers better pay and more chance for advancement, nor had it built the schools, hospitals, roads, or telephone system it promised. Manucher Farmanfarmaian, who in 1949 became director of Iran's petroleum institute, was appalled by what he found at Abadan: ~ Stephen Kinzer

Iranians are very proud and don't want to become a pariah state like North Korea. ~ Edward Luck

[Iranians] are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. ~ Bernie Sanders

[Iranians] are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. ~ Hillary Clinton

Hamas married the Iranians. It was their choice. They are the same family. ~ Shimon Peres

The Obama administration announced a deal with Iran that would prevent the Iranians from making a nuclear weapon. In exchange, we're giving the Iranians Netflix. ~ Conan O'Brien

Was the collaboration of some slaves any different than the silence of some Iranians who stood by and did nothing as Savak thugs murdered and tortured opponents of the Shah? How could we judge other men until we had stood in their shoes? ~ Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

I do want to once again speak directly to the Iranian people. Yours is a great civilization with a vibrant culture that has so much to contribute to the world - in commerce and in science and in arts. For decades, your government's threats and actions to destabilize your region have isolated Iran from much of the world, and now our governments are talking with one another. Following the nuclear deal, you, especially young Iranians, have the opportunity to begin building new ties with the world. ~ Barack Obama

Nobody in the Senate on a bipartisan fashion trusts the Iranians. They lie. They cheat. They're a murderous regime. They've been trying to develop a nuclear weapon. ~ Lindsey Graham

The Iranians don't want the same thing we do in Iraq, not really; they want to control Iraq ... the Ayatollah hates the United States; the Iranians are enemies of the United States. ~ Elliott Abrams

The mystic Al-Ghazali said that the inhabitants of heaven remain forever thirty-three. It reminds me of Iran, stuck in 1976 in the imagination of every exile. Iranians often say that when they visit Tehran or Shiraz or Isfahan, they find even the smallest changes confusing and painful - a beloved corner shop gone to dust, the smell of bread that once filled a street, a rose garden neglected. In their memories, they always change it back. Iran is like an aging parent, they say. ~ Dina Nayeri

Later American support for the unpopular Muhammad Reza Shah, who not only closed down the Majlis to effect his modernization programme, but systematically denied Iranians fundamental human rights that democracy was supposed to guarantee, made it seem that there was a double standard. The West proudly proclaimed democracy for its own people, but Muslims were expected to submit to cruel dictatorships. In Egypt there were seventeen general elections between 1923 and 1952, all of which were won by the popular Wafd party, but the Wafd were permitted to rule only five times. They were usually forced to stand down by either the British or by the king of EgypT ~ Karen Armstrong

Or take the opportunity offered to the United States following the attacks of September 11, 2001, when both Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mohammed Khatami condemned the Sunni al Qaeda terrorism in no uncertain terms and Iranians held vigils for the victims in the streets of Tehran...or the help Iran gave to the US-led coalition against the Taliban later that year; or the Iranian offer for substantial talks following the fall of Baghdad in the Spring of 2003. ~ Robert D. Kaplan

It was the Obama administration that cut a faux deal with the Iranians that will not disarm Iran of its nuclear capabilities, and will in fact accelerate their nuclear development. ~ Ben Shapiro

In 1953, the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's popular prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons, but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development and it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs. ~ Madeleine Albright

I proud to say that most of the Iranians love me and love my work. I love them, and I always have them in my mind when I work. There are few people who do not agree with me, but truly, I don't care. I call myself an actress with a mission. ~ Shohreh Aghdashloo

We need to make it very clear to the Iranians, the same way we made it clear to the Soviet Union and China, that their first use of nuclear weapons would result in the devastation of their nation. ~ John Abizaid

We were not willing to be the tool of a foreign government," remembers Sheikh Hassan today. "There were a number of people in authority in Iran who wanted to recruit us against
the Saudi government. They came to us - they made quite a few approaches to us. But we told them that we wished to remain independent." His aide Jaffar Shayeb did the political talking on the sheikh's behalf. "We listened to what they said," says Shayeb of the Iranians. "But we were never willing to
be part of their games. ~ Robert Lacey

We know Saddam Hussein possesses chemical weapons - he has for nearly 20 years as we know only so well from his use of them against his own people and the Iranians. He has deadly stockpiles of biological weapons. ~ Sandy Berger

In general, Iranians believe that all Palestinians have the right to return home and that there is no chosen people on this earth, whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian. Iran had the same policy towards apartheid South Africa and at the time when it was supporting and funding the ANC [African National Congress] among other groups in South Africa, these groups were also considered to be terrorist organizations by many western governments. ~ Mohammad Marandi

America was cool with Saddam Hussein when he was killing Iranians. ~ Henry Rollins

Well, first of all, I have to say that Iraq has already used weapons of mass destruction against her own people and against Iranians during their long war, so we know that weapons of mass destruction are existent with the Iraqis. ~ Richard Armitage

There is nothing to encourage. The Iranians should just stay away from us. ~ Adel Al-Jubeir

There are many Iranians working at NASA. One of the engineers involved with the spaceship that went to Mars is an Iranian. ~ Farah Diba

There's no embassy for the United States in Iran. So, Iranians process those in other countries. ~ Judy Woodruff

Bahai Iranians are barred from holding government jobs, their children are excluded from the nation's university system, their marriages are not recognized and their cemeteries and holy places have been desecrated. It is government policy to incite hatred of Bahais in the official media. ~ Elliott Abrams

It is perhaps because of the Iranian concept of the home and garden (and not the city or town it is in) as the defining center of life that Iranians find living in a society with such stringent rules of public behavior somewhat tolerable. Iranian society by and large cares very little about what goes on in the homes and gardens of private citizens, but the Islamic government cares very much how its citizens behave once they venture outside their walls. ~ Hooman Majd

It is one of the great ironies of the American war in Iraq - was that the guys who really got the most out of it were the Iranians. And they have us to thank for that. Yeah, I mean we basically put Maliki in power in 2006, but he has been - he's really not a friend of the United States. He's a friend of the Iranian regime. ~ Dexter Filkins

Let me explain something to you. Look around here. How many people do you count? Sixty, eighty, eighty people? Greeks, Germans, Italians, French, Americans. Tourists from everywhere. Eating, drinking, talking, laughing. And from Bombay - Indians and Iranians and Afghans and Arabs and Africans. But how many of these people have real power, real destiny, real dynamic for their place, and their time, and the lives of thousand of people? I will tell you - four. Four people in this room with power, and the rest are like the rest of the people everywhere: powerless, sleepers in the dream. ~ Gregory David Roberts

We often forget that Iran has a long tradition and history with the United States. Iranians have been coming to the United States as students for decades. American businessmen were in Iran developing the oil fields ... There was an American financial advisor to the Iranian government in the early part of the century. ~ Elaine Sciolino

Iranians also see external reasons for caution. Analyst Foad Izadi at Tehran University says Iranians only need to look at the chaos plaguing the region to see how easily popular demands for change can get out of hand. ~ Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Six days into the debriefing, Piro questioned Saddam intensely and repeatedly about the elusive Iraqi chemical and biological arsenal that was President Bush's justification for the American invasion. Where were the weapons of mass destruction? he asked. Did they exist at all? They did not, Saddam said. It had been a long-running bluff, a deception intended to keep the Iranians, the Israelis, and the Americans at bay. ~ Tim Weiner

Malaysians talk with Mauritians, Arabs with Australians, South Africans with Sri Lankans, and Iranians with Indonesians. The Indian Ocean serves as both a sea separating them and a bridge linking them together. ~ Shashi Tharoor

Do Iranians make bad movies? I need to find one. ~ P.S. Arjun

Iranians call California and Iran 'sister cities;' they're very much alike. Iranians feel at home here and the weather is so close to Iranian weather. ~ Shohreh Aghdashloo

My greatest fear is the Iranians acquire a nuclear weapon and give it to a terrorist organization. And there is a real threat of them doing that. ~ John McCain

Since taking office, I've made it clear that the United States was prepared to begin a new chapter of engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. We offered the Iranian government a clear choice. It could fulfill its international obligations and realize greater security, deeper economic and political integration with the world, and a better future for all Iranians. Or it could continue to flout its responsibilities and face even more pressure and isolation. ~ Barack Obama

Some people have said, in so many words, that I'm kind of wooly-headed in believing that the Iranians would see not having nuclear weapons as more in their security interest than not. ~ Robert M. Gates

Jason Rezaian is finally headed home. He's the correspondent for The Washington Post who was held in Iran for a year and half while U.S. diplomats, his family and his editors worked to win his release. Rezaian was one of the four Americans released from prison in Tehran in a swap for seven Iranians held in U.S. prisons. ~ Renee Montagne

The reason why no one had spoken to [Iranians] for the last years is because they sponsored Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinians, Al Qaeda, 9/11. The last time anyone spoke to the Iranians was when Ronald Reagan said, 'I've just been elected and you better let our hostages go or you guys are absolutely screwed'. ~ Eric Bolling

Clearly, the Iranians are well aware that Teheran would be turned into a field of glass and sand if they ever stepped toward open war with Israel or Saudi Arabia. ~ Mike Barnicle

Iran is celebrating the nuclear deal. The Iranians are going crazy. They're drinking non-alcoholic champagne and thinking about dancing. That's how excited they are. ~ Conan O'Brien

Religion for them [Iranians] was like a promise and guarantee of finding something that would radically change their subjectivity ~ Michel Foucault

The Kurdish minority has been cozying up to the Iranians and given the traditional hatred between the Iranians and the Iraqis, maybe Saddam Hussein sees this as a threat to his dominance of the Kurdish area north of the 36th Parallel. ~ William Taylor