Marco de referencia moral

Powerful countries, particularly the United States, in the international system are delegated a prominent role in the Hajj statements of Khamenei as he attempts to draw on their actions to define the importance of Islam and unity of the Muslims with Iran as the muse. According to Khamenei, Iran’s experiences – from eliminating U.S. influence on the government to fighting imperialism – are meant to provide inspiration to other Muslim countries being the first Islamic state established through an Islamic Revolution. Iran’s supreme leader’s message to the entire Muslim world is simple: follow us. He boasts of Iran’s multifaceted liberation and independence from the West, claiming that the country has rid itself of tyranny, suffering, oppression and materialism since the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Hence, those states experiencing the pain inflicted by the imperialist powers have no other choice but to follow Iran’s footsteps on the path to freedom and salvation through Islam.265 _{This imparts the foreign}

265 _{Ali Khamenei, “Imam Khamene'i 's message on the occasion of Hajj (1997),” accessed May 23, 2015,}

http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/speeches/speech1997.htm#08.04.1997; Ali Khamenei, “Message of His Eminence Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Addressed to the Haj Pilgrims of the Holy Mecca (2002),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/speeches/speech2002.htm#31012002; Ali Khamenei, “Leader's message to this year's Haj pilgrims (2003),” accessed May 23, 2015,

112 policy goal of Iran as Khamenei speaks to the whole Islamic world during the Hajj. Tehran wants to build alliances at the very least, in the realist sense, and at the very best, in a revolutionist sense, lead the Islamic Ummah once unity has been attained. While the most favourable scenario lies on the horizon, attention is mainly centred on issues plaguing the Islamic world at present, which are caused by the West and its imperialistic aims victimising Muslim countries and its people, in hopes of getting a step closer to the best scenario.266

Coercion is a standard norm in the realist tradition and coercive diplomacy is a significant feature of powerful countries since negotiation is based on material capabilities and, often, is largely on unequal terms resulting in weaker states to submit to the wishes of the powerful one. Using Iran’s previous experience during the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei points out that many countries in the Islamic world are subservient to imperialist powers.267 The imperialists and colonizers have plundered the resources of Muslim states to satisfy their own interests referring to the realist balance of power institution.268 As such, the U.S. military intervention in Iraq was meant to establish American dominance in the region by controlling the oil and conspiring against Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia.269 This foreign intervention exhibits sheer disregard for international law, corresponding to the realist understanding of the institution of international law – an action which only the most powerful in the international system could afford. Instigating wars in the Middle East has likewise triggered tragic experiences for the Islamic world, giving way to sectarianism and extremism, a purely realist institution exercised by the imperialist powers.270 _{The most influential element of Western domination, however, is not}

restricted to military capabilities and political power as it involves cultural and ideological aspects such as materialism and capitalism, which are corrosive to Islamic countries in terms of destroying religious spiritual values.271 Nevertheless, taking into account the capabilities and greed of the imperialist powers, particularly the United States, the Islamic world must anticipate

266 _{Khamenei, “Imam Khamene'i 's message on the occasion of Hajj (1997)” Ali Khamenei, “Message of}

Ayatollah al-Odhma Khamenei on the auspicious occasion of Hajj (1998),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/speeches/speech1998.htm#01.04.1998

267 _{Khamenei, “Imam Khamene'i 's message on the occasion of Hajj (1997)” Ali Khamenei, “Leader's Hajj}

Message (2001),” accessed May 23, 2015,

http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/news/news2001/mar2001.htm#LeaderHajjMessage03032001

268 _{Khamenei, “Leader's message to this year's Haj pilgrims (2003)” Ali Khamenei, “Leader's Hajj Message}

(2004),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/speeches/pdf/hadsch1424.pdf; Ali Khamenei, “Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatullah Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims (2009),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://leader.ir/en/content/6135/The-message-of-H.-E.-Ayatullah-Khamenei-to-the-Hajj-pilgrims-

269 _{Khamenei, “Leader's message to this year's Haj pilgrims (2003)”}

270 _{Khamenei, “Leader's Hajj Message (2004)” Ali Khamenei, “The Message of H. E. Imam Khamenei to the}

Hajj pilgrims from the whole world (2005),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/speeches/speech2005.htm#18012005

113 further attacks of the West, both material and ideological, to curb the progress of Islamic countries, especially the spreading of Islamic awakening.272

Due to the hegemony of the United States, the Great Satan, Muslim countries have been suffering, solidifying the position of the U.S. as the enemy in the speeches of Khamenei. Primarily, nonetheless, such enmity is directed towards Iran since the establishment of an Islamic Republic in Tehran as the American regime lost all influence on the government.273 But despite the U.S. enmity against the Islamic Republic, Khamenei stresses that Iran was able to remain independent and simultaneously progress, showcasing the country’s invaluable achievement made possible by marrying Islam with the state apparatus.274 By harnessing the power of Islam, Khomeini was able to liberate Iran from the grip of the United States and the West, enabling the country to achieve ultimate freedom and so the rest of the Islamic world must follow his example and turn to Islam as a way to freedom from Western domination to end the suffering and pain of the Muslims.275

By painting such a dire picture of the United States and the West as being driven by pure national interest with little regard for other countries in the system, the supreme leader wants to imply the wrongness of their behaviour. It shows that he is aware that such acts are based on the selfish interest of the great powers, which is interpreted in realist terms as he points out the evils of imperialism. This can only be possible if he holds an alternative view of international affairs, suggesting the criticism comes from his belief that the situation could be better, perhaps in a rationalist understanding of the world where the weaker states are not dominated by the powerful ones and their resources are not plundered leaving them to suffer. Sovereignty of a weaker country, meaning freedom from the domination of a powerful state, indirectly resonates

272 _{Khamenei, “Leader's message to this year's Haj pilgrims (2003)” Khamenei, “The Message of H. E. Imam}

Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims from the whole world (2005)” Khamenei, “Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatullah Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims (2009)” Ali Khamenei, “Ayatollah Khamenei’s Message to Hajj Pilgrims (2011),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://leader.ir/en/content/8862/AYATOLLAH-KHAMENEI%E2%80%99S- MESSAGE-TO-HAJJ-PILGRIMS-2011

273 _{Khamenei, “Message of Ayatollah al-Odhma Khamenei on the auspicious occasion of Hajj (1998)”} 274 _{Ali Khamenei, “Full text of leader's message to this year's hajj (1999),” accessed May 23, 2015,}

http://www.khamenei.de/imam_gb/speeches/speech1999_1.htm#26.03.1999; Khamenei, “Message of His Eminence Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Addressed to the Haj Pilgrims of the Holy Mecca (2002)” Ali Khamenei, “The Message of H. E. Imam Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims from the whole world (2006.12),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://leader.ir/en/content/3491/The-message-of-H.-E.-Ayatullah-Khamenei-to-the-Hajj- pilgrims-from-the-whole-world; Ali Khamenei, “The message of H.E. Ayatullah Khamenei to the Hajj pilgrims from the whole world (2008),” accessed May 23, 2015, http://leader.ir/en/content/4460/The-message-of-H.-E.- Ayatullah-Khamenei-to-the-Hajj-pilgrims-from-the-whole-world-

275 _{Khamenei, “Imam Khamene'i 's message on the occasion of Hajj (1997)” Khamenei, “Message of Ayatollah}

al-Odhma Khamenei on the auspicious occasion of Hajj (1998)” Khamenei, “Message of His Eminence Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Addressed to the Haj Pilgrims of the Holy Mecca (2002)”

114 in Khamenei’s message, which is a vital norm in the modern international society of sovereign nation-states subscribing to the rationalist tradition. To prove his point of a weak country being able to be independent and gain their own sovereignty back from foreign influences, he relentlessly refers to Iran as an example.