A letter to Vanity Fair Magazine

The following is a letter to Vanity Fair regarding Christopher Hitchens's article on Iran in the magazine’s July 2005 issue.

Vanity Fair/September 2005/Letters/p.174

I am writing to comment on a recent article by Christopher Hitchens entitled “Iran’s Waiting Game”. I would like to thank Mr. Hitchens for writing about how Iranians truly feel both inside and outside of Iran and what they want for the future of their country. In today’s Western media, astute articles like his are, unfortunately, a rarity.

My first comment is about Mr. Hitchens’s apparent fascination with meeting a Khomeini. Iranians do not regard Hossein Khomeini---whose grandfather was an inhumane terrorist and Islamist Fascist with complete disregard for Iran and its people, culture, and heritage---with such awe.

My second comment is with respect to Hossein Khomeini’s concerns about Mr. Reza Pahlavi’s potential claim to the throne. In short, nobody cares what Hossein Khomeini thinks, nor is he in any position to ask whether Pahlavi’s descendants should give up their claim to the throne. Regardless of any mistakes that dynasty might have made, its kings did help build Iran, not the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ultimately, it is for the people to decide what political capacity certain individuals will have in the new Iran once they have removed the Khomeinis from their soil.

Sheda Vasseghi
Washington, D.C.