I have been studying and paying close attention to the life of Ayatollah Khomeini, the man who led Iran’s modern Islamic revolution and installed a new system of government in place.

During my study, I stumbled across this saying of his dated 27th October 1964 regarding the Vienna Convention and the immunity US diplomats and US embassy officials would enjoy.

This is what Ayatollah Khomeini had to say regarding the Vienna convention:

“I cannot express the sorrow I feel in may heart…Iran no longer has any festival to celebrate; they have turned our festival into mourning…They have sold us, they have sold our independence; but still they light up the city and dance…The dignity of the Iranian Army has been trampled underfoot! A law has been put before the Majlis according to which we are to accede to the Vienna Convention, and a provision has been added to it that all American military advisers, together with their families, technical, and administrative officials, and servants – in short, anyone in any way connected to them – are to enjoy legal immunity with respect to any crime they may commit in Iran.

If some American’s servant, some American cook, assassinates your marja in the middle of the bazaar, or run over him, the Iranian police do not have the right to apprehend him! Iranian courts do not have the right to judge him! The dossier must be sent to America, so that our master there can decide what is to be done… They have reduced the Iranian people to a level lower than that of the American dog. If someone runs over a dog belonging to an American, he will be persecuted. But if an American cook runs over the Shah, the head of the state, no one will have the right to interfere with him. Why? Because they wanted a loan and American demanded this in return”.

This saying was also highlighted by Mubasher Lucman on his show on Dunya News where he connected this speech to the Raymond Davis situation faced by Pakistan today.