Ayatollah Khomeini Died 27 Years Ago, But a Trump Advisor Still Wants Him to Condemn Last Week's Attack in Nice

Retired Lt. General Michael T. Flynn appears on Fox News. Image: YouTube

Retired Lt. General Michael T. Flynn appears on Fox News. Image: YouTube

Donald Trump's presidential campaign has always advocated “getting tough on Iran,” but the rhetoric escalated ever so slightly last week, when retired Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, one of Trump's chief military advisors and a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, demanded that Ayatollah Khomeini—a man who's been dead for more than a quarter of a century—condemn the attack on July 14 in Nice, France.

Appearing on Fox News with Megyn Kelly, Flynn said angrily, “I want the Imam, or Khomeini, to stand up and be counted and to talk about this radical form of ideology in their bloodstream, in their DNA.”

Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Khomeini died in 1989 after establishing the Islamic Republic of Iran, the first modern-day theocracy, following the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Flynn either confused the name “Khomeini” with Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, or he is unaware that Ayatollah Khomeini died 27 years ago. Whether the mistake was confusion or ignorance, Flynn appeared on Fox News again the following day, on July 15, and said Khomeini again, insisting that the long-dead man denounce the attacks in Nice.

Internet users both in Iran and the US have shared a few thoughts about Flynn's curious interest in “the Imam Khomeini.” Iranian Twitter user Ameneh Mousavi tweeted:

Wise people, can this be right? General Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's military advisor, wants “Ayatollah Khomeini,” the leader of Iran, to condemn the Nice terrorist attacks.

Iranian-American journalist Saman Arbabi wrote:

American Internet users took an interest in the story, as well, after the Huffington Post wrote about it:

A parody account satirizing the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also had some thoughts:

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