Realism and Idealism in Imam Khomeini's Thought (Case Study: Resolution 598)

More than two decades after the acceptance of resolution 598 by Imam Khomeini, there are a lot of questions about this decision including, why Imam Khomeini compared the acceptance of the resolution to drinking poison, and why he finally accepted it? In other words, by accepting the resolution, did Imam Khomeini abandon his ideals? More generally, it can be questioned that whether Imam Khomeini was a realist leader or an idealist one? The hypothesis of this paper is that ideals in Imam Khomeini's thinking had different levels and by accepting the resolution only his minimal ideals were realized.