Politics & Power Quote by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

“Fortunately” is doing heavy lifting here. Ahmadinejad isn’t simply praising civic engagement; he’s reframing diaspora politics as strategic leverage. In one word, he turns a dispersed population into an asset, implying that Iranian identity travels with political consequence. It’s a neat inversion of the usual anxiety governments feel about emigrants: instead of “brain drain” or disloyal exile communities, he offers a story of influence.

The line also carries a defensive subtext. Ahmadinejad governed during years when Iran was routinely cast in Western media as isolated, illegitimate, or out of step with global norms. Pointing to Iranians “worldwide” quietly rejects that isolation narrative. It signals: we have presence, we have voice, we have networks. It’s a bid for legitimacy by proxy, outsourcing national stature to the visibility of people living abroad.

Context matters because “politically active” is ambiguous in a way that’s useful to power. Iranian diaspora politics includes activists who oppose the Islamic Republic as fiercely as they oppose foreign intervention. By celebrating “activity” without specifying allegiance, Ahmadinejad can claim the energy of Iranian civic life while sidestepping the inconvenient fact that much of that energy is directed against his own government. The quote works because it’s elastic: it flatters Iranians abroad, suggests global reach, and papers over dissent.

It’s also a message aimed outward. To Western audiences, it reads as a reminder that Iranians are not a caricature of the regime; they are engaged, educated, and present. To his base, it’s a hint that Iran’s struggle is international, and that politics doesn’t stop at the border.