To the Youth in Europe and North America

"To the Youth in Europe and North America" is an online open letter written on 21 January 2015 by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

[4] Prompted by the shooting in Paris on 7 January 2015 by militants who said that they had acted in the name of religion,[5] and writing about the current perception of Islam in the West,[6] Khamenei released the letter on his official website.

[13] Khamenei says that his letter, written in English,[14] is addressed to young people who may still have open minds, not to Western leaders who, he writes, intentionally distort the truth.

[12] "I am addressing you, [the youth], not because I overlook your parents", but because "the future of your nations and countries will be in your hands; and also I find that the sense of quest for truth is more vigorous and attentive in your hearts".

"[12] He states his admiration for Western historians who, in his words, are "deeply ashamed of the bloodsheds wrought in the name of religion between the Catholics and Protestants or in the name of nationality and ethnicity during the First and Second World Wars".

"[5] This question leads him to the main issue that he wishes to communicate to young people: "Hence, my first request is: Study and research the incentives behind this widespread tarnishing of the image of Islam.

[22] Foreign Policy magazine wrote that "So far, the dozen-something tweets with the hashtag #Letter4U from Khamenei's official account have received several dozen retweets and likes, but none have gone viral".

[12] Karim Sadjadpour, a senior Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the letter is revealing of Khamenei's "outsized confidence, dogmatic worldview, and victimization complex".

He praised the leader for using modern technology and attempting to bring harmony between civilizations, but also accused him of trying to stoke division between generations in the West.

The answer, respected sir, is that our people and our buildings have been blown up by religious Muslims and our citizens have been beheaded by devout followers of Islam."

"[27] James S. Robbins commented in The National Interest that in his letter Khamenei "maintained that the view of Islam most young people receive is filtered through hostile governments and negative press reports."