Editing Great Satan (section)

{{Short description|Post-1979 Iranian epithet for the United States}}
{{For|the American jazz ensemble|Big Satan}}
[[File:TheGreatSatan.png|thumb|''The'' ''Great Satan'' by [[Carlos Latuff]]]]
{{Politics of Iran}}

"'''Great Satan'''" ({{langx|fa|شيطان بزرگ|Sheytân-e Bozorg}}) is a derogatory epithet used in some [[Muslim world|Muslim-majority countries]] to refer to the [[United States]]. Alongside the "[[Death to America]]" slogan, it originated in [[Iran]] during the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution]]. While it is primarily an expression of [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American sentiment]], it has occasionally been used to refer to the [[United Kingdom]], although the term "[[old fox]]" is more popular as a dedicated expression of [[anti-British sentiment]].

The epithet was coined by Iranian religious leader [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], who used it in a speech on 5 November 1979, one day after the onset of the [[Iran hostage crisis]]. In the speech, he condemned the United States as an imperialist power that sponsored corruption throughout the world.<ref>{{cite speech
 | url = http://emam.com/posts/view/15718/Speech
 | title = American plots against Iran 
 | last = Khomeini
 | first = Ruhollah
 | date = 5 November 1979
 | event= Iranian Central Insurance Office Staff
 | location=Qum
 | series=Imam's Sahifeh
 | volume= 10
 | pages= 344–348
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522133828/http://emam.com/posts/view/15718/Speech/
 | access-date=22 May 2016 |archive-date=22 May 2016
 | quote =  In this revolution, the Great Satan is America that gathers around other devils blatantly...If we see the US, this great Satan, raising chain and bringing the devils together around him, it is because the US grip over our country and our resources curtailed.}}</ref> Khomeini introduced the epithet as the larger of a pair, using the term "[[Little Satan]]" to refer to [[Israel]], particularly in the context of [[Israel–United States relations]]. In the context of the [[Cold War]], Khomeini used the related term "Lesser Satan" to refer to the [[Soviet Union]], and asserted that revolutionary Iran should oppose the Americans and the Soviets alike.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}