Great Satan

This article is about the epithet. For other uses, see The Great Satan (disambiguation).

"Great Satan" (Persian: شیطان بزرگ, romanized: Sheytân-e Bozorg) is a derogatory epithet used in Iran to refer to the United States. Alongside the slogan "Death to America", it originated in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. While it is primarily an expression of 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. 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.

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