They went to different parts of the world to encourage people to convert to Christianity so that the elements of colonialism could be spread there and so that they could do what they wanted. The missionaries knew what they were doing - it was not the case that they were unaware of the ulterior motives. But look at the pains they took in order to achieve this goal, pains that could not be recompensed with money. For instance, some missionaries sometimes had to go and live in the cannibals' neighborhood for 7 years! We just read about such things in books, in novels or in some reports. We also see such things in movies sometimes. I know about these things, and I know what has happened in the time of colonialism. In our country, they sent a priest from a European country to Isfahan, Tehran and then to other parts of our country. For many consecutive years, a Christian missionary lived here in harsh conditions away from his homeland and had to tolerate the people's suspicion, people who believed he was 'an unclean pagan'. They came here and lived in our country at a time when people were much more sensitive about such religious matters, a time when people were very biased and had very firm religious beliefs. They chose to live in our country in the hope that they would manage to convert a handful of people to Christianity. They assumed that they could do here what they did in Africa, but that was just a false dream. They were not successful, but they stayed here for years. Just go and read the history of the Qajar dynasty, and you will find out that there was an orientalist who lived in Iran for years. He wrote a two-volume book on the history of Iran. He lived in the southern part of Khorasan province, in Birjand, Zabol and the neighboring areas, and finally wrote his two-volume book. Just go and see what he has written about the priests who lived here.
(Related by the Leader on November 18, 1991 in a meeting with the clergies of the Leader's representatives' office in charge of Sunni Muslim affairs in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan)