Statements on the Meeting with Air Force and Air Defense Commanders on the Anniversary of the Historical Allegiance of the Air Force with Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified)

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

Welcome; I am pleased and grateful to God that once again I have the opportunity to meet with you, dear and hardworking brothers, on such an important day that is undoubtedly one of the days of God.

The incident of the nineteenth of Bahman; one of the wonders of the Islamic Revolution The incident of the nineteenth of Bahman 57 is one of the wonders of the Islamic Revolution, and these wonders are not just one or two cases; thousands of wonders have been witnessed over the years; however, among the first and most important is the day of the nineteenth of Bahman. The fact that a significant part of the army of the tyrant separated itself from the army and came to express allegiance to the Imam and join the people was a very important incident; this incident encouraged the entire body of the army to join the Islamic Republic. And the leaders of the army at that time, when they observed the reality, had no choice but to declare neutrality in the face of the revolution; while their neutrality had no meaning; how could the army of the tyrant be neutral in defending the tyrant's regime? However, they declared neutrality; they had no choice because they saw that the body of the army had almost completely joined the people; this was akin to a miracle, it was truly a miraculous act. The main reliance of the tyrant's regime was on the army and the SAVAK; they had no connection with the people, they were not reliant on the people; their main reliance abroad was on America and domestically on the army and SAVAK; and this very support and this point of hope for the devils turned into a significant factor in bringing down the devils; this is a miracle. Truly, one of the powerful factors in the victory of the revolution was this joining of the army with the people; if this had not happened and a conflict had arisen between the people and the army, disasters would have occurred. This joining of the army, which occurred with the vanguard of the Air Force, enabled the revolution to triumph without those strange and heavy and incalculable problems.

The failure of the American coup at the beginning of the revolution Of course, the Americans were hopeful about the army until the last moment; their assumption was that the army could stand firm and a coup they had planned - which you may have seen in some sources, but this statement is definitive and accurate - was supposed to occur in the month of Bahman; this coup was supposed to arrest the leaders and vanguards of the revolution and deal with the people with violence many times greater than that of the twenty-eighth of Mordad and remove all the human obstacles in its way; this was America's plan. The famous General Hauser, who was among the prominent American officials in NATO at that time and frequently came to and from Iran, states in his memoirs that General Brown, who was the U.S. Secretary of Defense in the Democratic government of that day - coincidentally, the ruling government in America was from the Democratic Party - had authorized this Mr. Hauser to prevent the fall of the Shah's regime even at the cost of killing tens of thousands of people; such a coup was supposed to take place there. Well, one of the things that nullified this evil plan was this movement of the Air Force; that is, this coming forth. Perhaps those young people who came and pledged allegiance to the Imam - I was there and saw them up close - had no idea that their actions were so significant.

The American miscalculation in assessing the situation of the country, the people, and the army Well, there is a noteworthy point in this matter that is instructive for today and for our future; and that is that the Americans made a significant miscalculation in assessing the situation of our country and the issue of the army and the issue of the people; this is an important point; they had a miscalculation. The hope they had placed in the army stemmed from this miscalculation that they were caught off guard; because of this miscalculation, they were surprised. In the documents that have been published years later, they admitted that until shortly before the month of Bahman 57, they had no assessment of the fall of the Shah and the Pahlavi dynasty; none! Moreover, the Pentagon announced a few days before the twenty-second of Bahman that it was impossible for the Pahlavi regime to fall; that is, they were so mistaken, they were in a strange miscalculation; they said the army had complete control and it was impossible. Of course, the Iranian army was more important to the Americans than the Shah himself; they said the Shah is one person, now he dies, leaves, or comes, we will place another in his place, but the army organization was very important to them and they relied heavily on it; and this very army, which was so important to the Americans and on which they had worked, with forty thousand American advisors present in the army at that time, became the factor for the downfall of the tyrant's regime and the destruction of America's hopes in Iran, which God mentions in the Quran: "So God came to them from where they did not expect"; they were struck and received a blow from where they least expected.

The continuation of the American miscalculation in the events of 2009 and the issue of sanctions Of course, this miscalculation continues; that is, even today, the Americans are still making miscalculations regarding issues in Iran and their political calculation apparatus is truly not functioning; they do not understand, they do not comprehend our issues and do not recognize our nation; they still do not recognize the Iranian nation and therefore they repeatedly make mistakes. The Americans made a mistake in the events of 2009; the Democratic President of that day in America officially stood behind the events of 2009 and defended it, thinking that everything would be resolved, which was a miscalculation.

In the matter of sanctions, it is the same; with these severe and supposedly unprecedented and comprehensive sanctions that they themselves said there has never been such a sanction in history, and they were right, they thought they would bring Iran to its knees; well, the calculations were wrong; it was a miscalculation and they had a futile hope. One of those first-rate fools, whom I once referred to here, said a couple of years ago that "we will celebrate the January 2019 holiday in Tehran"; their hope was that by the January 2019 holiday, the Islamic Republic would have collapsed and they would come here to celebrate. Now that very person has gone to the dustbin of history, and his boss was also kicked out of the White House in disgrace, and both have gone to the dustbin of history, while the Islamic Republic, thanks be to God, stands proud.

Factors of our success in confronting the enemies: the presence of the people in the scene, trust in God's promise, increasing national power components Well, we should not be simplistic. Yes, the enemy makes mistakes in its calculations, but we must be careful that it is not merely the malfunctioning of the enemy's calculation apparatus that makes us successful; we must work, we must strive. The presence of the people in the scene, the faith of the people in the necessity of their presence, trust in God's promise by the people and officials, counter-planning, all are effective and have been effective. If the Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) had not issued the command to break the martial law on the days of the twenty-first and twenty-second of Bahman, the situation would have been different. Sitting back and watching and hoping for the enemy's mistakes will not advance matters; we must strive, we must be present in the field of action, we must work, we must trust in God, we must strive, we must continuously plan counteractions; this is the duty of the officials. The components of national power must be increased, one of which is the armed forces, and power must be produced and this power must also be demonstrated in practice. Therefore, I have always emphasized that we must strengthen our faithful and popular armed forces - which, thank God, our armed forces, including the army, the IRGC, the Basij, and the police, are both faithful and popular - this is one of the duties of the country's officials, which of course must be strengthened with regard to regional and international conditions and finding priorities and focusing on priorities, which has always been my message to the military officials and the country's officials.

The necessity of strengthening the armed forces as the guardians of the national security of the country in all material and spiritual dimensions Well, fortunately, in the past couple of months, both the army and the IRGC and the Ministry of Defense have showcased remarkable capabilities before everyone's eyes: our own people saw the exercises that were conducted - perhaps about ten exercises were held - and the world saw; the worried eyes of satellites saw and admired, and some expressed astonishment that it was truly commendable; especially under sanctions. Our access to information, our access to materials, our access to equipment and facilities from abroad is completely limited; in such limitations, our armed forces - whether our Ministry of Defense, our army, or our IRGC - were able to accomplish such great tasks and bring them to fruition. And this is, in fact, acting on the command of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), who said in his famous letter to Malik al-Ashtar: "The soldiers, with God's permission, are the fortresses of the subjects;" then, in a few more sentences: "And the paths of security;" the armed forces are the source of national security for the country, and how proud it is that a country can secure its national security through its own elements, its own children, its own armed forces, and not wait for others. Of course, be aware that strengthening the armed forces is not merely about equipment; equipment is part of the work, organization is part of the work; a significant part of the work is the spirit and faith and moral power in hearts; strengthening the armed forces means all of these; even the spiritual aspects.

The great mistake of some countries; seeking help from America for national security The great mistake of some countries is that they seek their national security from America; they do not have such capabilities, they do not have such determination, they do not have a correct understanding of global issues; they spend - they incur costs, billions in expenses - they are humiliated, they are insulted, and at the same time, their security is not secured in critical moments; in those critical moments, the very one they had hoped for withdraws their hand from behind them. You saw in the events a few years ago in Egypt and Tunisia and similar places, that even though those who were at the top there were among the loyalists to America, America withdrew its hand from behind them. What could they do in front of the people, in front of the people's movement? Mohammad Reza Pahlavi also, in a sense, faced the same fate; when he fled and left Iran, he wanted to stay in America for a while, but the Americans expelled him; he was forced to go to Panama and elsewhere; the Americans did not keep him; he had worked so much for them and served them and had placed his hopes in them! When we place hope in others, this is the result; when we come to ourselves and rely on ourselves and seek God's help, we want to secure national security ourselves, this is the dignity that, thank God, the Islamic Republic enjoys. Therefore, this enemy miscalculation that I mentioned is an important point.

Being intimidated by the enemy or hoping for foreigners; among the great mistakes This miscalculation exists in the economic issues and in other matters as well; we must pay attention to this and use it. We must be careful of our own mistakes, we must also be vigilant about our own errors. I point to one of the mistakes that some may make among us, and that is that we become intimidated by the enemy's power; this is a great mistake, this is among our errors; or we place hope in them; with the current situation we have, in some of our tasks - whether economic issues, political issues, or international issues - we should not have our hopes pinned on foreigners; that foreigner whose foundation is based on aggression, whose foundation is based on plundering, whose foundation is based on interference; this will be a great mistake. Of course, I do not want to recommend that we look at our internal power with exaggerated eyes; no, we must see the reality and strive to elevate it; but I strongly recommend that with all our might, we must not be intimidated by the enemy. If we become intimidated, we will be incapacitated.

The decline of America in terms of reputation, power, and social order And those who have an unrealistic perception of the capabilities of America and some other powers must pay attention to the correct realities. The clamor of global powers is loud and they exaggerate with this clamor, but the reality is not like that. Now, in the recent events that occurred in America, namely the fall of Trump with this disgraceful situation and the events surrounding this issue - which are not trivial - this was not merely the decline of a bad president; it was the decline of America's reputation, the decline of America's power, the decline of America's social order; I do not say this, their own people have said it; prominent political analysts of theirs have declared that the American system is rotten from within; this was stated by the Americans themselves in these recent events; they said the social system of America is rotten from within; this is a very significant statement; some others have said that the post-American era has begun; these are their statements. Well, the reality is this. Of course, they also have economic problems, but their main problem is in terms of the social order and their political system, which indicates that they are completely unstable.

Keeping America's decline hidden, with the help of the media empire If this incident that occurred in America had happened anywhere else in the world, especially in countries that do not have a good relationship with America, would they have let it go so quickly? But now the media empire of the world is mostly in their hands, they try to keep the issue hidden and to finish it and to cover it up; however, the issue is not finished; it is a very important and ongoing issue. America has truly declined, and that is why the governments dependent on America in the region are flustered and panicked; especially the Zionist regime. The nonsense that you have recently heard from the leaders of the Zionist regime is more a result of their fear, stemming from their panic and anxiety due to what has happened in America. Of course, they have understood correctly; the world is witnessing and observing that America has declined both in its internal environment and in the international arena.

America and the three European countries have no right to impose conditions for continuing the JCPOA And as for the issue of sanctions; well, today there are discussions in the world; both the Europeans say something, and the Americans say something. First of all, in the Islamic Republic, no one pays attention to the nonsensical statements of the unqualified claimants - whether in Europe or in America - they make nonsensical statements; no one pays attention to their words. Secondly, if we want to speak logically and reasonably, America and the three European countries that have trampled all JCPOA commitments have no right to impose conditions for the JCPOA. They did not fulfill their JCPOA commitments; for a very short period at the beginning, they temporarily suspended some sanctions - not all sanctions - then they returned and even increased the sanctions; perhaps they doubled or tripled the sanctions. Therefore, they have no right to impose conditions in this regard.

The definitive policy of the Islamic Republic regarding the JCPOA: the complete lifting of sanctions by America and verification by Iran; then Iran will return to its JCPOA commitments The party that has the right to impose conditions for continuing the JCPOA is Iran. The reason is that Iran has adhered to all its JCPOA commitments from the beginning; the Islamic Republic has fulfilled all its JCPOA commitments; they violated them. We have the right to impose conditions for continuing the JCPOA, and we have set this condition and stated it, and no one will deviate from it; and that is that if they want Iran to return to its JCPOA commitments - which it has canceled some of them - America must completely lift the sanctions; and not just in words and on paper that they say they have lifted them; no, they must lift the sanctions in practice, and we will verify and feel that the sanctions have truly been lifted, then we will return to these JCPOA commitments; this is the definitive policy of the Islamic Republic and is agreed upon by the country's officials, and we will not deviate from this policy.

The unity of the officials and the nation; a factor in overcoming many problems My strong recommendation is unity of word; the officials of the country and those involved in major issues of the country should have unity of word; our dear nation should maintain their unity of word. Thanks be to God, this unity of word of the Iranian nation has been able to remove many problems from our path; after this, this unity of word must continue to exist, the officials must also move in harmony and in unison, and the armed forces must fulfill their important duties and know [what to do] and truly, God willing, continue to produce power. Certainly, with the grace of the Lord and the prayers of the Awaited One (may our souls be sacrificed for him), the future of the Iranian nation and the country of Iran will be much better and higher than today. We hope that God will always bestow the blessings of the blood of the martyrs upon this nation and make the pure soul of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) pleased and satisfied with us.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.