Statements in Meeting with Commanders and Personnel of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Army

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, dear brothers, esteemed friends of the active and dynamic Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran! The unfavorable conditions of COVID-19 did not allow us to hold this meeting as we wished. We would have liked to meet a larger number of you here and speak more comfortably and better; however, I am committed to the guidelines announced by the doctors; I consider it my duty to adhere to them and I do so; they insist on masks; and I have also received the third dose of this vaccine; of course, I did this a long time ago - several months ago - meaning whatever the respected doctors deem necessary, I consider it my duty to carry out. I also recommend to our dear people to pay attention to the words of specialists and experts in this field and to do what they deem appropriate and necessary. In any case, the meeting was held in this form today. Welcome; we hope that God willing, God will grant you all success.

Well, it is the days of the month of Rajab. My first message to you is to appreciate this month and these days; the month of Rajab is the month of intercession, the month of supplication, the month of spiritual and psychological purification; hearts must be drawn closer to God; especially your youth, the young people who are present in this meeting and at the level of the force. We all need to strengthen our connection with God; at every moment of our lives, we need to strengthen our connection with God, and these days of the month of Rajab are suitable for this [need] and are a ground for divine blessings and spiritual bounties.

Today is the nineteenth of Bahman; that is, the day of the astonishing allegiance of the Air Force; the day of a historic movement and a turning point by the Air Force. Perhaps no one from the current generation of the Air Force was present on that day; many of the young people who were perhaps not even born on that day, but I believe that all those who today work in the Air Force with a sense of responsibility share in that declaration of allegiance; you who were not there that day, or perhaps were not in the force - meaning most of your work history is not that long - but you are partners in that movement that took place that day, in the glory of that day and in the virtue of that day; why? Because on that day, those young people who came - officers and non-commissioned officers and mainly airmen - participated in that extraordinary meeting and pledged allegiance, this allegiance was not an allegiance to a person; this allegiance was an allegiance to goals, an allegiance to ideals; an allegiance to that sacred jihad of which Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) was the powerful commander. They brought the Air Force under the umbrella of this powerful, magnificent, and astonishing command. This act was a spiritual act, therefore this act continues; this act was not a matter that happened that day and ended; no, this act is ongoing. Anyone who moves along the path of those ideals in any era is actually a partner in this movement. Therefore, you are also among those who benefit from the honors of the nineteenth of Bahman.

The movement of the Air Force that day was the final blow dealt to the decayed body of the Pahlavi regime and brought down the accursed tent of the Pahlavi regime, destroying it. This movement was an influential movement; this movement was very impactful. On that day, Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) said in his speech to that gathering that had come: "You have freed the army, you have brought the army from the service of the tyrant to the service of Islam; until today you were in the service of the tyrant, now you have placed it in the service of the Imam." They were chanting, "We are all your soldiers," Imam said, "You are the soldiers of the Awaited One, you are the soldiers of the Quran and Islam, and you have come to move in this path." In reality, this was indeed the case.

There are several points in this regard. One point is that this movement was a need of the moment. I emphasize this matter a lot and have emphasized it many times. We must always understand the need of the moment in our actions. There are some actions that if you do them now, they will hit the target; if you do the same action at another time, it will not have that benefit. You must determine what the need of the moment is; you can always do this. [For example] in the Air Force, see what the Air Force needs today, do that work at the moment. In my opinion, one of the most intelligent actions of that group was this; otherwise, if they had waited, for example, ten days later, twenty days later to do this, it would not have had this effect at all; it had this effect that day; they recognized the need of the moment. This is a lesson for us.

Another point that is a lesson to be learned and from which we must take heed is that in this movement of the Air Force, the tyrannical regime was struck from a place it did not expect, it did not calculate that it would be struck from here. Like what is mentioned in the Quran and in Surah Hashr regarding the tribes of the Jews: "So God struck them from a place they did not expect"; this was the case. From the apparatus of the tyrannical regime, no one imagined that they would be struck by the army, especially by the Air Force of the army. They had invested heavily in the Air Force. Their American supporters were also astonished. The Americans sent Hauser, who was an American general and the second-in-command of NATO at that time, to Tehran to gather the army and by any means necessary, with a bloody coup, prevent the regime from falling; that is, he had decided that if necessary, he would kill hundreds of thousands of people in Tehran; Hauser came to Tehran with this intention, but of course he failed and returned defeated. Hauser writes in his memoirs - I have not seen this book myself, but I have been told - that the Air Force was a place where we did not even expect the slightest unrest; because in terms of command and training, they had a close relationship with America. Many of those who participated in that great historical movement that day were mainly those whose education had taken place in America and who were familiar with American culture; but they were struck from there. Well, this is a sign that God's promise is true; God said: "Indeed, they plot a plot. And I plot a plot"; the enemies devise schemes, and I also scheme against them. In another place [He says]: "So those who disbelieved are the ones who are plotted against"; in the matter of the right and wrong front, it is the wrong front that is struck; and it is always like this; that is, in this matter, the calculations of the Americans went wrong; they had made a calculation regarding the Air Force of the tyrannical regime, this calculation went wrong; they did not expect it to turn out this way.

I want to say that wherever the force of truth, the force of Islam enters the field against disbelief, the enemies, with all their apparent grandeur and might that have no essence or substance, make mistakes in their calculations; it is always like this. It was the same regarding the revolution; both at the beginning [of the revolution] this happened, and in these forty-some years, it has happened that they always calculated that they were delivering the final blow, but they themselves were struck. If you are present in the field of jihad - any jihad; in any era, a certain type of jihad is necessary; we have military jihad, scientific jihad, research jihad; all kinds of jihad - and if you are active, you will defeat the enemy; why? Because God has decreed that the enemy's calculations go wrong, they cannot calculate correctly, they cannot assess correctly. Today, America itself is also suffering from this problem of "So God struck them from a place they did not expect"; today America is being struck from a place it has never calculated. Today, two American presidents, [namely] the previous president and the current president, have joined hands to destroy the remaining dignity of America! And they are doing so; one in one way, the other in another way; did they calculate this? Were they thinking about this? Day by day, they are weakening themselves, and this will continue. Therefore, this is also an important point to know that if you are present in the field, alive, active, and strive with hope, victory and progress will certainly be with you.

Another point is that no one should think that the movement of those young people that day was based on fleeting and emotional feelings; it was not like that. Yes, emotions certainly play a role in these actions, but there was depth, it was guided. Now I have many memories in this regard, but the sign of its depth is that this movement continued in the Air Force; if it had been a sudden movement, it would not have continued. This movement continued in the Air Force. In the early days of the victory of the revolution, the movement of this self-sufficiency unit in the Air Force was established, while no other part of the army and no other organization in the country had a self-sufficiency jihad; the religious and revolutionary youth of the Air Force established the self-sufficiency jihad and from the very first day began to work and strive, and until today, significant achievements have been made. Besides this, the jihadist forces of the Air Force have accomplished great works within the Air Force.

Among the first actions taken in 1979 was the neutralization of a conspiracy at the Tabriz base. At that time, Martyr Fakouri was the commander of the Tabriz base; a conspiracy had arisen at the Tabriz base, and even those disruptive individuals had somehow besieged this martyr, similar to arresting him; the revolutionary youth of the force, without asking for help from anywhere, went and dispersed them and brought Martyr Fakouri to Tehran; this is among the issues of the early days of 1979.

In the matter of the coup at Hamadan base - Martyr Nojeh base - the one who caused this coup, which everything was prepared for - all the details of this coup had been calculated with the help of the Americans - to be neutralized was a young officer who came to inform and immediately the relevant apparatus - the youth of the Revolutionary Guards and the security forces and others like them - got to work, neutralized the conspiracy, and eliminated the coup. The youth of the Air Force did this; a young officer, a young pilot came to inform. That is, the youth of the force, the force itself did this. The same was true in other matters.

In the early days of the Sacred Defense, in those first days of the Sacred Defense, the most prominent work was done by the Air Force of the army; that is, the flight sorties that were carried out by the Air Force in a matter of a few days were unprecedented. At that time, I was a member of parliament and also the representative of the Imam in the armed forces. I went to the parliament and reported; everyone was astonished by the importance of this report. In a matter of three or four days, several hundred flight sorties were carried out by the Air Force of the army. Other apparatuses, other groups had not yet properly realized what was happening and what they should do; first, the Air Force entered.

These are the continuations of that initial movement. The reason I say this movement was not emotional is that this movement continued and persisted within the Air Force. At that time, this spirit and insight led to the emergence of prominent martyrs in both the force and the entire army: Martyr Sayyad Shirazi, Martyr Babaei, Martyr Setari, Martyr Kalhdoz, and thousands of other martyrs - now these are the prominent ones; there are many others who are prominent - even within the army, some of the officers from the Pahlavi era became martyrs; [like] Martyr Fallahi. Fallahi was a brigadier general of the army during the Pahlavi era, but the situation of the revolution and the situation of the army and that great transformation caused Martyr Fallahi to become a martyr; Martyr Fallahi. Martyr Fakouri was the same; these were senior officers before the revolution. Well, this was insight. This is what led this group to come and perform that great act, that historical allegiance; there was a depth, there was an insight that led to this action.

Now, what was the factor of this insight? Why did others not have this insight? Various factors can be assumed for it, but probably one major factor of this insight was that the youth of the Air Force were closely witnessing the dictatorship of the American advisors and their dominance. [In] no part of the army did the American forces have such dominance; there were tens of thousands of advisors; nearly fifty thousand military advisors were in Iran; they had settled in the Air Force; now their dominance, humiliating the commanders, disregarding the Iranian element - they did not consider them at all; they had connections with the courtiers and did not regard them at all - they sold the equipment, did not allow the technical elements to understand this equipment; neither the technical officers nor the technical non-commissioned officers nor the airmen who were specifically for this work were allowed to understand the tools, they did not allow the spare parts to be opened; they would load the spare part, which consisted of several parts, onto the plane, take it to America, replace it, bring another one, take the money; that is, they humiliated the Iranians in this way. [These] young people were probably unaware that America and England repeatedly used our army to suppress other nations; including in Vietnam. They took our planes to Vietnam to bomb the Viet Cong who were fighting against the invading America in the jungles of Vietnam; this was the case. There were other places as well. It was even said to me - which of course I do not have close information about - that there are credible documents that Iran's Phantoms were also handed over to the Zionist regime; well, what use would they want to make? Probably to suppress the Palestinians, or to confront the governments of the resistance of that day, the governments of Egypt and Syria and others; that is, the apparatuses that belonged to Iran and Islam were used in the service of America and its goals to suppress the oppressed and assist the oppressor. Well, these are really important issues that must be known. Now, the treachery of the Pahlavi regime is not limited to one or two cases, but this is also one of the significant aspects of the treachery of the regime; it was a treachery to the army, it was a treachery to the nation - because they spent the nation's resources in the service of America - and it was a crime against other Muslim nations.

The matter that I want to emphasize more and draw your attention and that of others who hear this speech to is "jihad of clarification" which I have repeatedly emphasized. I want to say that the day this historic movement of the nineteenth of Bahman took place in front of the Imam, if that photo that was published from this event had not been published, meaning if this explanatory work had not been done, this incident would not have remained as it did, nor would it have been impactful; it would have been an incident like many other incidents that occur and are forgotten. The factor of the permanence and impact of this incident was that artistic frame of the image that was published from it; clarification is this, advertising and showing is this. Thanks to a limited and small media effort - at that time, media capabilities were not like today, they were very limited - a movement like the allegiance of the Air Force on the nineteenth of Bahman becomes historic, becomes permanent, becomes impactful, becomes transformative; the issue of "correct narration" is this; this issue of "correct narration of events" that I emphasize is that today, with the expansion of media - which now compared to that day cannot be said to be hundreds of times greater, perhaps thousands of times greater with this virtual space and these satellites and these things that exist today and did not exist then, the matter has changed - the importance of the issue has also increased accordingly.

Today, a definite policy of the hostile media of the Islamic Republic and of Islam is to distort realities, and they are busy; they are constantly delivering work in distorting realities and fabricating lies; they mix news related to the Islamic Republic with all kinds of lies - professional lies, lies that they have sat down and worked on and calculated - and they beautify and adorn the ugly and corrupt face of the tyrannical regime and keep hidden the thousands of crimes and treacheries they committed.

The SAVAK of the tyrannical regime was a place where various types of torture from the intelligence agencies of Israel and America were applied; some were perhaps tested - in an experimental manner - and many of them were applied, and many of those who endured those tortures are still alive and the effects of those tortures remain in their bodies, and they are suffering. This wicked and ugly face of SAVAK, which was entirely a center of crime, they even want to decorate and adorn and show in a different way! That is, the agent of SAVAK, who was perhaps the most infamous figure in the country, writes memoirs and speaks in a way that it seems SAVAK - [that is] the center of torture and center of oppression and such things - has a bright and enlightened face. Conversely, regarding the revolution, they distort the face of the revolution, the face of the Imam, the activities of these forty years as much as they can; to the extent that they can, they try to distort this. From the advancements, from the positive points, from the strengths, you absolutely do not see any sign in this media empire of the West; they conceal the truths. Conversely, if there is a weakness - which of course exists; no country and no system is without weaknesses - they magnify a small weakness a hundred times and show it; this is a strange work that is being done today. Therefore, "jihad of clarification" is an obligation. "Jihad of clarification" is a definite and urgent obligation, and everyone who can [must act]; and now I will mention that officials in this regard are more obliged.

Well, the Western powers are known for their dictatorship, that is, those who now, in their own imagination, claim to confront the dictatorships of the world, are themselves the most dictatorial; they exercise dictatorship in political, economic, and in relation to the whole world. [Today] they have added one item to these dictatorships, and that is media dictatorship; media dictatorship. That is, for example, suppose you cannot mention the name of Martyr Soleimani in the virtual space, they delete it. In the virtual space, which is under their control and under their key, they cannot tolerate the name of Martyr Soleimani, they cannot tolerate his picture; today it is like this. Of course, there were also these dictatorships before. The late Haj Ahmad Agha (may his soul be sanctified) told us that the Imam had given a lengthy message - I think it was the message of Hajj - Haj Ahmad Agha said I thought in America they say there is freedom of expression, let’s publish this message of the Imam in one of the newspapers there. He said I sent a message to our friends who were there, I said whatever money is needed, I will pay for this [to be published] - like a notice that they pay to distribute - he said no newspaper was willing to publish it. [Despite the claim of] freedom of expression, the expression of truths! They were not willing to publish the Imam's statement. The author of a book about the den of espionage, who has written details about the den of espionage and was one of the elements there, said we contacted every publisher in America to publish this, none of them accepted; until finally we went to Canada and found a publisher who accepted it, then they were trying to make him regret; constantly calling, threatening, and such things. Media dictatorship means this; at that time they claim to be supporters of freedom of expression! Today, anything and any word that is related to policies of the West, that is contrary to it or not aligned with it, is banned from being depicted and published. At that time, they maximally use this space to exaggerate problems in the Islamic Republic or about Islam, about Islamic concepts, about the meanings of Islamic teachings, to destroy these and distort these; and this is a bitter reality, and it places a duty on everyone.

I said that the media officials are primarily responsible; whether it is national media or other various media, whether it is virtual space, whether it is the press, everyone is obliged to enter this field and anyone who has a platform and a pulpit to speak to the public opinion of society is obliged in this regard. In the country, thousands of epic events occur; over these years, over these four decades, how many great works have been done, how many epic works have been done! Well, these must be expressed; these are concealed by the enemy, the enemy does not allow [them to be broadcast]. In social arenas, in economic arenas, in construction arenas, in educational arenas, in health and treatment, in industry, in industry! The other day, a group of industrial activists were here, they reported - a few of them reported - along with their reports, the images of these activities were also shown here in this Hosseiniyeh; it was astonishing; it is truly astonishing; there is no news of these in the media of the country; this is a very strange thing. So much work is being done, so many important works, all of these are epic. In the fields of construction, in religious and cultural fields, in defensive and security fields, in defensive and security fields.

Now you are familiar with the issues and advancements of the Air Force, you have produced works, you have built things, which of these are properly reflected in society? Well, we have shortcomings; we truly have shortcomings in this regard. And all those things I just mentioned - social fields, economic activities, diplomatic and political activities, construction activities; all this construction work in the country - each of these headings can be a title for the activity of jihad of clarification. And we must not allow that some problems - well, the country has problems; there are economic problems, there are livelihood problems - cast dust over these epic events and hide them from the eyes of the people. These problems are preserved in their place, and efforts must be made to resolve the problems; there is no doubt, but those important works and significant advancements, important constructions, valuable activities in various fields must not be forgotten.

My last word is that our enemies, the enemy front - because the enemy is a front; a vast front - today has launched a combined attack; the enemy's attack is a combined attack; that is, there is an economic aspect to it, there is a political aspect to it, there is a security aspect to it, there is a media aspect to it, there is a diplomatic aspect to it - they have started a collective combined attack from all directions - we too must have a combined movement in response; we must strive from all directions. Of course, we must defend, but we cannot always remain in a defensive position; this must be noted. When I say we must defend, well, defense is a necessary action, but we cannot always remain in a defensive position; the enemy attacks, we must also have an offensive; in various fields; both in media fields, and in economic fields, and in security fields. Thinkers in these areas are responsible; those who are thinkers, those who are active and take action, especially the officials, in each of these areas where they can, must strive, and God willing, just as contrary to the enemy's wishes and contrary to the enemy's chaotic assumptions, the Islamic Republic has advanced with power for more than four decades, and day by day, thanks be to God, it has become more solid and rooted, in the future, this movement will continue; in my opinion, and God willing, with divine grace, we will move better than the past and will advance, and the enemy will be thwarted; however, each of us must know our duty in each section.

You in the Air Force have many important works that must be done; both in administrative fields, both in educational fields, and in operational fields; there are many duties that must be carried out, God willing. I have mentioned some to the honorable commander and have shared them, and God willing, you will follow up, and the tomorrow of the country will be much better than today, God willing.

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