Statements in Meeting with Thousands of People from East Azerbaijan

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 and prophet, Abu al-Qasim al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure and noble family, especially the Awaited One among the people of the earth.

I extend my warm welcome to each and every one of you dear brothers and sisters who have made the effort to travel this long distance and have filled this Hussainiya with your presence, spirit, and meaning. From here, I send my greetings and salutations to all the people of Tabriz, all the people of Azerbaijan, those dear and valiant people. Truly, as you expressed in this beautiful anthem, it embodies the meaning of love and valor of Azerbaijan. This is indeed the case; Azerbaijan is a symbol of valor, a symbol of love, a symbol of faith, a symbol of fervor and Islamic enthusiasm; this is what we have read in the history of Azerbaijan and Tabriz, and what we have witnessed with our own eyes throughout these long years from the era of struggles until today.

I find it necessary to congratulate you on the Sha'ban holidays, which are truly a source of great joy and deep happiness for the hearts of the Shia, especially the blessed day of the 15th of Sha'ban. I must express my gratitude to the Iranian nation for the fervent rallies of the 22nd of Bahman. Indeed, across the country, in all provinces, in all cities, even in villages and remote centers, the people have shown their determination and vitality. There are those who wish for the Iranian nation to gradually forget the 22nd of Bahman; they were taken by surprise. This year, the people truly showcased their revolutionary pride on the 22nd of Bahman to the world. I sincerely thank you. Of course, alongside my gratitude to the dear people, I also sincerely thank those who, with divine assistance, were able to ensure the security of this widespread national rally. This security exists due to the efforts, sacrifices, and tireless work of a group of devoted and selfless individuals; this must be appreciated. Of course, this popular presence also motivates the officials, boosts their morale; this should be clear. Our officials, thanks be to God, are motivated, feel responsible, are enthusiastic, and are truly working to the best of their abilities, but this popular presence further motivates them, uplifts their spirits, and keeps them on their toes. As the esteemed Friday prayer leader pointed out, it injects life into the veins of the society, the nation, the officials, and the revolution.

Now, regarding the 29th of Bahman; much has been said about the 29th of Bahman 56 from various perspectives; today I want to say a word on this matter, and then I want to draw a conclusion from what I am saying. Undoubtedly, the event of the 29th of Bahman 56 in Tabriz was a historic event; without a doubt. A "historic event" means an event that does not just start and end; no, it begins, continues, expands, and reaches great results, history turns; the Tabriz event was of this nature. Yes, for instance, martyr Tajalli was the pretext for the people's presence and coming out into the streets, and the declarations of the great scholars such as the late Mr. Amirza Hassan Agha Engji, the late Mr. Qazi — martyr Qazi — the late Mr. Sheikh Abdul-Hossein Gharavi, and others who signed and issued declarations, all of these were influential and drew the people out, but the event that occurred was greater than these matters. What did the Tabriz event do? The Tabriz incident gave a tenfold boost to the events of the 19th of Dey in Qom, which the regime was trying to cover up; the Tabriz incident spread the Qom issue from Qom to the entire country; this was the significance of Tabriz. When the spirit of resistance and revolutionary fervor spreads throughout the country, the result is that after almost a year, the event of the 22nd of Bahman occurs, and Iran is transformed; "historic" means this.

The people of Tabriz recognized their duty in a timely manner and rose to fulfill their duty, which I have referred to once again in this session. The importance of the matter is that we must first recognize a duty that we feel at the right time and not let it pass, and then, when we feel it, we must rise to fulfill that duty; it should not be like the case of the Tawabeen; the Tawabeen did not come to Karbala, then they rose, and all of them were martyred, but where? They left no impact on history because they did not rise at the right time; when they should have come, they did not come; they should have been in Karbala on Ashura, but they were not. The Tabriz incident occurred with a sense of duty, timely and in the moment, and the uprising also occurred in the moment; this is what God blessed; when we rise like this — an taqoomu lillah mathna wa furdah — this uprising is blessed, the Almighty God blesses this uprising, and it continued until it reached the 22nd of Bahman.

Well, these matters pertain to the past. Perhaps most of you sitting in this session have neither seen that day nor have any memories of it; you are the people of today, the people of tomorrow. One day, the people of Tabriz undertook a necessary and important movement, and the world saw its impact; now at that moment when it occurred, the world was not aware, but later it reached places that shook the world, history turned; one day this happened, but that day has passed. The 29th of Bahman 56 was one of the days of God, today is another day of God, and tomorrow will also be another day of God. We must learn lessons; what is necessary is that we learn from the past for our present and our future.

Well, the 22nd of Bahman 57 was the birth of the revolution; it was an exceptional and vibrant birth. Everything that has happened from the 22nd of Bahman until today, this offspring of the 22nd of Bahman has grown larger, stronger, its framework has become more solid, its power has increased, and its vision has become sharper. That offspring is now 45 years old; experiences, incidents, wars, confrontations with the infidels, confrontations with the hypocrites, confrontations with political enemies, various types of seditions and conspiracies have occurred in these 45 years, and the revolution has faced these challenges. What does revolution mean? It means what is in your heart; revolution means you, revolution means the people, revolution means the ruling system has faced these events and has dealt with them, has passed through difficult turns.

You say "Agha Mahdi Bakri"; what did Bakri do? Those like Bakri — who was also a young man in his twenties — and the other great figures who were in this path, today only their names are mentioned, while the details of their work, that effort, that struggle, that selflessness, that planning, that thought, that strength must be ingrained in our minds; we must recognize the duties that we have and pursue these duties; this is what I am conveying today. I will present two general duties that from each of these two duties, dozens of responsibilities arise. There are two general duties for all the people of Iran, for you and me, especially for you young people; what are these two duties? One is the duty of "looking at ourselves," and the other is the duty of "looking at the enemy"; these are the two duties. Now I will explain what the duty of "looking at ourselves" means.

"Looking at ourselves" means self-assessment, evaluating ourselves; let us see what we are capable of, how much we weigh, let us not forget ourselves. The Almighty God says in the Quran, "They forgot God, so He caused them to forget themselves"; God punished them; what was the punishment? It was that they forgot themselves. Not knowing and being unable to properly assess and evaluate ourselves is a great calamity; like a patient suffering from a dreadful and fatal disease, who is unaware of it, is not informed; well, the fate of this is clear. If one wants to be saved, they must understand what disease they have, so they can treat themselves. This is one. Secondly, it is not just about recognizing the flaws, but also recognizing the strengths. Now I will present a brief list to you dear brothers and sisters. If we take a close look at ourselves — "ourselves" meaning our revolution, our system, our behavior, our identity — we see that there are some strengths, there are achievements. The revolution had goals, it came to the field with important objectives, some of which we have achieved, and this is significant, while we have not reached some; in some areas, we have strengths, in some areas, we have weaknesses. We must strengthen, preserve, and appreciate the strengths, and we must remedy the weaknesses. Why do we say "strengths must be appreciated"? Because there is a policy that makes you forget your strengths, makes you unaware that you have this capability; this is also a hostile policy that exists, so we must recognize our strengths.

Well, we, meaning the revolution, have had successes. When I say "we," I do not mean individuals, I mean the revolution as a whole; that is, the Iranian nation, the Islamic Republic system, various officials, all the people are partners in these successes. We have had successes; what are these successes? At the forefront of these successes is the destruction of a tyrannical, oppressive, faithless, dependent regime, namely the monarchy; this is not a small matter; the most important achievement is this. The monarchy, which was deeply rooted in the country, was a regime that valued neither the people nor respected them, nor considered the people to have a role in governing the country, nor cared for the people. When I was in exile in Balochistan, even the governor of that relatively large city had not visited! Now the president of the country goes to remote areas and small towns and interacts with the people; these are very different. They did not give importance to the people, the people had no role. To whom did they give importance? To the British embassy, to the American embassy. A few days ago, I mentioned in a session here that an American officer would come, board an Iranian fighter jet from the airport, go bomb Vietnam, and return, and the king of the country was not even informed; not that he did not get permission, he was not informed! This was how the life of the people was. About forty to fifty thousand Americans lived in this country, ate, slept, ruled, made decisions, and the people were nothing; they would say to whom to sell oil and at what price, to whom and how not to sell; the embassies intervened in many matters and made decisions and announced them, and they had to be executed; this was such a regime. The Islamic revolution uprooted this regime, destroyed it, and transformed it into a popular system. In this system, the people are the owners of the system, they are the masters of the system, they choose, they discern, they vote. Now, in addition to this centuries-old despotism, in the late Qajar period and throughout the Pahlavi era, foreign dependency was added, along with the moral, financial, and sexual corruption that existed in every aspect. Well, the revolution transformed this regime into a popular system; that is, the opposite of that; the people choose the legislator, the executor, the leader through the Assembly of Experts, the city council, and the other decision-making and implementing factors of the country; this was the most important thing that was accomplished. This is one success.

The next task is to create national self-belief among the Iranian nation for various national activities; that is, in science, technology, politics, art, and various types of work, the Iranian nation feels self-belief, can take action, can accomplish, and does not rely on the outside. I have often said, in the past, during the regime [of the Shah], our wheat came from America, and the Soviets built our silos; our doctors came from India; we had several thousand Indian and Bangladeshi doctors throughout the country. The Iranian nation, the Iranian youth, did not feel capable; this feeling had been killed, suppressed in them; this turned into a feeling of capability. Today, the youth have accomplished great things that you have heard and know; in some areas, it has been announced, seen — like in military sectors and such, which everyone knows — in many areas, the people are largely unaware of the great works that have been accomplished; in industry, in nuclear industry, in medicine, in pharmaceuticals, in various sectors; who has accomplished this? These very youths. This is self-belief in national matters.

In addition to this, self-confidence in international encounters; the Iranian nation, the representatives of the Iranian nation, today do not feel weak in the face of powers, do not feel inferior; it was not like this before. Back then, the political representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in certain countries — now we do not care about their personal issues, which were very bad — had no initiative in political matters, were subject to the government of the power that had influence over them, like the British power, the American power, the French power, and so on. Therefore, creating self-belief, self-confidence in international encounters, and spreading the thought and values of the revolution, which today you see signs of in the region, are also among the successes of the revolution. The values of the revolution have spread; we did not work for these; this is the inherent quality of the revolution.

Relative prevention of the spread of Western culture as a superior culture; before the revolution, it was like this; Western culture was considered the superior culture. Of course, this has not been completely eliminated, but it has been largely corrected. Removing national services from monopoly in the center; before the revolution, many services, infrastructure issues, and public services were specific to Tehran and a few large cities. Today, the revolution has necessitated and created the expansion of these services to the depths of the country, to the entire country, and God willing, it will continue and progress.

Nurturing globally recognized scientists; good surgeons, good engineers, prominent nuclear scientists; these are recognized in the world, and respect is given to them. You know that today one of the concerns, which is justified, is the emigration of some of our specialists — doctors and the like — which has worried some, and they are right to be concerned. But what is the other side of this issue? [It is that] the world needs our doctors. One day we needed Bangladeshi doctors, today the world needs our doctors, our engineers, our lawyers, our pilots; these have been trained, the revolution has created and brought them into existence.

The emergence of spontaneous popular groups; this is one of the successes of the revolution. Today, we have spontaneous groups in all areas of people's lives; in art, literature, industry, military matters, and various works, there are spontaneous popular groups; there are youths who have no expenses for the government, nor do they expect anything from the officials of the country, they themselves are doing great works among themselves, and one can observe them. These are strengths, and we have many such strengths; if we pursue the "looking at ourselves" approach, we will find many such strengths among the Iranian nation and stemming from the revolution. Well, these are the strengths.

Do we have weaknesses? Yes; are they few? No; we also have weaknesses. We are lagging in building a strong national economy. We are lagging in establishing social justice, judicial justice, economic justice — which has been one of the highest slogans of the revolution, one of the greatest goals of the revolution — we are lagging; some work has been done, some good work has been done, but there is still a long way to go; we are lagging. In eradicating social harms, we are lagging; in the issue of divorce, in the issue of addiction, in moral issues, we have not progressed as much as we should have; we are lagging. If you take a look at the virtual space, you will see the problems of moral conduct there; this is our lagging; we are lagging. In aligning our lives with Islamic values, we are lagging: Islam has said do not waste, we waste; Islam has said to put aside ostentation, in various classes, some engage in ostentation, and some imitate ostentation; they cannot afford it, but they go into debt to throw an extravagant wedding for their child; why? These are our shortcomings, these are our backwardness.

Well, I said looking at ourselves, self-assessment, self-evaluation; this is the responsibility of all of us. If we look at ourselves, we will recognize both our successes and our great achievements, and we will stand firm on them, take pride in them, and increase them, and we will also recognize our weaknesses and strive to eliminate them. Each of us has a duty; the government has a duty, the parliament has a duty, the people have a duty.

What is the duty of the government, the parliament, and other official centers? A firm resolve, continuous work, integrity in action, honesty with the people, prioritizing national interests over personal gain; these are the duties of the officials. I tell you that today, thanks be to God, the high-ranking officials of the country possess these qualities, but at all levels of government officials, judicial and others, these positive traits must exist and be expanded. Now we do not want to say that the problems that exist are the fault of whom; that is another matter, we do not want to say that for now. We want to see what our duty is today and what the duty of the government is.

The duty of the elites is to identify the gaps, identify the danger points, seek ways to eliminate the gaps and close the danger points, investigate, and provide intellectual assistance to the governments, to the Islamic Consultative Assemblies, to the officials; the elites have a duty. In a lively and vibrant society, the elite of the nation feels a sense of duty, and their duty is these matters.

The youth have a duty; the duty of the youth — which of course has many responsibilities — is primarily to create the necessary qualifications for playing a role tomorrow; the youth can play a role. Today, you see how many talented youths have entered the government and are working; well, they must create these qualifications within themselves; the youth must prepare themselves for presence in various fields; they must prepare themselves to carry heavy burdens. The youth are the driving force, the driving force of society; they must prepare themselves in terms of various qualifications, moral and scientific, etc., for playing a role in this driving force.

The general public has a duty. Of course, the duties are different; a merchant has one duty, a government employee has another duty, a cleric has another duty. Each of these various individuals has their own duties, but the general duty is to support the officials, support the servants, support good works; this is one of the duties.

A fundamental and important duty that is the duty of the people, the duty of the officials, the duty of the elites, the duty of the youth, the duty of students and clerics, etc., is to remember that all these works we say to do are jihad. What does "jihad" mean? "Jihad" means the effort made against an enemy; "jihad" means this. The works we mentioned are jihad; we said the elites should do such and such work, meaning they should do this work considering that an enemy wants this work not to be done; it is against the enemy, so it is jihad; the youth should do this work, knowing that the enemy wants this work not to be done; if they do it, they have performed a jihad; "jihad" means this. The enemy opposes any good work that is done in the Islamic Republic; this is not a mere claim, there is reasoning behind it. The reason is this: the Islamic Republic is a system of "Do not oppress and do not be oppressed." The Quran has told us "Do not oppress and do not be oppressed"; do not oppress anyone, and do not submit to oppression, under no circumstances accept oppression. This is the Islamic Republic. Well, those regimes whose foundations were established to oppress are naturally opposed to such a system; therefore, any progress that occurs in the Islamic Republic makes them anxious. So, do these works, considering that the enemy is in front of you.

Now, let us briefly touch on the second duty; the first duty is "looking at ourselves," the second duty is "looking at the enemy." I have explained "looking at ourselves," and "looking at the enemy" means knowing that there is an enemy; do not be oblivious to the enemy; know that the enemy has tricks, deceit, and tools; do not consider the enemy weak and powerless: "The enemy cannot be considered weak and pitiful." Do not be afraid of the enemy; a key condition for victory is to recognize the enemy, to know their capabilities, but do not be afraid; if you are afraid, you have lost. We should not be afraid of the enemy's threats, we should not be afraid of the enemy's bluster, we should not be afraid of the enemy's pressure, we should not be afraid of these things. We must pay attention to what makes the enemy so anxious and exert pressure; that is your point of strength, that is our point of strength. If we were weak, if we had no point of strength, the enemy would not be so anxious, would not exert such pressure, would not be so active, would not engage in such tricks and deceit. "Looking at the enemy" means paying attention to the advancements of the Islamic revolution, knowing that these are what make the enemy angry. Therefore, we should not be afraid of the enemy and should not be passive in front of the enemy. Sometimes some, just because the enemy starts to belittle them, feel inferior and become passive; no, the enemy's policy is to make them distrustful and disbelieving of their own possessions. We should not be passive in front of the enemy. Well, this is what we wanted to convey regarding this duty.

We have another matter, and that is the elections. We are approaching the elections. There is no doubt that the front of global arrogance opposes our elections; why do they oppose? Because our system is "the Islamic Republic"; it has two parts; they oppose both its republic aspect and its Islamic aspect. The manifestation of "republic" is this election; this election is the manifestation of "republic." So when America opposes the Islamic Republic system, it is actually opposing the elections, opposing the presence of the people, opposing the people's coming to the ballot boxes, opposing the enthusiasm and excitement that exists in the elections and the greater participation of the people; even once, a president of America, close to the elections — of course, they do not say this now — addressed the people of Iran and said, "Do not participate in the elections!" Now I do not exactly remember whether it was the presidential election or the parliamentary election; that is how much they oppose that the then president of America — from a few years ago — would tell the Iranian nation not to participate in their elections. Of course, that election became more fervent than ever; in fact, that president of America unknowingly helped the Iranian nation; he wanted the people not to participate, he said do not participate, and the people participated even more out of spite; this was a help to us. After him, they no longer say it explicitly; however, in various ways, they try to distance the people from the elections, to discourage them, to make them hopeless; they have many methods in this regard.

Everyone must participate in the elections. Elections are the main pillar of the Islamic Republic. The way to reform the country is through elections. Those who seek to address and remedy the problems must turn to the elections. The correct path is to choose. This is one matter.

The second matter: the people must seek to choose the best. Of course, first and foremost is the presence of the people, and secondly is the choice of the best. "Choosing the best" means that those who are presented, since they have passed under the scrutiny of the Guardian Council, are all qualified, but among them, the more qualified must be chosen; this is the dictate of reason. How do we recognize the best? The Iranian nation, wherever they can, should go and discern, investigate; where they cannot, they should rely on those whom they trust; they will introduce them, and we should use their introductions to recognize the best.

Those who have the ability to speak to the people and are accepted by the people and acknowledged by them should encourage the people to participate in the elections. Those who enter the electoral field should avoid foul language and insults towards others. See, these are necessary actions that we must undertake regarding the elections. Those who can encourage should encourage; those who enter should not engage in bad behavior; [that is] in the virtual space, they should not speak ill of each other, insult, slander; these actions make the elections unblessed. They should avoid blackening the picture; it should not be that some, in order to attract the attention of the people to themselves, blacken the picture. Blackening the picture is wrong, is contrary to reality, is a lie, and does not receive the grace of the Lord.

Of course, the integrity of the elections, the soundness of the elections, the health of the elections has always been our demand from the officials. And I tell you that in these many years, in these several decades during which so many elections have been held, I, as a responsible person who was once president and later held this position, have never observed electoral misconduct in the sense that the enemy claims; they say it in vain. In some cases, some claimed that these elections — now various elections — had issues; we investigated, we examined, we sent individuals to investigate, and it became clear that it is not as they say that there would be any change in the results of the elections; now, it is possible that in some corners, some may commit misconduct, but it does not affect the result of the elections. Elections have always been conducted in our country in a sound, correct, and solid manner, and this time, God willing, it will be the same.

My final point is the unity of the Iranian nation. My dear ones! We have fought with unity and being of one hand, we have triumphed with being of one hand, we have continued until now with being of one hand, and we must continue to move forward with being of one hand. Sibling and political differences and such matters should not affect the national unity of the Iranian nation in the face of enemies.

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