Statements in Meeting with the People of Azerbaijan on the Occasion of the Uprising of the Twenty-Ninth of Bahman in Tabriz

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

I extend my warm welcome to all dear brothers and sisters from Tabriz and Azerbaijan; and I thank you for enduring the hardships of travel and this long journey during these cold winter days to warm and energize our Hussainiyah during these important historical days. I sincerely thank all the brothers and sisters, especially the esteemed families of martyrs, the distinguished scholars, high-ranking officials, and the respected Friday prayer leader of Tabriz, Mr. Shabestari, who has truly and justly made valuable efforts worthy of this great city and this magnificent province.

I would like to begin by expressing gratitude to the great nation of Iran for the grandeur they displayed on the twenty-second of Bahman, and the greatness they showed through their power. Words fail to describe and appreciate this. First and foremost, we must bow in gratitude before the Lord of the Universe, who is the changer of hearts and the turner of intentions and resolves, for everything is by the will of the Lord. Secondly, we must sincerely thank the vast multitude of the Iranian nation across the country for bringing the twenty-second of Bahman to life, highlighting it, and showcasing it to the world. I will return to refer again to the issues of the twenty-second of Bahman.

Our gathering today and our meeting with you dear Tabrizis and other cities of Azerbaijan is on the occasion of the twenty-ninth of Bahman. The twenty-ninth of Bahman is not just a name; it is not just another day; it is not merely an event. The twenty-ninth of Bahman signifies that incident which occurred in the year 1978, on such a day - that is, on the twenty-ninth of Bahman - which was an event with multiple meanings. The youth present here - my dear ones, my children - many of you did not witness the twenty-ninth of Bahman, but the lessons of the twenty-ninth of Bahman remain alive, and the insights from the twenty-ninth of Bahman remain alive.

There are several meanings in this great event: First, it reflects the moral characteristics and traits of the people of Tabriz and the people of Azerbaijan; this is very important. We must recognize ourselves through our traits, through our moral characteristics. Others sit down and write about the ethics of Iranians with distortion and shortsightedness! We must recognize ourselves correctly in the mirror of these events. In this incident of the twenty-ninth of Bahman, the people of Tabriz demonstrated these traits: firstly, deep religious faith; secondly, religious zeal; thirdly, courage; and after these, the issue of timeliness and a correct understanding of events; these are very important for a group that is faithful, courageous, capable of action, and knows the right time for action. Acting too early or too late is ineffective. The people of Tabriz created the twenty-ninth of Bahman at the right time; these characteristics are very important. Tabriz and Azerbaijan had these characteristics even before the twenty-ninth of Bahman and still possess them today - subsequent events have shown this - these must be preserved. Islamic faith, zealous devotion, courage, being proactive, breaking the lines, performing outstanding and innovative works towards lofty goals, recognizing time, recognizing situations, and performing actions appropriate to the situation were among the blessings and effects of the twenty-ninth of Bahman that embodied the prominent traits of the people of Tabriz and Azerbaijan in the mirror of history.

The second point regarding the twenty-ninth of Bahman is to show how blessed the connection between different parts of the country is. Qom is where? Tabriz is where? An incident occurred in Qom; those who caused this incident wanted to prevent it from remaining alive, wanting it to be forgotten; suddenly, from a distant point in Qom, that is, from Tabriz, the people rise up and keep the incident of Qom alive. It was not the case that the fortieth [of the incident of the nineteenth of Dey] was commemorated by the people of Qom; it was commemorated by Tabriz. The tyrannical and oppressive regime became terrified and reacted foolishly against the people of Tabriz, resulting in some martyrs. The propaganda they conducted that day was very clumsy and incorrect; they wanted to cover it up. The matter passed, and the people of Yazd commemorated the fortieth of the people of Tabriz. See, this is the connectivity of different parts of the country; then this sequence began. You were the pioneers in holding the Arbaeen ceremonies for the martyrs of the revolution, and then this movement spread to Yazd, Shiraz, Bushehr, and other parts of the country. This is the second point regarding the issues of the twenty-ninth of Bahman.

The third point is that if on that day, to the people of Qom on the nineteenth of Dey or to the people of Tabriz on the twenty-ninth of Bahman, it had been said that your movement would lead to a great revolution, no one would have believed it; but it happened. This indicates that if a nation strives, steps into the arena, does not retreat, it can move mountains, it can create miracles, and this miracle occurred. My dear ones, youth! Think about it, study the incident of the emergence of the revolution. The event of the victory of the revolution is the most similar to the miracles of the prophets. Could anyone have imagined that a nation of a country under the domination of America, enslaved by Western culture, with its economy entirely in the hands of powerful international enemies, militarily weak, and internationally isolated, would rise against all the symbols of material power and raise the flag of Islam in the materialistic world, standing against the East and the West - America and the Soviet Union had disagreements on a hundred issues, but they agreed on one issue, and that was to crush the Islamic revolution - and succeed, forcing them to retreat! Who would have believed it? But it happened, and this is a lesson. One of the lessons of the twenty-second of Bahman for you, for us, for all the Iranian nation is to know that no great event, no great obstacle, no great power can withstand the resolute will of a nation. There is much to say about the virtues of the twenty-ninth of Bahman and the virtues of the people of Azerbaijan and the people of Tabriz. Since then, until today, the same spirit, the same sense of duty, the same sense of responsibility and commitment, and motivation have existed in the people of Azerbaijan, and the people of Tabriz have shone in various events; these lessons must be preserved and remembered.

We have stated: first, recognizing our local characteristics and traits; second, the connection and unity of different parts of the country; this is a point that the enemies emphasize. They want to place the Iranian ethnicities, who have always been brotherly and hand in hand in all events, against each other; this must be known by the entire Iranian nation. We have Turks, Arabs, Persians, Lurs, Baluchis, Kurds, Turkmen, and various ethnicities scattered throughout Iran; one characteristic today prevails over all of them, and that is the sovereignty of Islamic Iran, which has gathered all of them under the banner of Islam and the Islamic glories and the beautiful name of Iran; today efforts are being made to separate them. Everyone must be aware, we must all be vigilant; there are those who are sitting and plotting to set the Iranian ethnicities against each other; let us not forget the message of unity, empathy, compassion, and solidarity of the twenty-ninth of Bahman; this is the second point. The third point is the miracle of the will of the nation.

Now let me return to the issue of the twenty-second of Bahman and the issue of the revolution, which is our issue of yesterday, today, and always. The twenty-second of Bahman has shown itself to be more stirring each year than the previous year. Some individuals make various analyses; these analyses are actually conducted in a vacuum [where] they sit and think to themselves; the real reality of the people speaks differently. Those who sit down carefully, observing the streets, some with specific cameras, measure the crowds, have given us multiple reports that last year - the year 1391 - the crowd was significantly larger than the previous year; this year, the same individuals and those who conduct these precise or nearly precise calculations have reported that this year the crowd was even denser than last year. This statement [that] is repeated on tongues may lead someone to think it is just a cliché that "every year is better than the last"; but no, it is a reality. Well, what does this reality show us? My humble assessment is that the anniversary celebration of the revolution is, like the revolution itself, an unparalleled phenomenon. What does this mean? [It means] just as our revolution, even acknowledged by the enemies, has no parallel throughout the history of revolutions in various respects, the commemoration of the anniversary of this revolution also has no parallel anywhere in the world. Usually, the anniversaries of revolutions in various countries that we have seen on television and in the news are held as dry, formal ceremonies - after two years, three years, four years - but this is not the case here; the nation celebrates; not only in Tehran, but in all provincial centers; not only in provincial centers, but in all cities of the country; not just in the first, second, fifth, and tenth years, but in the thirty-fifth year. Is this not a strange phenomenon? Thirty-five years have passed since the revolution; those who were born in the first year of the revolution are now 35-year-old men and women - they have almost passed the youth stage - yet the anniversary of the revolution is celebrated every year with motivation, with a sense of resilience, with loyalty to the ideals of the revolution, with power and grandeur; is this not strange? Let the enemy's media do whatever they want to do with their words, but the think tanks understand what is happening here. Those who sit and study understand that they cannot confront this nation, this revolution, this motivation, and this faith.

What kind of slogans do the people chant? The slogans are those of standing firm on the straight path and the straight way of the revolution - this is the same everywhere - across the country, the slogans are those of steadfastness; that is, the people, through the rallies of the twenty-second of Bahman, demonstrate that God Almighty has fulfilled His promise that He said: "If you support God, He will support you and make your steps firm"; God Almighty makes your steps firm; He does not allow you to be forced to retreat. This divine promise has been fulfilled regarding the Iranian nation; you supported the religion of God, and God Almighty granted you steadfastness. This year's thirty-fifth anniversary signifies steadfastness.

Well, what is the message of this celebration? Look at the slogans of the people; the message must be taken from the slogans of the people. As I see it, there are two messages in these rallies of the twenty-second of Bahman: one is the message of steadfastness, and the other is the message of unity. What does steadfastness mean? It means that the Iranian nation stands firm on the ideals of the revolution. We had positive ideals, and we also had negative ideals; our positive ideals include: we seek social justice; we seek popular participation in various events of the country; we seek Islam; we see the prosperity of the country in acting according to Islamic teachings; we seek an independent economy; we seek a culture that is not dependent on foreigners and our own authentic Islamic and Iranian culture; we seek to shelter the oppressed and confront the oppressor; we seek the advancement of the country; we seek the scientific prominence of the country; we want our country to be a leader and pioneer in science, economy, culture, social affairs, ethics, and spirituality; these are the positive messages of our revolution. The revolution also had negative messages; the negative message of the revolution is that we will not submit to bullying, we will not submit to tribute, we will not submit to the system of domination.

The system of domination means that several powers that have attained material capabilities and weapons and money and the like want to rule the world; the manifestation of the system of domination today is America. The Iranian nation said during the revolution, in subsequent events, during the imposed war, and on this twenty-second of Bahman: we will not submit to the bullying and tribute-seeking of America. Some people should not try to beautify the face of America, to decorate it, to remove the ugliness and terror and violence from the face of America in front of our nation, introducing it as a friendly, humanitarian government; even if they try, their efforts are in vain. Throughout at least the last seventy or eighty years - of course, there are many things in the history of America before that [which] we do not want to delve into now - just look at the world and see what America has done? The wars that America has waged, the innocent and non-combatant people who have been killed in these wars and outside of them; the dictators who have been supported by America in the East and West of the world - one of them was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and dozens of others like him in Asian countries, African countries, and Latin America, who for years oppressed their own people, shed the blood of their people, plundered the wealth of their people, and made life miserable for them. Supporting these individuals is part of America's record of actions. Support for international terrorism and support for state terrorism; this criminal Zionist regime that occupies Palestine has been supported by America for decades; it kills people, destroys homes, commits oppression, takes young men, women, men, and children to prison; they attacked Beirut, destroyed Sabra and Shatila, and so on; all of this has been supported by America. These are recorded in America's actions. The attack on Iraq and the killing of tens of thousands of people - we do not know the exact figures, but it is said that up to about a million Iraqis have been killed by them directly and indirectly over these years; now I do not attribute it, at least tens of thousands, [when even] one is too many - they have killed people in Iraq. In Afghanistan, in another way, they unleashed companies of murder and terror - one of which I once mentioned in a speech, the famous American company "Blackwater" that is involved in murder and terror - on the people; the same extremist, murderous, Takfiri groups were initially launched by them, which now in some places have backfired on themselves. America is such a government. The discussion is not about the American nation and the American people; they are like other people; the discussion is about the American regime, the discussion is about the American government. How can this face be changed with beautification and makeup in front of the eyes of the Iranian nation?

What has our nation endured? Since the coup of the twenty-eighth of Mordad, for nearly thirty years, twenty-five or six years, the oppressive government of Mohammad Reza - from the twenty-eighth of Mordad [year] 1953 to 1979 - and then after the victory of the revolution, continuous harassment and malice and wickedness against the Iranian nation. Now the people see the recent sanctions; they started the sanctions from the very beginning of the revolution. At the beginning of the revolution, anyone who wanted to do something against the revolution was supported by the Americans. Whether they were leftist, rightist, military, or non-military, it did not matter to them; anyone who had a motive against the Islamic Republic - in the form of ethnicities, in the form of various individuals - they supported them as much as they could; the last of what the people saw with their own eyes was the sedition of the year 2009. The President of America shamelessly stood up and supported the seditionists in Tehran; they are still supporting them recently. This is the list of the misdeeds of this government. Today, many of the evil intentions that they had behind the scenes and kept hidden are gradually becoming apparent. I announced this year on the first day of the year 1392 in Mashhad, next to the shrine of Imam Reza; I said I have no objection; some officials and statesmen - the statesmen of that government, and then the statesmen of this government - think that we can negotiate with the Americans regarding the nuclear issue [to] resolve the matter; I said, very well, if you insist on this particular issue, go negotiate; but in that same speech at the beginning of this year, I said I am not optimistic; I do not oppose it, but I am not optimistic. Look at the repeated foolish statements of the Americans; an American senator, without any shame, takes money from the Zionists to go to the Senate of America and openly insult the nation, not just insult; he curses. Their country’s leaders do the same, in various levels, insult the Iranian nation [as well]. Of course, they received a slap in the face on the twenty-second of Bahman from the people. One of the reasons for the warmer gathering of the people this year was that the people saw how the American officials became brazen, arrogant, greedy, foul-mouthed, and rude; the religious zeal of the people brought them to the field to tell the enemy: do not make a mistake, we are here. The Iranian nation, in this rally of the twenty-second of Bahman, wanted to convey to all of us - to this humble servant, to various officials, to the hardworking individuals who are truly working in the affairs of the country; whether those working in foreign policy or those working in domestic policy - that they wanted to say: rest assured, the Iranian nation is standing, is present, do not feel weak in the face of the enemy; one of the great messages of the Iranian nation was this. This is the same statement that I made at the beginning of this year, and I have repeatedly said - we have said it before, and we will say it again - we have repeatedly said that the nuclear issue is an excuse for enmity; even if the nuclear issue were to be resolved one day - even hypothetically - according to the American view, another issue will follow it; now observe that the spokespersons of the American government have brought up human rights, missile issues, weapons, and so on. I am astonished; the Americans have no shame in mentioning human rights. Anyone else in the world who claims to support human rights, the American statesmen should not make this claim, with all the disgrace in their record regarding human rights. Out of a hundred types of actions against human rights, perhaps ninety or eighty of them are unknown to the people of the world; the ten or twenty actions that they know are a thick black book. Everyone knows about Guantanamo prison, everyone saw Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, everyone saw the company "Blackwater", everyone saw the attacks on Afghan wedding convoys, everyone saw the support for notorious terrorists who take pride in being terrorists, everyone saw the betrayals, the lies; the whole world has seen these, and they still talk about human rights and do not feel ashamed! Truly, this level of audacity in their behavior is something strange.

Let me tell you that the work that our Foreign Ministry and our government officials have started will continue; Iran will not violate what it has agreed upon and pledged. Of course, the officials should make their efforts, do their work, but the Americans are enemies of the Islamic revolution, enemies of the Islamic Republic, enemies of this flag that you people have raised, and this enmity will not subside with these things; the remedy for confronting this enmity is only one thing, and that is reliance on national power and internal capabilities and strengthening the internal structure of the country as much as possible. The more we work in this area, the better.

I also said that God willing, the policies of resistant economy will soon be announced. The remedy for the country's problems is to follow the path of resistant economy; that is, relying on the internal resources. We should not close our eyes to the hands of others; we are capable, we are wealthy, we have both human wealth - our human resources are unparalleled in the world, if not unique - and extraordinary underground resources; the world needs us; to the extent that the world needs us, we do not need the world. Today, the world revolves around oil and gas; we are the first country in the long list of countries in the world. I said this year in Mashhad, considering our oil reserves and gas reserves, we are the first in the world. Recently, the esteemed government officials reported to me that we have become the first in terms of gas reserves, which we were previously second in the world; today we are in the first position; this is our wealth, the world needs these. You saw a little smile appeared, foreign companies rushed in; they want to come, how long can the Americans resist their stubbornness? If we rely on our own capabilities, their resistance will break; let them know this. As long as we keep our eyes on the hands of others, looking for how much of the sanctions have been lifted, how much this has happened, what that American official said or did not say - as long as we pursue these matters - we will not reach anywhere. We are a great country, a strong nation, a cultured nation, a talented nation, and we have abundant divine wealth; our officials are fortunately caring officials, they want to work, we will help them, we will pray for them; of course, we insist that the officials also rely on internal resources; we ask the officials to trust the people, to trust internal capabilities, to strive to make this inexhaustible source within flow and flourish; if this happens, all the closed doors will open. They must act this way, they must operate this way. Our intention is divine; we thank God that our goal is to seek God's pleasure, and we know that God's pleasure is in the advancement of this country and in the dignity of this nation; we are moving towards this, and God will help. Just as I mentioned, the noble verse of the Quran states: "If you support God, He will support you"; if you support the religion of God, two results will follow: first, "He will support you"; second, "and He will make your steps firm"; He will not allow you to be forced to retreat. And know that, by God's grace, the goals of America and global arrogance regarding Iran and the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation are goals that will be defeated sooner or later. And know that the Iranian nation will celebrate its victory in all arenas and fields in front of the eyes of the malevolent and envious, God willing. And we hope that God Almighty will bestow all of you dear people - the people of Tabriz and other cities of Azerbaijan - and all the dear Iranian nation with His grace, guidance, and assistance.

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