Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Meeting with a Group of Veterans and Memoirists of the Sacred Defense

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

If this session lasted another two or three hours, I would feel nothing but excitement. Truly, one does not get tired of visiting you and hearing these words. I sincerely thank the dear friends who granted me the opportunity to participate in your session.

Let the memories remain for another time; the opportunity is limited; in addition to the fact that our memories are nothing compared to yours. What you have seen, touched, and felt is far more precious and significant than what we have witnessed in these scenes. I want to express just one sentence, and that is the importance of this work.

In my opinion, the founder of the preservation of events through literature and art is Zainab al-Kubra (peace be upon her). If it were not for the movement and action of Lady Zainab, and after her, the rest of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) - Imam Sajjad and others - the event of Ashura would not have remained in history. Yes, it is God's tradition that such events remain eternal in history; however, all divine traditions operate through specific mechanisms. The mechanism for the preservation of these truths in history is that the confidants, those who are aware of these moments, share them with others. Therefore, memoir writing, documentation, and dissemination of memories must be placed in its rightful position, which is a very high and important status.

Artistic expression is also a primary condition; just as Lady Zainab's sermon in the city of Kufa and the city of Sham is a testament to artistic expression in terms of beauty and appeal; it is such that no one can ignore it. An opponent or an enemy, when they hear this expression, it acts like a sharp arrow and a keen blade, whether they want it or not, this expression will have its effect. The impact of art does not depend on the will of the audience; whether they want it or not, it will leave its mark. Lady Zainab (peace be upon her) and Imam Sajjad performed these actions in the sermon in Sham and in the eloquent and astonishing expression in the mosque of Sham. You are also doing this work.

The literature and art of resistance and what pertains to the specific period of defense of our country and nation is truly among the most prominent and important works. Of course, dear friends have worked hard. Since the 1980s, when these artistic and literary works began in the artistic field and these memories were published, I was one of the ardent customers of these books, looking at the memories. I am greatly influenced by the appeal and sincerity of these writings and statements; I truly say this. The memory of those who produced these works does not fade away. The names I read behind these books and looked at their works are mostly in my mind, and I am grateful and appreciative of them, and if I could, I would praise the greatness of this work. Historically, poets usually praised the powerful and wealthy; however, I believe you should be praised. If I were a poet, I would certainly compose verses in praise of you, in praise of Colonel Sarhangi, in praise of Mr. Behboudi, in praise of Mr. Qadami, in praise of these memoir creators and memory makers; it truly deserves it, as it is a very significant and important task.

In my opinion, the issue of the Sacred Defense and what emerged during this period is not an ordinary matter; it is the same for all nations; for our nation, it is more than others for various reasons; thus, it cannot be considered part of the ordinary course of life of nations. The period of the Sacred Defense was an opportunity for our nation to demonstrate the depths of its essence in various dimensions, and it did show. I mentioned that all nations are like this, with differences in the quality of work, goals, orientations, and intentions.

A difficult period for a country - whether the difficulty is war, economic hardship, or various political pressures - is a period of demonstrating capacities; how much capacity this nation has, how much capability it has to express itself, how much deserving it is to survive. Therefore, the best artistic works that one observes, or the beautiful sections of the best artistic works, are related to these periods of these countries. If you look at the fictional works that exist, the sweetest and most artistically written works and great novels are related to the sections where a nation is undertaking a great task of this kind. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" relates to the remarkable resistance of the Russian people against Napoleon's invasion and the great movement that the people of Moscow undertook to thwart Napoleon. Tolstoy has other books, but I believe this book stands out because it revolves entirely around the spirit of the defense of the Russian people. The same is true for many other books written about the Soviet Revolution, the Great French Revolution, or the wars between France and Germany and the defense of the French people, like some of Emile Zola's books. The most important fictional works are related to the critical period of a nation, where at that time this nation was able to demonstrate its capacity. Perhaps paintings are the same. Of course, I do not even have a good grasp of painting as a viewer; however, I believe that to the extent I have heard, the most beautiful or some of the most beautiful paintings in the world relate to scenes of war; for example, the scene of the Battle of Waterloo and various other scenes.

For the artistic field of the country, one of the most important manifestations has been the period of the imposed war on us and the period of the Sacred Defense, and it still is; we must take advantage of this.

Two or three years ago, a large number of artists gathered in this Hosseiniyeh. I told them which artist can overlook the enthusiastic spirit of the nation and its youth in the face of the enemy that intended to trample the honor and dignity of this nation underfoot, and not see the extraordinary beauty of that? If we see that our artists do not see this and do not address it, we must see where the problem lies. Either in the artistic perspective, or in the proper presentation, or in the influences that policies and enemies exert in the cultural space of the country, there is a problem; otherwise, how can it be possible for a nation to forget or not see and understand? Therefore, your memoir writing and recording these events play a significant role in this matter.

Recently, I was reading an interview with Mr. Behboudi and Mr. Sarhangi, which is indeed true. These gentlemen believe that the events of the Sacred Defense should be documented, elucidated, and substantiated so that based on these, artistic works can be created, which is entirely correct. My belief is that whatever we invest and work for the period of the Sacred Defense is not too much; because the artistic and literary capacity of the country for elucidating this period is very broad, vast, and deep, and this capacity has not been well utilized so far. Of course, good books have been written, but this field must continue.

Some also deliberately want to remove this radiant sun and this source of light and brilliance from the memory of the nation; because anyone who should fall into this period and recognize it and at least understand its characteristics feels dignity, motivation, and hope within themselves. A nation that can truly stand against that international aggression with empty hands and, with ingenuity, relying on itself, with the help of God, pull itself out of the quagmire that the powerful of the world have created for it, is very praiseworthy. If this nation sees this ability within itself and feels this capacity, no obstacle can prevent it from continuing on this path and the great movement ahead. They know this; hence, they do not want this self-awareness to arise in our people. Conversely, we must strive to create this self-awareness.

Unfortunately, our new generation is poorly informed. We must do something so that the new generation and future generations can spiritually utilize this capacity, this immense treasure, and this inexhaustible wealth; they should find hope and recognize themselves. This is our woman, this is our man, these are our youths who were able to innovate in the battlefields.

At the beginning of the war, we had nothing. All of you or most of you were in the war; I also witnessed it closely; truly, we were empty-handed; neither did our army have resources, nor did the IRGC, which at that time did not even have a proper organization; even individual rifles were not in the hands of individuals; the basic tools of a real war were not available. In the Ahvaz region - where I was - some units of one of our brigades had perhaps about ten tanks at their disposal; that is, one-tenth of what they should have had. Their tanks had been destroyed; yet, our youths stood firm and tried.

From the beginning of the war until now - these twenty-four or twenty-five years - we have gone from the ground to the sky. They threaten us with economic sanctions and economic blockade! It is during this period of economic blockade that we have gained so many capabilities. In the most difficult periods of economic blockade, our youths were able to produce weapons that no one in the world, except for the Americans and a couple of their favored governments, had. Under what conditions did our youths build the anti-tank missile "TOW"? All doors were closed to them, yet they built it. The scientific advancements you observe today are emerging one after another in various fields. Of course, the issue of nuclear energy has become prominent and highlighted due to the world's sensitivity to it; otherwise, alongside this work, other works that have been done in various fields are truly no less important; however, they do not have a military and defensive aspect. All of these have occurred under conditions of economic blockade, under conditions of political and economic pressure, under conditions of the dishonesty and strictness of governments that even had economic relations with us, yet acted maliciously and untrustworthily; but we succeeded. This is a very great capacity for a nation that can. This capacity must be recognized by our youths.

You know that during the Pahlavi era, one of the most common propaganda was "we cannot." All of us were raised with the notion that Iranian goods equate to being bad, inferior, and substandard; Iranian equates to the inability to produce good goods in all areas. They had ingrained this culture in the minds of our nation. While this issue is 180 degrees different from reality. This nation is a nation that can in every respect; it can produce, it can grow, it can innovate, it can break the boundaries of science and technology and move forward.

Of course, we are still very behind the world; because we have been held back for a long time - we know this clearly - but we are rapidly closing this gap to move forward. This is fully manifested in the war; both in terms of human spirit and in terms of the inclination towards spirituality, purity, and spirituality, which was present everywhere.

You see how the Iranian army was created under what conditions; how they were trained and how they were developed. The conditions were entirely anti-religious. At that time, this very army, in its air force, in its ground force, in its naval force, one and a half to two years after the victory of the revolution when the war began, did works and showed manifestations that are truly astonishing. The youths who carried out the initial bombings and air attacks of the war with their own planes were trained by the former army; however, the essence of spirituality, sincerity, and purity was in them.

I often went to visit the region of Ahvaz at midnight. I saw this scene myself; behind the embankment and at the foot of the tank, an officer was standing and performing the night prayer.

The martyr Chaman's children gathered at the headquarters of irregular warfare and went on operations every night, and sometimes they took me with them. One night I saw an officer who had a private matter with me; I thought he wanted to request leave. I felt a bit annoyed that now, in this chaos, what time is it to go on leave? But I saw he came with tears and said: When these kids go on operations at night, if possible, take me with them! The kids would go tank hunting with the late martyr Chaman at night, and this colonel came begging to be taken along! Such scenes and manifestations were observed by a person; this indicates that spiritual capacity. The Basij youths and the IRGC youths and volunteers at the front and people like martyr Chaman have their own place. This is one aspect of the capacity of this great nation. The scientific, technical, research, literary, and artistic dimensions, and so on, are very strange and astonishing aspects that all emerged during the war and manifested themselves.

The war was truly a complete mirror of the capacities of the Iranian nation. With the work you are doing, you can make this enduring; you can reflect it in the minds of the people; it is a very significant and important task.

I truly appreciate the efforts of the gentlemen and insist that this series and chain must continue, and the Office of Literature and Art of Resistance must continue its work with more encouragement and seriousness, God willing, and the artistic friends who have produced works in these years - which are truly valuable works - must continue their work.

Some friends have indeed made progress. When I compare a story or memory that some of the artistic friends write today with the works of seventeen or eighteen years ago, I see a significant distance; that is, they have truly progressed. Today, the artistic works they present are very valuable.

The same is true in the realm of poetry. The poems that Dr. Rafiei recited, with his warm and captivating voice, were indeed outstanding, very good, thematically rich, and well-structured poems. We did not have such poems and artistic works twenty years ago; these are gradually emerging.

My belief is that if the custodians of this work pursue it, we will, God willing, have artistic works that will reach the pinnacle of Iranian art. If we have, for example, Ferdowsi in one type of poetry, or Hafez or Saadi in another type of poetry; I believe that if we can pursue this field, we will certainly create a new peak in poetry; in the field of stories, novels, and short and long stories, we will certainly create peaks - although we are historically behind in this field - and likewise, in other artistic sections, we will have peaks, and the achievements will be inexhaustible for our nation.

I hope, God willing, that the Almighty God grants you all success. I am praying for you and will continue to do so. I hope you all will be encompassed by divine mercy, divine assistance, divine guidance, and divine favors, and the prayers of the Awaited Savior.

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