Statements at the Night of Memories Ceremony of the Sacred Defense on the Occasion of the Third of Khordad, Anniversary of the Liberation of Khorramshahr

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

Thanks be to God, 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 chosen progeny, especially the remainder of God on earth.

This session is a very sweet, eloquent, profound, and beneficial gathering; I do not mean this particular session, but rather the movement of these gatherings that you have endeavored to create, establishing the Night of Memories as a lasting initiative. Thanks be to God, today I have also been granted the opportunity to sit, listen, and benefit. It was very good; we gained a lot from it. Of course, the memories of people like myself are not significant, because as he mentioned, when Khorramshahr was liberated, he heard the news in Kermanshah, and we heard it in Tehran. However, it is worth mentioning that—I do not remember whether the news was announced on the radio or not—Martyr Sayyad called me in the office of the presidency and shared some details, including that "as I speak to you, the Iraqis are lined up to surrender." It was a very interesting expression. I got in my car and immediately that afternoon went to see the Imam, where the streets were filled with people expressing their love and joy. I conveyed this expression to the Imam, saying that Mr. Sayyad mentioned that the Iraqis are lined up to surrender; a long line, ten to fifteen thousand people! Our memories are not significant; rather, it is the memories of the brothers and sisters who were in the war for long periods and witnessed the events that are important.

In my opinion, this war—this sacred defense—despite the losses it inflicted upon us, also brought great benefits and advantages; these benefits are far greater and more significant than the losses. Our losses there included human and material losses; we lost young people, families lost their loved ones, we all mourned for the youth, and material losses occurred, causing the country to experience some setbacks in terms of visible development during a certain period; these were the losses of war. All wars have such losses. However, the benefits of war were long-term; they were lasting benefits. Of course, there were also short-term and immediate benefits.

One of the greatest benefits of this eight-year war and defense was the preservation and strengthening of the revolutionary spirit and movement in our youth and society. Had this jihadist and self-sacrificing movement not emerged, the revolutionary spirit in those early days, which had not yet gained much depth, would have been exposed to encroachment. Yes, Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) was present, and his personality guaranteed many things; however, the dangers were severe; the revolutionary spirit would certainly have been threatened. The revolution became enduring through its presence in the arena of sacred defense.

Another benefit was that we experienced once again the thought and ideology of defending our national and religious identity and revolutionary identity—which we have often said, heard, and conveyed that God Almighty helps and grants victory to people against the obstacles and barriers that exist in the path of truth. This is very important. A society that is moving towards progress towards lofty goals naturally encounters many obstacles, especially in today’s materialistic world; and if those ideals are spiritual ideals and against power-seeking and worldliness, it is evident that obstacles will arise. For a nation to feel that it can overcome obstacles is very significant. Yes, we read and say in the narrations and verses, "Trust in God, and whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him," and we believe in such things, but seeing in practice that "whoever trusts in God, He is sufficient for him" makes a big difference. The great Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) asked God Almighty to see the resurrection of the dead. God said: "Do you not believe?" He replied: "Yes, I believe; but I want my heart to be at peace." This peace of heart, this acceptance from the depths of belief and soul towards a truth, is very significant; this is what the war—the eight-year defense—showed us. Now we can confidently claim that the Islamic Republic, despite all the challenges posed against it, can grapple with them and can prevail over all of them; because we have experienced this. "And do not weaken, nor grieve, for you will be superior if you are believers." If faith exists in the heart and in action, mountains will be leveled before a strong community, a group, or an individual, and they will not have the power to resist. One of the benefits of the war for us was this. Well, these are truths.

Of course, the benefits of the war exceed these; now these are analytical remarks and such that we do not want to spend time on these matters. This blessed event, this great event, in our ordinary perception as simple and superficial people, is truly unbelievable; that is, at the beginning of the war, we had nothing; let me tell you, we had nothing; we were empty-handed; our weapons were both few and defective and out of reach; some of the items that existed in our warehouses had not been utilized for a long time after the war began. I was here in the General Staff, in the advisory office, and was in contact with military personnel; well, there were committed and faithful young people in the army who came to report to us; I, as the representative of the Imam, followed up. They came and said that we have a type of artillery called the 203 cannon, which is our heaviest artillery, and it has not been deployed at all. Now, in such a war with all the tools that the enemy has, we have a means that we can use, and we did not. In our meeting with Mr. Banisadr and others, I raised this issue; Banisadr was completely unaware, and some others did not want these matters to be raised; then one of the martyr commanders who was present in the meeting—may God have mercy on him—said: "Yes, we have this; this is very important." We asked why it was not being used. There were things that existed but were not utilized; because at the top, there were people or individuals who did not care. With this situation, we moved forward. The matters I mentioned pertain to the second half of 1979; that is, the first six months after the war began.

Well, from the first six months of the war, that is, the second half of 1979 to the first six months of 1981, how much time is there? In this interval, the movement of the Iranian nation and our armed forces became such that two major and important operations occurred in the first two or three months of 1981; that is, Operation Fath al-Mubin at the beginning of the year in Farvardin, and Operation Bait al-Maqdis and the liberation of Khorramshahr in Ordibehesht and the beginning of Khordad; that is how it progressed, that is how rapid the movement was! We went from the situation where they were shelling Ahvaz from ten kilometers away—with the Dubh-Hardān area being about ten kilometers from Ahvaz, Ahvaz was under mortar fire—to the situation where we captured several thousand prisoners in Fath al-Mubin and several thousand prisoners in Bait al-Maqdis, and we took vast territories and captured Khorramshahr and fortified our forces and other matters. Until the end of the war, this state continued; that is, day by day we were able to become acquainted with our identity, our power, gain knowledge, and move forward and recognize ourselves; and this event occurred. Eight years, the whole world united against us and fought us; this is a reality, the whole world! That is, America was against us in practice, NATO was against us in practice, the Soviet Union of that day was against us in practice, and the reactionaries of the region—namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and others—were all against us in practice! That is, all of them participated against us [in the war]; we, a newly sprouted sapling with little experience, managed to overcome all of them; this is our experience; is this not sufficient for "to calm the heart"? This is like the resurrection of the birds that the great Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) asked from God Almighty; God said to do this so that your heart may find peace. We must have this peace of heart; anyone who does not have it is defective; that is, a better expression would be to say that they are defective; if we look optimistically, we should say they are defective; [if we look pessimistically, then we should judge differently].

We can overcome all difficulties and challenges with faith; this is the result of preserving and honoring memories. I want you to pay attention to the importance of this work; do not let the memory of these eight years of sacred defense be forgotten. All the details, all the things that friends have mentioned, are important. The books that are written are important; they are valuable; they are not merely an artistic endeavor. Of course, fortunately, good artistic work is also being done; both in writing and literature, and in cinema and such works; good works are fortunately being carried out. Of course, in some areas we are ahead, and in some we are behind; we must move forward. From an artistic perspective and in terms of literary aspects, valuable works are being done; however, the issue of these is above this artistic work. The film that this gentleman makes, the book that that gentleman writes, is actually an injection of cement into the foundations that we want to strengthen, we want to make them more enduring; it is the strengthening of the foundations of the revolution, the strengthening of the foundations of the country's progress, the strengthening of national identity; it is very valuable.

And I must say that these memories are truly a national treasure; these memories are a national treasure; they do not belong to the person who narrates them; they belong to everyone; they must be told, they must be written. Of course, it is clear—we have said it many times, and it seems to be the case—that exaggeration and hyperbole must be completely avoided; the text of reality—the very events that occurred—are so precious and so beautiful and so miraculous that they do not need any exaggeration; the events that occurred are like this. The very events that occurred must be told, must be revived, and artistic methods must be employed to better express them. And these are good deeds; these are acts of charity. Those who do these works, these brothers who are present here, whether those who are engaged in writing and literature and such, or those who are involved in film and cinema and such, should know that the work they are doing is a good deed, a great spiritual charity; you are delivering the sustenance of this nation, this population, this country; you are the intermediaries for delivering divine and spiritual sustenance to them. Value this; this is very good. The Path of Light is among these works; the Path of Light is among these acts of charity and good deeds. Writing memories is the same; telling memories is the same; this session is the same.

Do not let this miraculous event become weak. My dear ones! There is motivation to weaken this truth, in the reality of our lives and in the reality of our minds. There are those who have motivation; the same ones who plan for Islamic countries and communicate this to them, and they accept it, to remove the issue of jihad or the issue of martyrdom from the collection of religious teachings in school and university books and other books—this has been communicated to some countries; they have been told to remove the issue of jihad and martyrdom and such; they accepted and removed it; these motivations are like this—these same motivations continue internally, manifesting in some cultural micro-policies here and there; we must not be negligent. We must keep the war, the sacred defense, martyrdom, and jihad alive; we must value these memories; they are very valuable.

Of course, we still have much to say in this regard—"we" means you and those who were in the war—and these can truly connect the current generation to the generation that created the peak of the sacred defense and crafted this historical peak for us. Repeatedly, many individuals come, write letters to us, insist, plead, cry, to be allowed to go defend the shrine and become defenders of the shrine; that is, the same things we saw in those days of the 1980s—when young people, small children, those who could not go for some reason, would come and plead to go—now the same situation exists for many of them; "Join me with the righteous." This joining with the righteous is due to the efforts and labors that you are undertaking. God willing, may God bless this effort of yours, this work of yours, and may its effects increase day by day, God willing. I sincerely thank the Art Bureau and our dear brother Mr. Sarhangi and other brothers involved; their work is very valuable. They should continue; both this work, that is, the Night of Memories, and the organization of these memories and notes; how valuable it is. And they are everywhere; we knew a few personalities from the war, we had heard memories from them, then gradually they went to Azerbaijan, to Hamadan, to Lorestan, to Khorasan, to Isfahan, and here and there they found the warriors, recorded their memories, and brought them to life; we saw what a world it is, what a sea of words, logic, spirit, and spirit-giving. This is a very valuable work, and continue this work. I have said many times that even if we talk about these eight years of sacred defense for another fifty years and do new works, it is not too much; and I believe that even in fifty years we will not reach the end of it. Of course, good methods must be used, artistic methods must be employed. Thank you very much. Today was a very good session; we benefited from the statements of the gentlemen, and we also visited some dear friends whom we had not seen for a long time. God willing, may God grant you success. Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.