Speech to Warriors, Basijis, and Families of Martyrs and Veterans during Sacred Defense Week

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

I also extend my congratulations on the blessed birth of the Holy Prophet and the savior of humanity, and Imam Sadiq, the head of the school of thought and teacher of history, to all Muslims of the world, especially the dear nation of Iran and to you, brothers and sisters, and I welcome all of you, especially those who have come from afar.

During the days of Sacred Defense Week—which reminds us of an important chapter in the life of this nation and the glorious history after the revolution—nothing is more appropriate and necessary than to honor the self-sacrificers of the war era and the soldiers of Islam who risked their lives in the midst of the battle between truth and falsehood to preserve the dignity of Islam, the honor of this nation, and the prestige of jihad in the path of God. We must especially honor those pure-hearted ones who gave everything they had in this field, namely our dear martyrs and their patient and selfless families, our devoted and noble veterans and their suffering families, our dear freed captives and their families, and the missing and prisoners far from our homeland and their anxious families. Honoring these dear ones is a great duty for the nation.

This imposed war was not just a test for those few years, but also a measure and a lesson for the period after the end of the war. If any nation can defend itself during the invasion of enemies and the danger that foreigners create for it, suppress the enemy, push it back, and after the war, repair the destructions of the war, restore the situation to its original state, preserve the dignity and honor of that nation, and honor the war's legacies—namely these warriors, veterans, and families of martyrs—that nation will not be humiliated; that nation will remain honorable.

The greatest crime of colonialism and its treacherous agents—who ruled over Islamic countries for many years—was that they killed the spirit of defense and valor in the nations and distracted them with empty slogans like nationalism and extreme ethnicities. Therefore, you see that almost two centuries ago, the enemies of Islamic nations poured into their countries and whenever they humiliated, degraded, and plundered them, the nations just watched and endured. It reached the point where today you see Muslim nations are among the weakest nations in the world, while Islam inherently possesses power, dignity, and honor. Islam is not submissive to humiliation; why have Muslims become like this?! This is what puppet governments did to Muslim nations; they suppressed and humiliated them, and whenever some wanted to act inspired by the spirit of Islam, they were besieged from all sides.

Thanks be to God, our nation, with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and after this brilliant victory, saved itself from this humiliating state. Then the imposed war incident occurred, and this great nation proved that it can defend itself; this became a lesson for other nations. We faced the greatest combined powers of the world; that is, during eight years, everyone lined up against us by helping our enemy, but after these eight years, they could not achieve even one percent of their goals and returned to their original place in disgrace. Is this not an honor for a nation?

What I want to emphasize is that our nation should never forget those who brought about this honor. Who are they? The warriors, the armed forces, the vast and endless popular Basij, the faithful youth of this country, and the patient and brave families of this nation. They were the ones who created this great epic. This country is always indebted to the warriors of the eight-year period, especially to the families of martyrs, veterans, freed captives, the missing, and prisoners and their families; we are indebted to them.

Today, in a world built on the culture of force and inhumanity, all nations must strengthen the spirit of defending their interests among themselves. You see how world policies revolve and are managed based on force, oppression, and ignoring human rights. The Palestinian nation, which is an oppressed nation, was expelled from its home with oppression, cruelty, savagery, and racial discrimination and racism by a group of capitalist and oppressive politicians in occupied Palestine. What has been done in occupied Palestine as manifestations of racism is rarely seen elsewhere; like South Africa. However, in South Africa, the issue is the issue of black and white race, but here it is the issue of Jewish and non-Jewish race. In this land that belonged to the people of this land, everything must be taken from them and put at the service of this racist Zionist government!

For almost fifty years, the Zionists have ruled in parts of the land of Palestine and then in all of this land with a violent racism that is unimaginable more savage than that. Torturing Palestinian youth in prisons with the worst tortures, even as it was reported, in some cases taking their blood—which has been said over the years and is not far from these Zionist executioners—creating scenes like breaking a boy's hand in front of everyone, which was done by the agents and incidentally shown on television and brought the world to tears, are their usual actions! During these almost fifty years, such incidents have repeatedly occurred.

Are they racist or not? Is there a more brutal and malicious racism possible than this? If they are not racist, then who is racist?! Then the President of the United States goes to the United Nations—supposedly the house of nations; the place where the rights of nations should be defended—stands like a bully and speaks against the Palestinian nation and intercedes and mediates for these oppressive racist executioners!

Can these people and these politicians claim that they have even understood human rights, let alone advocate for human rights?! Those who, when they want to talk about governments opposed to themselves, sprinkle the word human rights like sugar and candy! Whoever they want to accuse, they accuse of denying human rights or not observing human rights; as if they are the founders of human rights! What do you understand about what human rights are?! You who commit such treachery against the Palestinian nation and are complicit and supportive of these racist Zionists, what do you understand about what human rights are?! What right do you have to talk about human rights?! The President of the United States, with this action, deepened the deep hatred of Muslim nations, and indeed the freedom-loving and justice-seeking nations of the world, towards himself.

No, we declare that the Zionist regime is a racist, oppressive, brutal, and savage regime. The right is with the Palestinian nation, which has determined that it must fight this regime in the true sense of the word. With such people, one cannot speak and deal with a pleasant language and the language of logic. They are brutal; they must be dealt with brutally. This is the situation of nations in the world. This is the situation of the policies governing the world. Nations themselves must be awake and defend.

You dear nation, you who have enlightened your hearts with faith and gained strength of heart through faith and stood against the enemy and advanced your word, must appreciate this faith and this spirit of valor and appreciate the valorous warriors of the battlefield and keep these values alive. Our nation will not bow down to such oppressors.

We hope that Almighty God will protect you warriors and you dear families of martyrs and you legacies of the imposed war under His protection and guide all the Iranian nation with His guidance and light; and with His strength, bring them to real strength and power.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings