Statements in Meeting with Families of Martyrs

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 chosen family, the infallible guides, and peace be upon our honorable and esteemed martyrs.

Greetings to the Almighty God and His righteous servants and His angels upon the pure souls of the martyrs; all the martyrs of history, the martyrs of Islam, the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, and the martyrs of defense: for the Revolution, for Islam, for the sanctity of the Ahl al-Bayt, and for the security of the country until today. Welcome, esteemed families of the martyrs, fathers, mothers, spouses, and children. The righteous servants of God recognize the value of the families of the martyrs and the fathers and mothers and spouses and children and brothers and sisters of the martyrs and the mourners of the martyrs; the reason is that the Almighty God has sent His greetings and blessings upon you: "Those are upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy"; the fact that God sends blessings is a very high and important rank; because you have endured, because you have turned the grief of losing a child, which is a mourning for most people in the world, into a celebration, into a congratulation; from the fact that the Almighty God has placed your young one in His proximity as "alive with their Lord, provided for"; you have found solace; this patience of the families of the martyrs has such value.

The message of the martyrs is truly a message of glad tidings; we must correct our ears to hear this message; some do not hear the message of the martyrs, but this is the verse of the Holy Quran: "And they rejoice in what has not yet joined them of those who follow them, that there is no fear upon them, nor do they grieve"; the message of the martyrs is a message of negation of fear and sorrow. Of course, this negation of fear and sorrow is most applicable to them; in that realm filled with fear and sorrow in which all human beings are caught, the message of those who have been martyred in the way of God - that is, your young ones; whether those who were martyred in the Sacred Defense, those who were martyred in defense of the borders, those who were martyred in defense of security, or those who were martyred in defense of the sanctity of the Ahl al-Bayt - is glad tidings for themselves and also for their audience; that is why the Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) said that a nation that has martyrdom does not have captivity, and that is because when you look at sacrificing in the way of God as a great success, you move fearlessly towards danger - for the sake of martyrdom - there is no force in the world that can stand against you.

Victory and power belong to that nation and that people who believe that if danger arises for them in this path, if harm arises, if martyrdom and leaving this world occurs, they are the winners, they are not the losers; that nation which has this spirit, this belief, has no defeat; this nation will advance, just as the Iranian nation has advanced on its very perilous and laborious path until today. Is it a joke? All the corrupt, oppressive, wicked powers of the world join hands to stand against the Iranian nation, and they have not been able to do anything wrong for forty years, and this young sapling has turned into this sturdy tree, a goodly tree that cannot be shaken! Who did this? Belief in martyrdom has created this glorious destiny for the country; that is, your young ones. They cry, they wish to be martyred in the way of God; they plead with their fathers and mothers, saying, "I went into operations and was not martyred because you were not pleased; you be pleased so that I may be martyred." In the biography of one of these martyrs of the [defense of the] sanctity, I read that he tells his wife, "You were not pleased for me to be martyred, you do not let me be martyred;" he pleads with his wife, saying, "You be pleased so that I may be martyred." The materialistic world does not understand the meaning of these words, does not comprehend them. It is this spirit and this belief that keeps our revolutionary, faithful youth steadfast against events, like a mountain. Yes, we have said many times that some revolutionary elements have turned back; the revolution has experienced some attrition; the hearts of some have become attached to the world. It was the same in the early days of Islam; in the early days of Islam, some of the first revolutionaries later became worldly people in the middle and later years of their lives. Yes, this is the case; but alongside this attrition, we have multiple growths; the growth of the revolution; this is the miracle of the revolution. After forty years, you see a faithful, believing young person who has neither seen the Imam, nor the revolution, nor the Sacred Defense, nor those epic events up close, but today with a revolutionary spirit, like that first young man of the revolution - like Hemmat and Kharrazi and great figures of this kind - goes into the field and stands against the enemy with interest, with a sense of responsibility, with complete courage. When I say that today’s faithful youth are not behind the first young men of the revolution in terms of motivation, I mean this. These are the growths of the revolution. This is the miracle of the revolution, this is the miracle of the Islamic Republic that can recreate the same hardworking, strong, and steel-like spirits in the form of these martyrs of today; these are the pride, these are the pillars of this revolution and this country; your young ones are the ones who have kept this country, your young ones; these pure bloods shed on the ground have prevented the arrogant powers of the world, the criminal America, from dominating this country like in the era of tyranny; they did not allow it, your young ones did not allow it. If it were not for these martyrdoms, if it were not for these courage, if it were not for the patience of the fathers and mothers and spouses, it is not clear how the situation of the country would have been, it is not clear whether this country could have stood against this arrogant front. We stood firm because this country had young people like you; and there are still young people; the nation also appreciates these.

You see in the funeral of these pure bodies - these martyrs of these days; martyrs of the borders, martyrs of defense of the sanctity, various martyrs of security and the like - what the people do! Yesterday in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, you saw this massive crowd, they held the funeral of the pure body of a martyr soldier; this is the reality, these people appreciate it. Four misguided, narrow-minded people attached to the materialistic West speak; they make irrelevant and meaningless analyses; let them do so, but the reality is different from what they say. The Islamic Republic is strong with its spirituality, with its thought, with its self-sacrificing individuals, with its faith, with its believing fathers and mothers, with its believing spouses, and with its believing youth. A young person who disregards his family, disregards his beloved spouse, disregards his sweet-talking child, goes to fight in the way of God and risks his life; these are the ones who have kept the country; the strength of the revolution is due to such individuals and such faith; the enemy does not understand.

And I must tell you; the well-known enemies of Islamic Iran are drowning in filth; the filth of moral corruption, the filth of political corruption; they are drowning. Today, look at the American statesmen; their money-worship, their killing of rights, their indifference to the lives and properties of human beings and nations; one example is in Yemen. In Yemen, the Saudis are committing the crime, but the Americans are partners in this crime; they themselves admit it. They bomb hospitals, they bomb markets, they bomb assemblies; this is not a military dispute, they are against nations; these are criminals, drowning in filth; this is the face of America. If the Iranian nation wants to correctly recognize America and global arrogance - of which America is the embodiment - let them look at today, at the actions of this president and the current American statesmen; they are all like this, it is not specific to them; they have openly revealed that ugly and loathsome face, otherwise they are all like this; Islamic Iran stands against them. Islamic Iran stands against oppression, against injustice, against moral corruption and political corruption. Islamic Iran, with its independence, with its steadfastness, of course, causes the enmity of the world oppressors; they wish to dominate, they wish to exert control; they want Iran to be like pre-revolution Iran, where they were dominant over all its affairs; like other weak countries that exist today. You see they extend a hand of friendship to one country, but they suck its wealth and take it away, then they say these are our milk cows. They want dear Iran, great Iran, proud Iran, and the brave Iranian nation to be like those countries, under their control; they have not reached this goal and they certainly will not reach this goal.

Our great Imam named America the "Great Satan"; what does Satan mean? Satan is that being and that element that all religious and monotheistic human beings in the world must stand against; with this naming, the Imam actually mobilized all the monotheists of the world, all the religious people of the world, all the fair nations of the world against America; and this goal has achieved considerable success and will achieve even more success; the enemy also tries to divert the Iranian nation. Of course, America’s plans regarding the Iranian nation have been exposed; there is no plan that they can implement and inflict damage anymore, they have done everything they could, their future plans have also been exposed. The goal and plan of America with these recent actions - these actions they have taken in the past year or so, the most prominent of which is the comprehensive economic sanctions - and the actions they are taking, the plots they are making, that they are placing special agents to confront Iran, helping various enemies of Iran - the Mojahedin and the like - is that they may be able to create division, discord, internal conflict, and problems in the Islamic Republic, in our dear Islamic Iran; this is their goal, they have spent all their efforts in this direction.

At the beginning of this year, which is 1397 (2018) - or a little before this year, at the beginning of the current Christian year - they announced that Iran would have a hot summer; their intention was that we would go to Iran in the summer and our plans would be realized in Iran; that is, this discord and conflict and to bring this to the streets and that to the arena and [between] this group and that group, that group and another group, to start a war, to start a conflict; this was their intention. To their dismay, this summer was one of the best summers of the year. Then they said the Islamic Republic would not see its fortieth anniversary; that is, in this autumn and winter, we will implement the same plots. The Iranian nation stands firm; with God’s grace, on the twenty-second of Bahman, this nation will celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution with much more grandeur than previous years.

The nation is awake. The officials are also busy; they are working, they are striving; of course, they must strive more. I also tell our dear nation to maintain this awakening; that they said in 1397 (2018) we will do such and such, and they expressed plans for the Islamic Republic - that is, their plan was exposed - this may be a deception; they may create a commotion for 1397 (2018) and draw up plans for 1398 (2019); for example. Everyone must be vigilant; I tell the entire nation. America is a wicked enemy, a cunning enemy, its hand is in the same bowl with the Zionists and the reactionaries of the region, and all of them are enemies of Islamic Iran and enemies of the Iranian nation; we must be vigilant. Of course, we are stronger than them; they have not been able to do anything wrong against the Islamic Republic with this strong motivation until now, and they will not be able to do so in the future; there is no doubt about this. The enemy is weak; "Indeed, the plot of Satan is weak" is a verse of the Quran, but we must not be heedless, we must not fall asleep.

My advice to all our youth, to all the various groups of the country, to all the professions of the country, to all the political currents of the country is to be careful not to give the enemy an opportunity, to be careful not to prepare the ground for the enemy; to be vigilant. If we become heedless, if we fall asleep, that weak enemy will pour its poison; we must all be awake; just as thanks be to God today, the entire nation is awake and has been awake throughout these years; this awakening must be maintained; my advice to our youth is this; everyone, wherever they are, should work for the country; for strengthening the country, for strengthening the economy of the country, for domestic production - which we have declared this year as the year of domestic production - everyone should make their efforts; producers in one way, consumers in another way, decision-makers in one way, legislators in one way, executors in one way, the government in one way, the parliament in one way, the judiciary in the same way; each with complete vigilance and awareness must fulfill their duties; this is our advice to the people.

We also advise the officials of the country to double their efforts; to be careful not to fall for the enemy's deceptive language and superficiality; to be careful that the wicked enemy, whom they push out the door, does not come in through the window. The enemy employs various methods and tricks to be able to sting and pour its poison; the officials must be cautious. What I feel regarding economic issues and the economic problems of the people that must be addressed to alleviate problems is to strengthen domestic production; I have also advised the officials; attention must be paid to domestic production; the economic problems of the people will, God willing, decrease if serious and good movements are made in this direction.

Some in the Islamic world have formed bonds of friendship with the enemy. The movement that the Al Saud are undertaking, this crime they are committing in Yemen for the occupation of Yemen and against the oppressed Yemeni nation, will backfire on them; they must understand this; it will backfire on them. Today, it has been about four years, nearly four years that they have been committing crimes in Yemen; they thought they would be able to dominate Yemen in a few days or at most a few weeks, but it has been four years and they have not been able to. The further they go, the harder their fall will be, and the more effective the blow they will receive will be. How can a government that rules over a Muslim nation, over an Islamic country, become an agent of the enemies of Islam, an agent of America, a milk cow for America? Why? The servant of the two holy shrines must be "harsh against the disbelievers"; not "harsh against the believers"; these are "harsh against the believers", "harsh against Yemen", "harsh against Bahrain"; they put pressure on the believing people; this is a very foolish policy that incites divine wrath.

The Iranian nation, with open eyes, with insight, must keep all these conditions under observation and maintain its position firmly and know that in this stormy sea of this region and this world - this storm has reached Europe today; observe France; European countries are also caught in the storm - in this storm that has engulfed the world, especially the region, the Iranian nation, thanks to Islam, is in the safe ship of the love of the Ahl al-Bayt and Islam. Maintain this insight, maintain this method, and continue this path with strength, God willing; victory belongs to the Iranian nation.

God's mercy, God's blessings, and God's peace be upon the martyrs and the families of the martyrs! I once again express my sincerity and devotion to the fathers, mothers, spouses, children, brothers, and sisters of the martyrs.

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